In their first full Division I home season, the Seattle University men's basketball team made history by becoming the first team to have a winning record as a first-year D-I reclassifying team.
Finishing with a 17-14 regular season record, the Redhawks held out postseason hopes of a tournament slot in the College Basketball Invitational, CollegeInsider.com Basketball Tournament or National Invitational Tournament.
Though Seattle U did not end up with an invite to any of these postseason tournaments, head coach Cameron Dollar and director of Athletics Bill Hogan had plenty of positive reflections on the 2009-2010 basketball season. The Redhawks won eight of their last nine games and were 10-3 on their home court of KeyArena.
Hogan called the season a phenomenal success, praising the hard work of the coaches and players.
"It was way beyond my expectations of what could have happened," Dollar said.
The end of the season also brought honors to Dollar and Charles Garcia, junior forward. Garcia was named Independent Player of the Year, and Dollar was named Independent Coach of the Year. These honors were voted on by the coaches and sports information directors of the seven independent D-I schools.
Dollar, who counts the team's greatest success as handling the daily grind of being a D-I team, said his team really stepped up in regard to the demands placed on them.
Dollar was especially impressed with the way his players were able to handle the demands of a travel-heavy season.
There will be bigger names playing at KeyArena next year, including the University of Washington and Oregon State University.
"Next year's home schedule is significantly better," Hogan said.
Both Hogan and Dollar were pleased with the results of the KeyArena deal this year.
"It's an amazing building," Hogan said. "I can't think of a better place for college basketball."
While Dollar is looking forward to next year's well-rounded schedule of national and regional games, he calls KeyArena one of this year's major successes.
"People grabbed hold to our style of play, and a good thing we had with the community [in the KeyArena deal]," Dollar said.
Next year, the Redhawks will play at the University of Virginia and the University of Maryland and will continue to play regional teams like Eastern Washington University, University of Idaho and Portland State University.
The Redhawks will lose three seniors to graduation: Mike Boxley, Chris Gweth and Taylor Olson.
"The seniors coming up have them as roll models on and off the court," Dollar said. "They'll be missed."
Dollar said it is important to look at each season as its own since the team dynamics change so much from year to year. He said recruiting is getting progressively better and the team is excited about the players coming in next year.
Additionally, Garcia announced he would be declaring for the NBA draft. It was also reported that Garcia would be hiring an agent, and in doing so, he will become ineligible to return to his NCAA basketball career.
Dollar also expressed his gratitude to the Seattle U community.
"I am extremely appreciative of the student and faculty support," Dollar said. "We're all growing together."
Hogan looks forward to getting into the second year at KeyArena, especially with all of the new corporate sponsorships the school has signed.
More media coverage and national recognition are other areas generating excitement about the upcoming season.
"Everyone I talked to knew we had a great year," Hogan said.
Editor's note: Spectator editor Taylor Olson is not Taylor Olson of the basketball team.
Taylor may be reached at sports@su-spectator.com
is a member of the 
Be the first to comment on this article!