It's too early to play Chicken Little

*** Do check the comments below as I made some errors here/rather than correct them it's appropriate to give credit to those who caught the mistakes

Boy, aren't we a tad testy. Two or three games into the season, some of the various WAC team message boards have calls for this or that coach resignation plus so-and-so player leaving due to lack of playing time.

Wow.

Admittedly, we haven't a clue if the sky is indeed falling at any WAC member mens basketball programs but neither does anyone else -- yet. So let's look at each one.

Boise State to date- A win against Loyola Marymount and a 13 point loss to Montana, a 15 point victory against North Dakota plus a 26 point downer at Wyoming -- all road games -- is what the Broncos have to show. Traveling to Eastern Washington and hosting North Texas will tell us a bit more and then it's off to Champaign to take on powerhouse Illinois. At least three more games -- actually more -- are needed to denote any sort of trend as there is a host of new players still adjusting to D-1 ball in Greg Graham's rotation.

Fresno State to date - So far, the Bulldogs have a win against Northern Arizona and a one point loss to Seattle -- both road contests -- and now a game tonight against San Diego State. That will be followed by a challenging slate versus Santa Clara, Pacific, San Diego, Pepperdine and BYU. The Fresno youth/newcomers will need time to truly show their mettle as this is a squad which should grow better as the season progresses.

Hawaii to date - The hoops gods and goddesses haven't shone brightly on UH this season, what with Bill Amis' injury and Douglas Kurtz' six game suspension. Add in an almost all new backcourt and again, this is a squad which has the potential to be better come WAC play but Amis will be needed for the Rainbow Warriors in order to be respectable then. Bob Nash's team owns wins against Southern Utah and McNeese State matched with losses to Northern Colorado and BYU.

Idaho to date: That road win against Utah goes a long way even if it was followed by a loss in Houston to Texas Southern. Then it was another road victory against North Dakota. Sacramento State comes to Moscow on Tuesday, followed by Eastern Washington and a trip to Cal State Northridge. Then it's big time with Portland coming in and a short trip to Pullman to face Washington State.

Louisiana Tech to date - 3-1 right now with wins against Texas- Pan American, Miami (Ohio) and Nicholls State plus an 81-52 loss to New Mexico -- all road contests. Arkansas Little Rock is next in Ruston followed by a trip to TCU.

Nevada to date - Wolf Packers should currently be happy as the squad has beat Montana State and Houston at home plus a loss to UNLV in Sin City. But VCU, North Carolina and Pacific -- all on the road -- await Coach Carter and his team. We'll definitely know more after these games.

New Mexico State to date - A bad road loss at St. Mary's was followed by a 10-point defeat in Albuquerque (which is nothing worthy of shame). Fullerton, UTEP and a rematch with New Mexico are among the next contests which will be telling but always keep in mind that this is a Marvin Menzies group still minus Wendell McKines and Troy Gillenwater. If Las Cruces has any high buildings, don't climb the stairs to the roof until WAC play begins and we see who is on the playing roster then.

San Jose State to date - A 10-point road loss to Washington almost counts as a moral victory for the effort and fight displayed. But the loss to UC Riverside -- definitely a winnable game -- brings back the conundrum: which SJSU team will show up next? Hosting Pacific and St. Mary's next Saturday and Monday respectively will tell us a lot.

Utah State to date - A nice win at Weber State was followed by a one-point loss to Utah in Salt Lake City and a three-point loss to Northeastern in Boston. We don't see anything to fret about here. Hosting Utah on 12/02 and St. Mary's on 12/5 will be solid grist for the thinking mill and we'll check back then.

As a good friend keeps telling me, it's a marathon and not a sprint.