# 2007–08 Gonzaga Bulldogs men's basketball team

During the 2007–08 season, the Gonzaga Bulldogs men's basketball team, from Gonzaga University in Washington state, played in the West Coast Conference and the Great Alaska Shootout. The team won 25 matches and lost 8, but lost in the first round of the 2008 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament.

## Preseason

Coach Mark Few hit the recruiting trail hard in the offseason with the Coach proclaiming it's "the best we've ever had here". Few managed to recruit sought-after forward Austin Daye, Junior College transfer Ira Brown, Robert Sacre (a 7-foot Center from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada) and Steven Gray, a prized point/shooting guard. Also returning from a suspension would be the team's leading scorer from the season before Josh Heytvelt, and Theo Davis. The team entered the season ranked 14th in the AP Poll.

### Departures

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Reason for Departure |
| Sean Mallon | 32 | F | 6'9" | 223 | Senior (Redshirt) | Spokane, WA | Graduated |
| Derek Raivio | 5 | G | 6'3" | 177 | Senior | Vancouver, WA | Graduated |
| Pierre Marie Altidor-Cespedes | 4 | G | 6'0" | 182 | Junior | Montreal, QC | Graduated; Transferred to Marshall |
| David Burgess | 33 | F | 6'10" | 270 | Sophomore (Redshirt) | Irvine, CA | Transferred to Azusa Pacific |
| Jordan Mast | 13 | G | 6'2" | 180 | Freshman (Redshirt) | Hillsboro, OR | Left Team |

### Incoming transfers

| Name | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Previous School | Years Remaining | Date Eligible |
| Ira Brown | F | 6'4" | 235 | Junior | Conroe, TX | Phoenix College | 2 | Oct. 1, 2007 |

### 2007 recruiting class

College recruiting information :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Steven Gray G | Bainbridge Island, WA | Bainbridge | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) | 190 lb (86 kg) | Jul 11, 2005 |
| Star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 93 ||||||
| Robert Sacre C | North Vancouver, BC | Handsworth | 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) | 255 lb (116 kg) | Oct 12, 2005 |
| Star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 93 ||||||
| Austin Daye F | Irvine, CA | Woodbridge | 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) | 190 lb (86 kg) | May 16, 2006 |
| Star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 97 ||||||
| Overall recruiting rankings: Scout: NR Rivals: 17 ESPN: 17 ||||||
| Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "2007 Gonzaga Rivals Commits". Rivals.com. Retrieved August 11, 2007. "2007 Gonzaga Scout Commits". Scout.com. Retrieved August 11, 2007. "2007 Gonzaga ESPN Commits". ESPN.com. Retrieved August 11, 2007. "Scout.com Team Recruiting Rankings". Scout.com. Retrieved August 11, 2007. "2007 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved August 11, 2007. "2007–08 Gonzaga Bulldogs men's basketball team". 247sports.com. Retrieved August 11, 2007. ||||||

## Tournament build-up

Gonzaga received a 7 seed in the Midwest Region of the NCAA Tournament, and were paired against the 10 seed Davidson College, a sleeper pick by many experts. During the season the Bulldogs played ten teams that eventually made it to the tournament, and played a total of 13 games against teams who made it into the tournament. The Zags won seven of those thirteen games beating a 10 seed in Saint Mary's, a 13 seed in San Diego (Gonzaga won twice against San Diego), an 11 seed in Saint Joseph's, WKU, a 12 seed, a 14th seeded Georgia team, and a 4 seed in UConn. Gonzaga also lost six games against eventual tournament teams, they lost to Saint Mary's on the road, San Diego in the WCC Conference tournament, and also lost to a 1 seed in Memphis, a 2 seed in Tennessee, a 6th seeded Oklahoma Sooners team, and a 4 seed in Washington State at home.

