Suspended at USD: Senior Center; Team's Optimism

Published: Monday, November 10, 2008 1:17 PM PST

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This is what University of San Diego senior guard Brandon Johnson says he told fellow All-West Coast Conference pick Gyno Pomare when he learned the Toreros' senior center was suspended indefinitely.

"You can't put what I said to him," Johnson said. "It was R-rated."

USD men's basketball coach Bill Grier said Saturday night after the team's exhibition game win over Cal State Los Angeles that he has suspended indefinitely Pomare and sophomore forward Clint Houston for violating team rules in two unrelated incidents.

He added he suspended the players, as opposed to an automatic school suspension, which suggests there are no legal implications.

The suspensions take some of the luster off of the start of the 2008-09 season that begins Saturday at UNLV, a team on the bubble of being nationally ranked.

Pomare, a 6-foot-8, 240-pounder from Oceanside's El Camino High, is a two-time All-WCC pick that averaged 14.1 points and 7.4 rebounds.

Houston is a backup that played some of his best games at the end of his freshman year.

USD is coming off a season that included the Toreros' first win in an NCAA Tournament game. Pomare scored 22 points in the upset of Connecticut and then 20 points two days later in the second-round loss to Western Kentucky.

USD advanced to the NCAA in Grier's first season by winning the WCC Tournament title.

Grier, who turned down Oregon State to remain at USD, was succinct when asked if he was disappointed by the actions of Pomare and Houston.

"Very," he said, declining to elaborate more on the suspensions.

-- TOM SHANAHAN

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