USF hoops revival stirs storied Hilltop memories

Hail the revival and call up the echoes. It will be a fine Saturday evening on the Hilltop.

It must come as a shock, to some, that the USF men’s basketball team will draw national attention for its West Coast Conference showdown against fifth-ranked Gonzaga (7 p.m., ESPN2). When a program has spent decades in the shadows, it tends to be roundly dismissed. But coach Kyle Smith’s team is no fluke, rolling to a 14-2 record with victories over Cal, Stanford and a longtime conference nemesis, St. Mary’s, along the way.

And it’s about time. Taken as a whole, the Dons’ program is rich in historical significance, forever bucking the odds against schools with infinitely greater resources.