Monday's game previews

The WAC schedule was blank yesterday but tonight it's Texas State in The Land of Lincoln to battle Northwestern, Louisiana Tech in Orval Faubus territory versus Arkansas Little Rock and Seattle hosting Jackson State.

Northwestern athletics previews.

LA TECH athletics previews.

Seattle athletics previews.

Jerry Brewer takes a look at Seattle hoops from the inside in a fascinating read.

A little more for today

Jason Jones (a Rivals sub is required) writes about a Michigan - Louisiana Tech connection, the article spurred by LT's signing of a pair of talents with Wolverine state roots.

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Seattle U Hoops has tweeted: "Alright, here goes: I'm hearing that British big man Shore Adenekan, from Lamar CC, has committed to @seattleu!"

He's a 6-foot-9, 235 pound frontcourter out of London who averaged 10.5 points and 8.1 rebounds a game last season for Lamar, shooting 53% overall and 53% from the foul line.

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As part of Louisiana Tech recruiting efforts after last season, PTW recalls Northwest Florida State College's Demetrius Moore signing with the Bulldogs last November.

But then we noticed his absence on the current LT roster.

Something obviously came up because he is listed at the NFSC site as being at Troy University this season. But he isn't on the 2012-13 official Troy roster so maybe he is redshirting there. We're guessing it was academics that caused the change.

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The University Star editorializes on Texas State basketball

Friday's WAC hoops weekly closeout

Kyle Goon writes about the Big Three and the Lilliputians in Logantown.

TornBySports is having technical difficulties, so head here to read a lengthy look at the USU Aggies.

Shawn Harrison writes that Utah State has an exhibition game tonight.

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LA TECH athletics recaps an exhibition victory by Coach Mike White's squad.

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Matt Norlander goes Mile High with his WAC team and player rankings.

There will be some contentions about the opinions expressed in the Coach's take section, especially the 'Brockeith Pane being the best Aggie last season' statement.

Plus, a quibble about Preston Medlin: it's true that over half of his shot attempts were treys but what many don't realize is that he went to the foul line 156 times last season -- so he wasn't just a catch-and-shoot type.

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Seattle U Hoops tiers up the members of the WAC.

Louisiana Tech keeps coming on

Coach Mike White and Louisiana Tech are entering season two and preparing a followup act to last season's 18-16, 6-8 turnaround.

Two players gave departed -- Lonnie Smith and Alex Carr -- but such will have no effect. Two have graduated, Trevor Gaskins, who contributed mightily and Romario Souza, to a lesser degree. But with the latter pair, returnees and newcomers will step up with no dropoff.

Here's the 2012-13 Bulldog roster. In the middle are:

* Michale Kyzer, 6-foot-9 sophomore
* J.L. Lewis, 6-foot-8 senior
* Gilbert Talbot, 6-foot-10 freshman

Kyzer led the squad with 60 rejections -- this while playing but 13.5 minutes per game. Add some strength/weight and his rebounding will par up but his offensive game is still evolving.

Lewis was a nice surprise but remains a fill-in talent

Talbot is a frosh who advanced his skills set a long way as a prep senior but will probably benefit from being a redshirt next season.

At the four:

* Isaiah Massey, 6-8 sophomore
* Demetrius Moore, 6-foot-8 junior

Massey got off to a promising start before an injury ended his season early and, between him and newcomer Moore, the four spot has a strong possibility of becoming a real strength for the Techsters. But remember that Massey has missed virtually two straight seasons (redshirting at Mississippi two years ago) and Moore will be making the jump from the JC ranks so progress may come with sits and starts.

Beginning with the outside-the-paint talents:

* Brandon Gibson, 6-foot-5 senior wing
* Jaron Johnson, 6-foot-6, junior wing
* Stojan Gjuroski, 6-foot-7 sophomore wing

PTW keeps expecting Gibson to explode into an All-WAC player but his shooting percentages need to elevator up dramatically. Johnson is just out of the the JC ranks but is a superb athlete with solid basketball skills and perfect for White's uptempo offensive and defensive systems. Gjuroski redshirted two years ago, played little last season and it doesn't look like much of an opportunity for playing time will be available for him in 2012-13.

