THE EXHIBITION GAME: Seattle University shot 54.7 percent from the field, won the rebounding battle, and forced 22 turnovers in a 96-68 victory over Pacific Lutheran last Saturday in an exhibition game at the Connolly Center. Charles Garcia made his SeattleU debut, leading all players with 27 points and nine rebounds. The big man shot 12-of-17 from the field, including two three-pointers. Senior Chris Gweth contributed 16 points on 6-of-7 shooting from the field along with six rebounds and four steals. Making his return to the Connolly Center after sitting out last year, Ricky Berry came off the bench and scored 11 points. Gavin Gilmore earned the start and contributed nine points, while Aaron Broussard added eight points and seven rebounds and Alex Jones also scored eight points during the night. Cervante Burrell dished out seven assists to go along with his six points.
SEASON OPENERS: Seattle University has won five straight and six of the last seven season openers, including a 61-58 victory over Chico State at the Connolly Center last season. SeattleU last lost a season opener in the 2003-04 season, an 86-81 loss to Indianapolis at Sonoma State.
STARTING FOR THE REDHAWKS (PROBABLY):
Pos. No. Name Pts Rbs Asts
G 5 Cervante Burrell 6 1 7
G 00 Mike Boxley 5 3 3
F 2 Aaron Broussard 8 7 2
F 45 Charles Garcia 27 9 0
C 33 Gavin Gilmore 9 3 2
Stats from exhibition game on Nov. 7
SCOUTING OKLAHOMA STATE: The Cowboys are coming off a 23-12 season, including a 9-7 record in the Big 12, good enough for fourth place in the conference. After advancing to the Big 12 Tournament semifinals, Oklahoma State, as the eighth seed in the East Regional, defeated Tennessee, 77-75, before losing to Pittsburgh, 84-76. Seven letterwinners, including three starters, are back for second-year head coach Travis Ford. Junior James Anderson is back after leading the team in scoring with 18.2 points per game. Obi Muonelo, the lone senior on this year's squad, led the team in rebounding last year with 7.2 boards per game to go along with a scoring average of 12.7 points per contest.
SERIES HISTORY: This will be the second meeting all-time between Seattle University and Oklahoma State, with the first one taking place almost 54 years ago. On Dec. 29, 1955, Oklahoma State defeated Seattle University, 63-52, at the All-College Tournament in Oklahoma City, Okla. Dick Stricklin led Seattle U with 20 points and 11 rebounds, but the team could not overcome a 22-point Oklahoma State halftime lead.
SEATTLEU VS. THE BIG 12: Against the current members of the Big 12 Conference, Seattle University has a 7-6 record. SeattleU last faced a Big 12 opponent on Dec. 1, 1988, losing to defending national champion Kansas in Lawrence, Kan., 98-65. The last time SeattleU defeated a current Big 12 school was on Dec. 29, 1966, a 79-72 victory over Baylor during the American Legion Tournament at the Seattle Center Coliseum (now KeyArena).
THE LEADER OF THE REDHAWKS: Cameron Dollar begins his first season as the head coach of the Seattle University men's basketball team. He did not need to leave the city of Seattle to accept this position, as he had been an assistant coach at the University of Washington under Lorenzo Romar for seven seasons. Last season, the Huskies won their first outright Pac-10 regular season title since 1953. Dollar also was instrumental in helping Washington reach the Sweet 16 in both 2005 and 2006. Dollar joined Romar at Saint Louis in 1999, helping the Bilikens win the Conference USA tournament championship in 2000. After spending one season as an assistant for Pat Douglass at UC Irvine, Dollar became the nation's youngest head coach in 1998, taking over the program at Southern California College (now Vanguard University), where he went 11-22 in one season. As a player, Dollar helped UCLA win the 1995 NCAA Championship at the Kingdome in Seattle.
SCOUTING PORTLAND: The Pilots come into the season after posting a 19-13 record in 2008-09, including a 9-5 record in West Coast Conference play, good enough to finish in third place. Portland was selected to play in the College Insider postseason tournament, losing to Pacific in the first round, 82-76, in Stockton, Calif. Portland welcomes back an experienced squad, with 12 returning letterwinners, including all five starters from last season. Senior Nik Raivio led the team in scoring and rebounding last season, averaging 16.0 points and 6.5 rebounds per game. Jared Stohl scored 11.2 points per game, while T.J. Campbell contributed 11.1 points and 4.7 assists per contest. Robin Smeulders added 10.6 points and 5.9 rebounds per game.
