Cone expects big things from Thoss

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The brightest spot from the disappointing Fiesta Conference was the continued development of Alaska center Sonny Thoss.

Of all the positives that went on this conference that was the number one positive we got: Developing the game of Sonny, said Alaska coach Tim Cone. So that was one of our goals. And that was a goal that we achieved. But we were not going to do it and sacrifice the conference and sacrifice the players. But I honestly felt that we could do both. I felt that we could develop him and play with a small import and still be successful.

But the Aces were not so successful in defending their Fiesta Conference crown suffering crucial losses that doomed their chances of advancing into the playoffs. They lost one game after import Randy Holcomb was handed a one-game suspension and lost crucial games after Willie Miller was stricken with chicken pox.

You can look back on it and the suspension of Randy was huge, said Cone. We had to play all-Filipino against a team with an import and we lost. If you look back, that one game cost us the quarterfinals.

And then the Magnolia game which ended with a controversy. And Willie coming down with Chicken Pox was unfortunate. That set Willie back in terms of game shape more than anything. He had to go so long without practicing. It hurt us not just in the games that he missed but the next couple of games after he got back because he was not in shape, said Cone.

The Aces were plagued with bad breaks - decisions by the office of the commissioner, bad calls by the referees, and injuries - at the worst possible time. But breaks are part of the game according to Cone and that teams get a better shot at winning championships when things go well.

The Alaska mentor admitted that getting a smaller, faster import was a gamble that did not pay off.

We went with the idea that we would try to do something different, said Cone. We wanted to go with the smaller type import and try to win that way. And there were a number of reasons why we did that. One of the primary reasons was that we did not want to lock Sonny out of the conference.

Cone and his coaching staff felt that getting a seven-footer would lock Thoss out of the conference and retard his development as a player. He would have to move to the power forward position which was not his natural position. Or he would have to back up the import and his playing time would be limited.

So we threw this challenge out to him, said Cone. And we were thinking long term. It was going to be incredibly beneficial for him. But we will not know that for sure until the next All-Filipino.

The Alaska mentor said Thoss is without a doubt the best defensive big man in the league right now.

He is head and shoulders above everybody else right now, said Cone. He is like Jerry Codinera when Jerry was playing. He is at the level above everybody else. He is smart. He is physical. He plays with tremendous effort.

The Alaska coach said the next step is for Thoss to become a better player on the offensive end.

Come the All-Filipino, we will demand that he do something with the ball in his hands, said Cone. We want to put the ball in his hands and have him do something with it. We want him to become a force on the other side of the court as well. Having to compete against those seven-footers has improved him a lot. So we expect big things from him.