At shooting guard:

* Raheem Appleby, 6-foot-2 sophomore
* Cordarius Johnson, 6-foot-5 junior
* Alex Hamilton, 6-foot-4 freshman

Appleby enjoyed a remarkable freshman year and such should be a jumping off point as he'll be an All-WAC selection and a contender for WAC MVP come the new season. Johnson was streaky but certainly contributed to the positive Bulldog reversal. A better assist-to-turnover ratio is needed from him. Newbie Hamilton faces a crowded situation but PTW still thinks he'll earn his way on to the court and be a contributor even if he has to play some one (which he is capable of).

Getting to the point:

* Kenneth Smith, 6-foot-3 sophomore
* Kenyon McNeail, 6-foot-1 junior

Smith was a 27-minute-a-game player in 2011-12 -- even as a frosh -- and piled up the assists as the LT team leader in that category. He also topped the Bulldogs in steals but does need to improve his shooting accuracy. McNeail also contributed with his passing and scoring but likewise needs to reach the net more often with his attempts.

In summary, keep an eye on Massey and Hamilton to help and then eventually emerge as prominent contributors. Plus, Johnson will solidify the three spot. Coach Mike White keeps stealthily building in Ruston.

LT to C-USA

Brett McMurphy writes that Louisiana Tech is Conference USA bound, in particular the West Division: LT, North Texas, Rice, Texas San Antonio, Tulane, Tulsa and UTEP.

Monday's WAC basketball compilation

Per Adam Zagoria, 6-foot-6 wing Marco Bougault, a very solid catch-and-shoot JC transfer, has cast his lot with St. John's. He had tripped to Louisiana Tech earlier.

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Brian McInnis has updates from the twitter accounts of all three of UH basketball's visiting recruits -- lots of positive words but no commits, as yet.

Adios for now.

Friday's WAC-a-doodle

North Dakota led 25-20 at the end of the first 20 minutes, point totals hard to imagine in Coach Mike White's frenetic style. But Louisiana Tech came back in the second half to pull it out 58-53 as Raheem Appleby led the Bulldogs with 19 points.

The athletic departments of LT and ND offer game reports.

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Chris Murray checks in with the accomplishments of Nevada's November recruiting class. Joe Santoro goes long in documenting how Nevada is feeding off southern California.

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Theo Lawson and Pat Hauge check in on Saturday's Idaho - Portland State matchup. Vandal Nation offers video of Don Verlin's trio of departing seniors -- Deremy Geiger, Djim Bandoumel and Landon Tatum -- looking at their final home game.

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Robert Kuwada explores Cal St. Northridge, the BB Bulldog opponent and host.

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Hawaii is in an unenvious position travel-wise as Jeff Portnoy details. Dayton Morinaga multi-medias the same subject -- wins will answer all the questions about the cross country sojourn.

It's Friday morning ... so what happened last night?

Louisiana Tech played the role of rude host, topping Fresno State 59-58, on Brandon Gibson's thisclose-to-the-last-second deuce. Cordarius Johnson led the Bayou Bulldogs with 16 points while Kevin Olekaibe topped the visitors with 20. Tech's Raheem Appleby left the game with an injury in the second half.

Jason Pugh and Jerit Roser were on press row plus Robert Kuwada also checks in.

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Nevada led host New Mexico State 44-30 at the half and finished with a 68-60 victory. The Pack shot 56% to 33% for the Aggies. Wendell McKines went 2-12, Bandja Sy 2-9.

Jason Groves and Teddy Feinberg tweeted the pairing as did Chris Murray.

Jason serves up his take on the contest plus Teddy Feinberg added a commentary. Jason also authored a blog entry. Chris was also courtside (a shout out to the suits at the Gazette Journal is deserved) and also provided a second article.

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Utah State held an eight point lead over Hawaii after 20 minutes and the matchup ended with the Logan-ites owning a five point, 77-72, margin. Preston Medlin led the way with 25 points, a remarkable (in both makes and attempts) 13-14 from the foul line. Vander Joaquim posted a 24/14 double-double (is he entering WAC MVP territory?) but Zane Johnson shot 4-15 and Joston Thomas 4-12.

