Gonzaga Bulldogs
From Hoopedia
Gonzaga University is a private Catholic university located in Spokane, Washington. Founded in 1887 by the Society of Jesus, it is one of 28 member institutions of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities and is named after the patron saint of youth, St. Aloysius Gonzaga. The campus has 87 buildings across 108 acres (437,000 m²) of grass land along the Spokane River, in a residential setting half a mile (800 m) from downtown Spokane. The university was founded by Father Joseph Cataldo, SJ, an Italian-born priest and missionary who wished to create a Catholic school in the Pacific Northwest for local Native Americans.
Men's Basketball
Gonzaga University, whose players are officially nicknamed the Bulldogs but often called the Zags, is part of the NCAA Division I West Coast Conference. Its men's basketball team, which did not make its first appearance in the NCAA tournament until 1995 (more than a decade after John Stockton graduated), has become nationally prominent since making the regional finals of the NCAA tournament ("Elite Eight") in 1999.
Gonzaga University basketball games are now held in the newly constructed McCarthey Athletic Center, in which the Gonzaga men's basketball team is 38-1. Before the McCarthey Center was built, the Bulldogs played occasional high-profile nonconference games off campus at the larger Spokane Arena but today the only games regularly played there are the annual meeting with local rival Eastern Washington and opening season tournament games. The Bulldogs men's basketball home-court winning streak ended February 12, 2007, at 50 consecutive home games. The all-time longest streak is 129 games held by the Kentucky Wildcats.
Two of Gonzaga's most recent notable athletes are basketball players; center J.P. Batista (now playing in Lithuania) and Player of the Year candidate and third overall 2006 NBA Draft pick forward Adam Morrison (who was selected by the Charlotte Bobcats), regarded for his infamous mustache. Head coach Mark Few has been the West Coast Conference coach of the year every year since 2001. Few became the head coach in the summer of 1999, following the departure of Dan Monson to Minnesota.
Despite playing in a mid-major conference, the Gonzaga Bulldogs are generally considered to be a major program. Gonzaga is one of only ten schools to have reached each of the past eight NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournaments, and is the only school not from a major conference to do so.
Notable alumni of Gonzaga basketball include J.P. Batista, Dan Dickau, Richie Frahm, Adam Morrison, Paul Rogers, Blake Stepp, John Stockton and Ronny Turiaf.
On February 9, 2007, players Josh Heytvelt and Theo Davis were arrested on felony drug possession charges after being pulled over by police for a traffic infraction.
