Young Toreros Are Looking to Egan for Right Directions : College basketball preview: Coach attempts to turn freshman-laden team into a WCC contender.

SAN DIEGO —  Someone should have lent Hank Egan a compass when he started coaching in the collegiate ranks almost three decades ago.

The University of San Diego men’s basketball mentor has come full circle.

“I told my wife that I started out as a freshman coach and here I am, 27 years later, back as a freshman coach,” Egan said with a grin as he surveyed the 1992-93 season.

The longest distance between two points--pre- to post-season tournaments in this case--covers inexperience, and the 1992-93 Toreros have plenty of it.

Six freshman and a community college transfer grace the USD roster, and while the coaching staff has begun to tap into that talent pool, no one’s yet to slap names like “Sensational Seven,” on them.

“After the first couple of days, they turned from being the best recruiting class ever to being a bunch of freshmen,” said Egan, who expected as much.

Everyone agrees that the transition from high school to a Division I college is difficult. But what makes Egan and Co.’s task tougher is that most of the team is making the transition simultaneously.

“What’s bothering us is that you usually blend a couple of new guys into the system,” Egan said. “We have to blend in a lot.”

Don’t misunderstand Egan. These aren’t excuses to fail, they are simply reasons to be patient.

“None of this is an excuse,” Egan said. “All I’m saying is this is where we are. I’ll get them prepared.”

The veterans will see to it. Although small in number, a core of key experienced players balance a team green around the edges.

Returning starters Geoff Probst, Gylan Dottin and Brooks Barnhard overshadow the youth movement and immediately increase USD’s stock in a West Coast Conference race, which they feel is wide open.

“We have a lot of new guys, but don’t forget what we have coming back either,” said Probst, who included returning reserves Joe Temple, Christopher Grant and Neal Meyer in that equation.

Dottin, a 6-foot-5 senior small-power forward, was the Toreros top and the WCC’s fifth leading rebounder (6.5 average) last year and is the team’s top returning scorer (11.8). But his scoring capabilities are “an added thing,” said Egan, who turns to Dottin when the Toreros need defense.

As point guard, Probst runs the show, and he gets more adept at it every year as his confidence and the demands made on him increase. The 5-11 senior led USD in assists (91), steals (32) and playing time (950 minutes) last season, and his scoring average (3.9) should improve.

“Geoff’s a better shooter than he thinks he is,” Egan said.

And Probst said he won’t be afraid to shoot his mouth when he deems it necessary: “If Gylan or I don’t (speak up) if we think something needs to be changed, no one will.”

Egan welcomes leadership from Dottin or Probst, but it’s not something he’s anticipating.

“Leadership’s not something you force,” he said. “I don’t worry about them being leaders. I worry about them doing their best for this team.”

As long as Barnhard stays injury fee and takes a day off when he feels he needs to, Egan believes he’s yet to see the best from the Escondido High graduate. Barnhard’s 1991-92 production (6.6 ppg, mostly from the inside) could soar.

A recurring back injury forced the 6-9 junior center to miss 10 consecutive games last year, a period in which the Toreros (14-14, fifth in the WCC) went through a 3-7 slump.

“We just couldn’t replace him,” Egan said.

Grant, a 6-8 junior forward (4.7 ppg), should take some of the workload off of Barnhard in rebounding and blocked shots.

Lincoln High grad Temple, a 6-4 junior swingman, Fresno State transfer Doug Harris, a 6-0 sophomore guard, and Meyer, a 6-3 junior guard, are expected to contribute to a offense that can run rampantly and should score more from the outside. Harris and Meyer scored in double figures in last weekend’s exhibition victory against the Russian National Select team.

Newcomer Brian Bruso, out of South Lake Tahoe High, averaged 21.6 points and 14 rebounds as he led his team to the 1992 triple-A Nevada state championship, and had 10 rebounds against the Russian team.

Bruso, a 6-7 forward, and Ryan Hickman, a 6-6 forward out of Los Angeles Fairfax, both played in the exhibition game, but Egan still needs to see what his remaining freshmen can do.

That would be 6-7 guard Sean Flannery, 6-2 guard Dave Fizdale and 6-4 swingman Val Hill. Flannery averaged 21.3 points his senior year in Tucson, and was the No. 2 career scoring leader in Arizona prep history. Rocco Raffo of Salinas is expected to redshirt.

In his four years at USD, this is the first one Barnhard hasn’t been the youngest Torero. Yet he sees the neophyte freshmen as anything but. There is little resemblance between them and when he took his first collegiate baby steps.

“They’re much more confident than when I was a freshman,” he said. “Not that they’re cocky, but when that was me, I let the seniors do everything.”

Not with this bunch. The veterans agreed that this is an aggressive group that didn’t rest on their past accomplishments.

“They came out and backed up their laurels,” Probst said.

From the first day of practice, Egan debated whether it was best to take the entire team through the fundamentals, which the veteran players could sleepwalk through, or bypass the basics and “feed the freshmen to the wolves,” by concentrating on advanced drills.

Egan opted for the basics, and hopes it won’t impede the experienced players’ progress.

Work ethic and basketball smarts are two of the components that make this unit a team.

“We don’t have a bunch of head cases,” Dottin said. “We all get along. No one gets defensive if someone criticizes them. They know it’s for the good of the team.”

No one anticipates a blistering start, but the Toreros think they can pull some upsets by the time conference play rolls around.

“We have that kind of potential,” Dottin said.

Said Barnhard: “We might struggle early, but by mid-season, we’ll be really, really tough to beat.”

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University of San Diego Roster

No. Player Pos Yr Hgt Wgt 50 Brooks Barnhard C Jr. 6-9 220 40 Brian Bruso F Fr. 6-7 200 24 Gylan Dottin F Sr. 6-5 220 13 David Fizdale G Fr. 6-2 170 32 Sean Flannery G Fr. 6-7 200 44 Christopher Grant F-C Jr. 6-8 215 21 Doug Harris G So. 6-0 174 55 Ryan Hickman F Fr. 6-6 255 30 Val Hill G-F Fr. 6-4 210 35 Neal Meyer G Jr. 6-3 200 11 Geoff Probst G Sr. 5-11 165 23 Joe Temple G-F Jr. 6-4 208 20 Kurt Wiesner G So. 6-2 185 33 Rocco Raffo C Fr. 6-9 220

Coach: Hank Egan