Brian McInnis was a-twitterin'.

Shawn Harrison, Tony Jones, Matt Sonnenberg and Dayton Morinaga all supply game reports. Craig J. Peterson offers 42 game photos.

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San Jose State challenged Idaho up in the Land of Famous Potatoes and encountered (Kyle) Barone Night to the tune of 21 points and 11 boards and a 74-66 defeat. But the best Vandal stat was 14 shots on the night for the Idaho junior center. Djim Bandoumel also posted a double-double consisting of 11 points and 10 boards. Coach Don Verlin's squad shot 50% on the night and a remarkable 48% on 23 trey attempts. For the Spartans, Wil Carter came close to another double-double with 15 points and nine rebounds and freshman guard D.J. Brown led with 18 markers.

John Blanchette has the details as does Vandal Nation and Gaylen Wood. VN also offers an 11-minute video featuring post game interviews.

Thursday's a.m. look at tonight's matchups

Four games tonight ...

* Louisiana Tech hosts Fresno State in what should be a close one.

Jerit Roser writes about Tech's homecourt troubles so far while Robert Kuwada profiles Bulldog Jerry Brown.

* New Mexico State and Nevada go at it in Las Cruces (to ESPN: in what should be a televised game). This one will feature duels between equally talented, skilled and athletic bigs and smalls.

Jason Groves previews as does Chris Murray with his four keys/prediction piece and then Chris takes a second look. Sam Wasson also previews

* Idaho and San Jose State face off in Red Square, make that Moscow. Which team is Putin rooting for?

Vandal Nation serves up a five minute Spartan scouting report video out of the mouths of Kyle Barone and Mansa Habeeb.

* Utah State welcomes Hawaii Spectrum-style.

Dayton Morinaga takes a multi-media look at the pairing with Kraig Williams, Tony Jones and Shawn Harrison all also checking in about a contest that should tell us much more about both teams.

Thursday and your WAC hoops compendium

Posting this early in the morning or late at night depending where you live -- may have more on Thursday.

LT Coach Mike White just received the best news yet in his brief tenure.

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It's Olek Czyz's time in the "Five Questions" barrel.

Chris Murray serves up a Q-and-A with Cole Huff, Nevada's second verbal commit as well as a solid feature on Jerry Evans.

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Coach Marvin Menzies turns momentary scribe in the Las Cruces Sun-News.

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Craig Peterson of the Cache Valley Daily has posted 41 photos of the Utah State intra-squad scrimmage.

Now if only Jerry Evans said his culinary fave is Ruby Tuesday...

Here's Tuesday's WAC hoops compilation:

Dan Hinxman talks with extra droll Wolf Pack wing Jerry Evans. PTW says let this guy tweet during the season, please, please, please.

Dan also interviews Malik Story.

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Jason Groves busts out his choice for the top player in the WAC.

Jason also has a feature on Aggie assistant coach Tony Delk and what he is bringing to the NMSU program.

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Per Anthony Ray (a Rivals sub is required), 6-foot-8 Joe Boyd (a 2013 prospect) has de-comitted from New Mexico State. The young man says he wants to survey his possibilities and still includes the Aggies as a contender for his services.

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6-foot-5 Bayou State basketballer Michael Qualls chose Arkansas over Louisiana Tech, which is still a plus in that the Bulldogs were running with a bigtime program.

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Brian McInnis reports on the makeup of the TV crew for UH games this season plus he has a scoop on the Rainbow Warriors director of operations opening.

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Fear the beard may or may not reappear, per Dayton Morinaga.

Tuesday's wide world of WAC basketball

Alex Schwartz updates the recruitment of 2012 Alabama prep backcourter DeOndre Haynes who lists Louisiana Tech as one of the two suitors coming at him the hardest and the young man says he tripping to Ruston this weekend. The 6-foot-2 guard earned County Player of the Year in back-to-back seasons.

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Jason Groves writes about the new and improved Wendell McKines.

Jason also lists Nevada's Olek Czyz as his #7 player in this year's WAC.

