Great minds think alike

Gotta love that headline!

Nick Jezierny of The Idaho Statesman is thinking along the same lines as us with the pitiful performance to date by WAC teams in non-conference games. Some reasons why are offered in the following.

Early-season struggles could haunt WAC men's basketball in postseason
Nick Jezierny
Idaho Statesman
December 01, 2007

Entering December, the WAC looks more like a two-bit basketball conference rather than one that has placed two teams in the NCAA Tournament in seven of the past eight seasons.

The three teams picked to finish at the top of the standings - Utah State, New Mexico State and Nevada - are a combined 8-12, with two of those wins coming against non-Division I foes.

Two others - Fresno State and Louisiana Tech - lost to teams that haven't beaten anyone else. And another - Idaho - still hasn't defeated a Division I team...

...Right now, it isn't hard to be at the top of the WAC. The conference, which finished the past two seasons ranked ninth out of 31 leagues in the RPI power rankings and has been a top-10 conference in six of the past eight years, is ranked 23rd. It's behind the Big Sky and Sun Belt and just ahead of the Mid-Eastern Athletic. Those conferences traditionally get only their champion into the NCAAs...

...As of Friday, Nevada (2-3) had the best RPI in the WAC at 107. BSU ranks fourth at 182 and five WAC teams are ranked 213 or lower. Those numbers don't bode well for the WAC to keep its string of multiple bids to the NCAA Tournament. With the exception of 2003, when regular-season champion Fresno State declared itself ineligible for postseason play, the WAC has sent at least two teams to the Big Dance in every year since 1983.

"There is no question that your nonconference performance as a conference determines how many bids you're going to get," Mark Fox said.

Fox said this season's woes can be traced to how WAC teams have scheduled. Entering Saturday's games, the WAC played 24 home games and 23 road games, as well as six neutral-site games.

"I hate to say it, but it's ridiculous that we are putting ourselves in this position," Fox said. "We are playing far too many road games as a conference. We have to make a greater commitment to scheduling games at home. We have to invest financially in scheduling."

Go here for the complete article.