A brief WAC Saturday update

Shawn Harrison has a report on Utah State hoops -- go here.

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Idaho athletics gives us a peek into a Vandal team scrimmage:

Basketball balanced at scrimmage
Courtesy: Idaho Athletic Media Relations
10/22/2010
 
There was a little bit of everything for the University of Idaho men's basketball team at the Black and Gold Scrimmage on Friday, from 3-point sharp-shooting to big slam dunks, transition buckets, and physical defense.

Idaho head coach Don Verlin said that he likes what he sees so far from his young team, and that it will be important to continue developing every day.

"It's what we needed, that's for sure," Verlin said of running the team through a game-type setting. "Everything we can do to get this team ready to go, we have to do it, because of the inexperience we have."

The team's balance was also evident on the score sheet. Senior guard Jeff Ledbetter (5-7 FG), junior guard Deremy Geiger (4-7 FG) and junior forward Luiz Toledo (7-10 FG) led all players with 15 points each, while four more players hit double-digit point totals during the four eight-minute scrimmage periods.

The Idaho Gold team shot a combined .553 (26-47) from the floor, while Idaho Black hit 51.2 percent (21-41) from the floor. The teams also had a combined 30 assists and 16 turnovers. The teams also hit .733 (11-14) from the free throw line and went 8-of-19 (.421) from 3-point range.

"The one thing we have on this team is we have some good basketball players," Verlin said. "We have guys who have a great feel for the game and can pass the ball and really share it. You will see us play not quite as fast as we did last year, but we will play a lot more efficiently than we did a year ago because of our skill level."

For the nearly 500 fans in attendance, it was the first chance to see the many new faces on the Vandal basketball squad, and Verlin said he hopes the Idaho following came away impressed.

"I think that the more people will come out and watch this team, the more they're going to like this team - it's a group that they'll connect with," Verlin said. "We have seven Northwest guys, we have a lot of good guys, and I think that they'll really enjoy watching this team play.

"I enjoy coaching this team and I think the fans will really enjoy watching them."

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More later, hopefully.