1978 West Coast Conference Champions

 

 

Head Coach: Bob Gaillard
Overall Record: 23-6    WCC Record: 12-2
All-WCC Team: Winford Boynes, Bill Cartwright (POY), Chubby Cox
Top Scorer: Winford Boynes (21.7)    Top Rebounder:  Bill Cartwright (10.1)
USF Hall-of-Famers: Winford Boynes, Bill Cartwright, Bob Gaillard

The Dons entered the 1977-78 season with a few surprises. First off, head coach Bob Gaillard announced his retirement effective at the end of the season. Secondly, just one week before the first practice starting center Bill Cartwright broke his arm in a pick-up game. So USF opened the season without Cartwright, yet still went 5-3 in his absence and in December claimed the first ever Golden Gate Invitational beating Baylor 98-93 in the finals. Winford Boynes poured in 64 points over the two-game tournament.

When Cartwright returned, the Dons won 20 of their next 23 games including upsets of both Notre Dame and North Carolina. The game against the Irish was played in front of 13,237 screaming fans on January 10th at the Oakland Coliseum as the Dons rolled to a 79-70 win. The victory over the Tar Heels in Tempe, Arizona propelled the Dons to the NCAA West Regional at Albuquerque, New Mexico. It was there that USF was stunned by underdog Cal State Fullerton 75-72 despite a 27 point effort by Cartwright.

On their way to the regionals, the Dons grabbed their second straight West Coast Athletic Conference title finishing 12-2. The Dons averaged nearly 90 points per contest in their 14 WCAC games.  Cartwright earned the league Most Valuable Player award.  Four players scored at a double digit clip over the course of the season – Boynes (21.7), Cartwright (20.6), James Hardy (15.7) and Cubby Cox (13.8).

Did You Know? The 1978 Dons had four players selected in the NBA draft in June. Winford Boynes and James Hardy were each picked in the first round. Boynes was taken by New Jersey and Hardy went to New Orleans. Doug Jemison was picked in the seventh round by New Jersey and Chubby Cox had his name called in the eighth round by Chicago.

They Said It: “The number one and basic reason I’m resigning is my family and for personal reasons. I really want to be in a situation where I can devote more time to my family. I’m tired of flying around the country at Christmas time. The reason I am announcing this so early is that I don’t want anything misconstrued, because if you resign at the end of a year, regardless of what your reasons are it’s going to point back to something that happened during the basketball season,” USF coach Bob Gaillard on his resignation which was announced prior to the start of the season.