## Schedule

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Regular Season ||||||
| 11/11/2007* 1:00 pm, FSN | No. 14 | Montana | W 77–54 | 1–0 | McCarthey Athletic Center (6,000) Spokane, WA |
| 11/13/2007* 8:00 pm, FSN | No. 14 | Idaho | W 80–43 | 2–0 | McCarthey Athletic Center (6,000) Spokane, WA |
| 11/17/2007* 5:00 pm, KHQ | No. 14 | UC-Riverside | W 84–48 | 3–0 | McCarthey Athletic Center (6,000) Spokane, WA |
| 2007 Great Alaska Shootout ||||||
| 11/22/2007* 8:30 pm, ESPNU | No. 14 | vs. Western Kentucky Great Alaska Shootout | W 74–71 | 4–0 | Sullivan Arena (8,383) Anchorage, AK |
| 11/23/2007* 9:00 pm, ESPN360 | No. 14 | vs. Texas Tech Great Alaska Shootout | L 73–63 | 4–1 | Sullivan Arena (8,700) Anchorage, AK |
| 11/24/2007* 7:00 pm, ESPN360 | No. 14 | vs. Virginia Tech Great Alaska Shootout | W 82–64 | 5–1 | Sullivan Arena (8,576) Anchorage, AK |
| 11/29/2007* 5:00 pm, ESPNU | No. 19 | at Saint Joseph's | W 70–65 $^{OT}$ | 6–1 | Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse (3,200) Philadelphia, PA |
| 12/01/2007* 12:30 pm, ESPN | No. 19 | at UConn Basketball HOF Challenge | W 85–82 | 7–1 | TD Banknorth Garden (18,007) Boston |
| 12/05/2007* 8:00 pm, ESPNU | No. 17 | No. 8 Washington State | L 51–47 | 7–2 | McCarthey Athletic Center (6,000) Spokane, WA |
| 12/08/2007* 5:00 pm, KHQ | No. 17 | Cal State Northridge | W 85–59 | 8–2 | McCarthey Athletic Center (6,000) Spokane, WA |
| 12/17/2007* 5:00 pm, FSN | No. 18 | Northern Colorado | W 77–57 | 9–2 | McCarthey Athletic Center (6,000) Spokane, WA |
| 12/20/2007* 6:00 pm, ESPN2 | No. 18 | vs. Oklahoma All-College Challenge | L 72–68 | 9–3 | Ford Center (13,135) Oklahoma City, OK |
| 12/29/2008* 5:00 pm, ESPN2 | | vs. No. 11 Tennessee Battle in Seattle | L 82–72 | 9–4 | KeyArena (15,141) Seattle, WA |
| 12/31/2008* 5:00 pm, FSN | | Utah | W 61–59 | 10–4 | McCarthey Athletic Center (6,000) Spokane, WA |
| 01/05/2008* 5:00 pm, FSN | | vs. Georgia Ronald McDonald House Charities | W 75–67 | 11–4 | Spokane Arena (12,064) Spokane, WA |
| 01/12/2008 5:30 pm, FSN | | at Loyola Marymount | W 91–68 | 12–4 (1–0) | Gersten Pavilion (3,692) Los Angeles |
| 01/14/2008 9:00 pm, ESPN | | at Pepperdine | W 92–57 | 13–4 (2-0) | Firestone Fieldhouse (2,954) Malibu, CA |
| 01/19/2008 1:00 pm, FSN | | San Diego | W 80–70 | 14–4 (3–0) | McCarthey Athletic Center (6,000) Spokane, WA |
| 01/21/2008 9:00 pm, ESPN | | San Francisco | W 72–64 | 15–4 (4–0) | McCarthey Athletic Center (6,000) Spokane, WA |
| 01/26/2008* 9:00 am, ESPN | | at No. 1 Memphis | L 81–73 | 15–5 | FedEx Forum (18,152) Memphis, TN |
| 01/28/2008 5:00 pm, FSN | | Portland | W 79–41 | 16–5 (5–0) | McCarthey Athletic Center (6,000) Spokane, WA |
| 02/02/2008 4:00 pm, KHQ | | at Santa Clara | W 87–82 $^{2OT}$ | 17–5 (6–0) | Leavey Center (4,500) Santa Clara, CA |
| 02/04/2008 8:00 pm, ESPN2 | | at No. 21 St. Mary's | L 89–85 $^{OT}$ | 17–6 (6–1) | McKeon Pavilion (3,500) Moraga, CA |
| 02/09/2008 5:00 pm, KHQ | | Pepperdine | W 101–59 | 18–6 (7–1) | McCarthey Athletic Center (6,000) Spokane, WA |
| 02/11/2008 5:00 pm, FSN | | Loyola Marymount | W 83–50 | 19–6 (8–1) | McCarthey Athletic Center (6,000) Spokane, WA |
| 02/16/2008 5:00 pm, ESPNU | | at San Francisco | W 83–63 | 20–6 (9–1) | War Memorial Gymnasium (4,500) San Francisco, CA |
| 02/18/2008 8:00 pm, ESPN2 | | at San Diego | W 59–55 | 21–6 (10–1) | Jenny Craig Pavilion (5,100) San Diego, CA |
| 02/25/2008 8:00 pm, ESPN2 | No. 24 | at Portland | W 73–51 | 22–6 (11–1) | Chiles Center (4,527) Portland, OR |
| 03/01/2008 5:00 pm, KHQ | No. 24 | No. 25 St. Mary's | W 88–76 | 23–6 (12–1) | McCarthey Athletic Center (6,000) Spokane, WA |
| 03/03/2008 8:30 pm, ESPN2 | No. 22 | Santa Clara | W 88–54 | 24–6 (13–1) | McCarthey Athletic Center (6,000) Spokane, WA |
| 2008 West Coast Conference tournament ||||||
| 03/09/2008* 6:30 pm, ESPN2 | No. 22 | Santa Clara Semifinals | W 52–48 | 25–6 | Jenny Craig Pavilion (5,100) San Diego, CA |
| 03/10/2008* 6:00 pm, ESPN | No. 20 | San Diego Finals | L 69–62 | 25–7 | Jenny Craig Pavilion (5,100) San Diego, CA |
| NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament ||||||
| 03/21/2008* 9:25 am, CBS | No. 20 (7) | vs. No. 23 (10) Davidson NCAA Tournament Round of 64 | L 82–76 | 25–8 | RBC Center (19,477) Raleigh, NC |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Pacific Time. ||||||