SERIES HISTORY: Seattle University has faced the University of Portland more than any other school, with Tuesday's game being the 102nd contest between the two Catholic universities. The first meeting took place during the 1946-47 season, a 59-55 victory for Seattle University. From 1947 to 1962, the two schools faced each other four times per season, twice in Seattle and twice in Portland. They still faced each other twice per season from the 1962-63 campaign through 1979-80, Seattle University's last year of its first Division I era. The 100th meeting took place during the 2005-06 season, with Division II Seattle University upsetting Portland at the Chiles Center, 88-85. Seattle U holds a 73-28 series lead over Portland.
LAST MEETING: Three days after Seattle University's return to KeyArena, the Redhawks headed down to Portland to face the Pilots at the Chiles Center. Despite 28 points from Austen Powers and 23 points by Chris Gweth, both career highs, SeattleU lost to Portland, 71-67. Jared Stohl hit two free throws and then pulled down a key offensive rebound to set up T.J. Campbell, who hit a three-pointer to give the Pilots a five-point lead with 2:27 remaining in the second half. SeattleU kept the pressure on with a basket by Shaun Burl and three-pointers by Powers and Gweth, but Portland hit 10-of-14 shots from the charity stripe in the final minute to hold off the Redhawks. Robin Smeulders led the way for the Pilots, hitting 8-of-9 shots from the field and 7-of-8 shots from the free throw line to finish with 22 points, plus he pulled down a game-high seven rebounds.
JEFF SAGARIN SAYS: The Sagarin ratings are one of the ways experts judge teams and potential matchups. As of Nov. 11, Oklahoma State is 38th (84.09), Portland is 180th (71.21) , and SeattleU is 181st (71.20). Using this system, the Cowboys should win by about 17 points and the Pilots should pull out a four-point win.
THE KEY TO FUTURE SUCCESS: The Seattle University men's basketball team returns to downtown Seattle this season, playing all regular season home games at KeyArena at Seattle Center. There are 13 games scheduled for KeyArena this season, beginning with a Nov. 19 contest against Fresno State and concluding with two-time defending Big Sky tournament champion Portland State on March 2. In between, the Redhawks welcome Weber State, UC Irvine, Oakland, Harvard, Utah Valley, Cal State Northridge, Idaho, Eastern Washington, Sacramento State, UC Davis, and Cal State Bakersfield to the former home of the Seattle Supersonics and the current home of the Seattle Storm of the WNBA. Back when it was known as the Seattle Center Coliseum, Seattle University used the downtown arena as its home court from 1964 to 1980. SeattleU closed out its stay at the Connolly Center in style last season, winning all nine regular season games in the North Court as well as the Janaury 1 game at KeyArena against Loyola Marymount, 49-39.
SPREADING THE WORD: Seattle University men's basketball games will be broadcast all season long on 710 ESPN Seattle, the sports station that also carries Seattle Mariners and Seattle Seahawks broadcasts as well as local shows featuring Brock Huard, Kevin Calabro, and John Clayton. Long-time Seattle sports talk radio personality Dave "The Groz" Grosby will handle the play-by-play duties with assistance from Gary Hill.
NOTABLE CAREER NUMBERS: Last season, Chris Gweth moved into the top ten for most three-pointers made in a career, currently sitting in ninth place with 114 three-pointers, just four behind Sam Kirby in eighth place. Gweth is also third on the all-time list for three-point field-goal percentage, hitting 41.3 percent of his long distance shots over the past three seasons. Gweth is tied for tenth on the school's all-time steals list with 112 career thefts. Mike Boxley is close to advancing into the top ten, coming into the 2009-10 season with 105 steals during his Redhawk career. With 230 points this season, Gweth would become the 34th player in Seattle University men's basketball history to reach 1,000 points for a career.
A FAMILY AFFAIR: When looking for coaches to join his staff, Cameron Dollar did not have to look far to fill one of the assistant positions, just up the family tree. His father Donald Dollar joins the Seattle University men's basketball program after a long and distinguished career of coaching high school basketball in Georgia. He earned three state championships, 16 regional titles, 11 appearances in the state semifinals, and eight chances at the state title. Over 35 players who played for Donald Dollar have gone on to play at the Division I or Division II level, with four players having played or presently playing professional basketball. After moving into the college ranks and seeing success at his alma mater Morehouse College, Dollar has served as an assistant coach at the University of West Georgia for the past two seasons.