by Jim Young

News, notes and dandy dotes about the City's team…the University of San Francisco Dons.
 
USF has the daunting task of facing perennial WCC powers Gonzaga and Saint Mary's in back-to-back games this week starting with Thursday night's ESPN2 matchup against the 5th-ranked and undefeated Bulldogs. Saint Mary's, ranked No. 19 in this week's AP poll, makes its annual visit to the Hilltop on Saturday night, marking the first time USF has faced AP-ranked teams in consecutive games since it faced No. 5 Kentucky and No. 10 Purdue in the 1993-94 season. With a road game at BYU in the offing next Thursday, the Dons are the only WCC team which will face Gonzaga, Saint Mary's and BYU in consecutive games this season. The stretch of games certainly caught the eye of first-year head coach Kyle Smith when the schedule was released in the fall.
 
"It's a major challenge," said Smith. "Believe me, I haven't been sleeping as well as I normally would this week. We have the fifth-ranked team in the nation coming into our gym and we're trying to keep the team loose, confident and prepared. We had a long stretch of games and travel over the holidays but we're back in a good practice routine now and hopefully that will give us more time to prepare."
 
Smith welcomes the challenge and the growth opportunities the next three games will present for his young program.
 
"It's a great measuring stick for us against some really seasoned programs which have great leadership in place – hall-of-fame level coaches. We'll see what we got. In life, you can't be afraid to fail. We have to put it all on the line and get better."
   
When Kyle Smith joined Randy Bennett's coaching staff at Saint Mary's for the 2001-02 season, the Gaels were coming off a 2-26 campaign, which included a 0-14 conference record. During his nine seasons in Moraga, Smith served as the co-architect of a Gael program that rose from the ashes to become one of the WCC's best. Just four seasons removed from a 2-26 campaign, the Gaels earned an at-large bid to the 2005 NCAA Tournament. Saint Mary's was back in the NCAA Tournament in 2008 and in 2010, won the WCC Tournament title and advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Championship. Following the season, Smith accepted his first head coaching position at Columbia, where he led the Lions to the CollegeInsider.com Tournament title. During his interview for the USF job back in March, Smith was more than ready to answer the inevitable question of, "How do you emulate that kind of success at USF?"
 
"It's simpler than some might make it out to be," said Smith. "It's digging into the fundamentals. You take a look at all of the great college programs or a team like the San Antonio Spurs and try to find out their keys to long-term success. There's no magic formula. It's just a lot of hard work and getting the right people on the bus. It starts with you administration, including your president and athletic director. I believe we have that here. I don't get caught up in the hoopla or expectations. It's a day-by-day, possession-by-possession process. The first thing we ask ourselves as a staff is what we can do today to make ourselves better. There will be some challenges along the way but that's part of the process.
 
"When I was at Saint Mary's, early on, we survived from day-to-day. At first, we just wanted to get to a point where we could compete and gain an identity. We weren't concerned with a style of play so much as we constantly harped about being able to defend, rebound and take care of the ball. That was the core of the program -- then we started adding some window dressing. We improved every year but each day we tried to stay in the moment. Every decision we made we asked ourselves is this something that makes us better right now? Those are the same things and questions we address here every day."
  While much of Saint Mary's success over the years can be traced to the Gaels' Australian pipeline, Smith points out local players such as E.J. Rowland (Salinas), Paul Marigney (Oakland), Omar Samhan (San Ramon), Ian O'Leary (Woodland) and Anthony Woodards (Richmond) who put the Gaels on the fast track to success. "They developed as players and had a real affinity to stay close to home and play basketball in the Bay Area. Our local players such as Frankie Ferrari, Jordan Ratinho, Nick Loew and Sasha French – along with our fall signee Soule Boum out of Oakland – bring a lot of added value because they care deeply about the city and the University of San Francisco. There's a lot to be said about that with the direction we are going."
   
With three-pointers falling at a high rate along with the explosiveness of Ronnie Boyce and the emergence of freshman Charles Minlend, offensively the Dons have been both entertaining and efficient for most of the season. One player flying below the radar is sophomore Matt McCarthy, who has solidified a starting job in the Dons frontcourt with his blue collar toughness and efficiency around the basket. The Aussie notched his second double-double of the season on Saturday at Santa Clara and his 57.1 field goal percentage currently ranks eighth among all WCC players.
 
"He's probably our best plus-minus guy so far this season," said Smith. "His quickness and ability to get the ball off the backboard on both ends is paramount to what we do. He has developed into a very reliable offensive threat and as he gets better, we get better. We are so young but Matt, even as a sophomore, has developed into a guy that we can count on night-in and night-out. He's naturally quiet and reserved but you can see his confidence grow each and every day. He's at a point now that when he comes out of a game it's for a breather, because we really need him on the floor."
   
If you are driving around Civic Center Plaza Thursday night, make sure you check out City Hall, which will be lit up in Green & Gold as a show of unity between the city and the Dandy Dons. One City…One Team.
   
If you made it to USF's WCC opener against San Diego last Thursday, you might have caught a glimpse of basketball alums Bill Cartwright, Marlon Redmond, Bart Bowers and Rob Williams enjoying the game together. USF will pay tribute to the Dons of the 70's on Thursday, Feb. 2 when USF takes on Pepperdine beginning at 7:00 p.m. The night will feature music of the 70's and a return to the Hilltop of some of the decade's greatest players, including James Hardy, who will be inducted into USF's Athletic Hall of Fame on Friday, Feb. 3. Hardy will be USF's Alumni Guest of Honor for the Feb. 2 game against Pepperdine, which will mark his first visit to the Hilltop in 40 years. Individual tickets for the Hub Flynn Hall of Fame Dinner are priecd at $125 and tables of 10 may also be purchased for $1000. Reservations for the Hub Flynn Hall of Fame Dinner on-line at USFDons.com or by mailing a check to USF Athletics Hall of Fame, 2130 Fulton Street, San Francisco, CA 94117. 
   
Speaking of Dons of the 70's, John Boro '74, who was a back court mate of Phil Smith during the early 70's, is resting comfortably at home after undergoing a heart transplant on Dec. 6 at UCSF Medical Center. A speedy recovery, John, from our heart to yours.
   
Very cool additions to the USF game nights are the low, deep sounds of a foghorn before tip-off and coming out of time outs along with Tony Bennett's rendition of "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" which serenades fans as they exit the Sobrato Center following games. A round of applause to the marketing team for making USF basketball its little own San Francisco treat.
    
USF mourns the passing of Elaine Giudice, the devoted wife of Hilltop legend Ross Giudice, who was a standout on the Dons 1949 NIT championship team and later served as an assistant coach on USF's back-to-back national championship teams.
A limited number of reserved and general admission tickets for USF's games this week against Gonzaga (Jan. 5) and Saint Mary's (Jan. 7), along with all other WCC home games, are available for purchase on-line at USFDons.com/tickets or by calling (415) 422-2USF (2873). Fans may also purchase the Box Out Big Three ticket package, which includes a general admission seat to all three games against Gonzaga, Saint Mary's and BYU, for $105 (adults) and $90 for seniors and children 12-under.

Jim Young '85 returned to his alma mater as an associate athletic director in 2012 after previously heading up communication departments at Santa Clara University, the Oakland A's and Stanford.