A basketball potpourri

Here's some WAC and non-WAC items that caught our attention:

Example # 872 that drives us batty because the justifications behind these predictions are absent. KOH is a talk radio station in Reno and this message was posted on the Silver and Blue Nevada fan site message board:

kohsportsguy
Sep 30, 2008

Media members got their preseason basketball polls today. Here's how I responded:

1 - Nevada

2 - New Mexico State

3 - Utah State

4 - Hawaii

5 - Fresno State

6 - Boise State

7 - La Tech

8 - San Jose St

9 - Idaho

POY - Gary Wilkinson, Utah St (although I thought real hard about Armon Johnson)

Newcomer - Luke Babbitt

All-WAC - Wilkinson, Armon Johnson, Brandon Fields, Kyle Gibson (La Tech), CJ Webster (San Jose St)

Folks, there is no way Hawaii, Fresno State and Boise State will finish 4, 5 and 6 this coming season, nor will Louisiana Tech and San Jose State be mired in the second division. We were unable to determine who posted the message -- KOH's web site only lists its DJs -- so we were unable to connect with him about his choices. We would love to get his thinking behind this if anyone can point us in the right direction.
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Chris Murray has a good compilation of WAC basketball personnel activity in his blog entry today:

Whipping around the WAC
Chris Murray
Reno Gazette-Journal
9/30/2008

Midnight Madness is just two weeks away, meaning the college basketball season is about to kick into full gear. With that in mind, let's whip around the WAC with a few notes from the teams in the conference (with one on Nevada at the bottom).

-- Louisiana Tech kicked two players off its team, including senior JC Clark and Nebraska transfer Jamel White. Both were dismissed from the team for an unspecified violation of team rules. "Although I am disappointed by these circumstances, there is an expectation of conduct that will not be compromised in our program," Bulldogs coach Kerry Rupp said. "Every member of our team is also a representative of this university, and we will continue to reinforce the core values that are the backbone of our program."

Starting 28 games last season, Clark averaged 9.5 points and 2.7 rebounds per game. He did shoot only 38.3 percent from the field and was expected to have a lessen role with La. Tech, which is adding 10 players to its roster this season. White, meanwhile, could have been the guy taking minutes from Clark as the team's potential starting point guard. After sitting out last season under the transfer rules, White was eligible to play this season. Now, he will likely go two years without playing in a game...

Go here for the full article.
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Here's a funny -- we found it in the Los Angeles Times High school section blog:

Boys' basketball: Villa Park loses junior player
Eric Sondheimer, Los Angeles Times

Michael Atwater, a 6-foot-6 junior forward from Villa Park, has transferred to the Basketball Academy at IMG Academies in Bradenton, Fla. In a sign of how high school basketball has changed, the announcement came in a news release from an IMG representative whose title is listed as Recruiting Coordinator and Player Development Specialist. There are lots of people in Southern California's prep scene who deserve to have that title.

and then this one

Renardo Sidney possesses major potential but not necessarily the world's best attitude or work ethic. There is no way he plays at Mississippi State even though he is from the state originally -- such is not part of the long range marketing plan for him. He doesn't leave southern California and we expect to see him at USC -- for a year maybe. We talked with Sidney's father once for an article we were writing for a basketball recruiting web site and the father was quite vociferous that his son wasn't receiving the media attention he deserved. All we could offer was that we generally covered northern California basketball but that didn't suffice. Dad's calling some coaches out here when toning such thinking down a few notches and certainly not going public with it would serve him -- but more importantly his son -- better.

Sidney to visit Mississippi State
Lance Pugmire, Los Angeles Times

Renardo Sidney will make a recruiting visit to Mississippi State next week and is also planning a trip to Nevada Las Vegas, his father says.

Sidney, a 6-foot-10 senior center, also has had conversations with USC and UCLA, but his father said Tuesday that neither is a front-runner. "We don't have a front-runner," he said.

Sidney Sr. hinted that he appreciates extra attention. "If you're recruiting a big-time player, you should recruit him like he's a big-time player and call him every day, not just once every two weeks...That's not interest."