Saturday's WAC basketball galaxy

LouisianaSelect at the Bulldog Barks & Bytes MB has posted that recruit Michael Qualls includes Louisiana Tech as one of his final two choices.

Qualls is a 6-foot-4 wing out of Shreveport. Back in August 2009, Rivals' Jerry Meyer wrote this about the young man:

"At 6-foot-4 and as about as long as a prospect can get at that size, Qualls was the top athlete at the event. A promising transition and baseline dunker, Qualls played with an impressive intensity. He's a dangerous rebounder and defender and also displayed flashes of a developing skill game. It is tough to say what level Qualls will end up at as a prospect, but his upside makes him a prospect that high majors need to be tracking."

ESPN's Dave Telep wrote this in July 2011:

"He's an incredible athlete who soars above the rim to score and grab rebounds. He scores his points using his athleticism whether he is filling the lane in transition or flying in for an offensive rebound. He can go and find most balls near or above the rim and shows the ability to drive when there is a clear path to the basket. Inside of 15 feet, he is comfortable and dangerous. Mid-majors are offering."

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Jason Groves has Idaho's Kyle Barone coming in at #9 in his ranking of the top 10 WAC talents.

Here's Jason with his feature on Aggie hoops and the Pan-Am Center.

Saturday's world of WAC hoops

Steve Forbes (the Northwest Florida State College coach not the magazine guy) has tweeted:

"Congrats 2 Raider Demetrius Moore! He committed 2 Louisiana Tech this am. HC Mike White & former NWF/OW Asst Issac Brown did a great job!"

Moore is 6-foot-8, 220 and will be a junior when he arrives in Ruston. Out of the Florida prep ranks, Moore played in 21 games last season, shooting 41% from the floor while averaging 4.8 points per game. He grabbed 3.4 rebounds a contest.

Here's a 2010 article about Moore moving from high school to the JC ranks.

Here's a photo of him dunking last season.

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Adam Zagoria has a nice feature on Seton Hall's Herb Pope, the former New Mexico State frontcourter.

LT has a visitor

Louisiana Tech has 2012 high schooler Michael Qualls in on a campus visit this weekend. he's a 6-foot-4 wing who played for the Louisiana Select basketball club.

From a Jerry Meyer 2009 article:

Michael Qualls (2012)- At 6-foot-4 and as about as long as a prospect can get at that size, Qualls was the top athlete at the event. A promising transition and baseline dunker, Qualls played with an impressive intensity. He's a dangerous rebounder and defender and also displayed flashes of a developing skill game. It is tough to say what level Qualls will end up at as a prospect, but his upside makes him a prospect that high majors need to be tracking.

Thursday's WAC basketball report

Per Tony Jones, Utah State has landed a junior college verbal: 6-foot-8 Sean Harris out of Coach Doug Cornelius' ultra-successful Yuba College program based in northern California.

By the way, Yuba had five all-conference players last season including one that moved on to Minnesota and another who landed at Idaho.

Here's a note from when Harris signed a letter-of-intent with Coach Les and Bradley in 2010.

Here's a July 2011 post all about Harris returning to the court from his LDS mission.

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Bob (Mslacat) Robinson plus this link too sent along information about Trey Dickinson.

Dickinson is a 6-foot-1 guard at Price High in Los Angeles but originally from NY. Montana State has offered (he'll visit October 1) plus he will be scheduling a sojourn to San Diego State. Fresno State fans will be interested in these items:

"2012 point guard Trey Dickerson of Price High School (Cal.) spoke with Fresno State tonight"

and

"Fresno State coming to see me monday"

Dickerson totaled 18 points and 6 assists a game last year when he was at Montclair High (the school subsequently dropped athletics).

Here's Dickinson's Twitter account.

Here's a feature on him from August 26.

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Hawaii's basketball scheduled has been freed -- Dayton Morinaga offers the details.

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Was this said tongue-in-cheek or in front of a mirror? In the August 1 issue of Sports Illustrated, Tennessee Coach Derek Dooley, who worked as both football coach and athletic director at Louisiana Tech from 2007-2009, was quoted saying: "The best athletic director I ever worked for was at Louisiana Tech." 

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Just throwing this in for fun: Anthony Ray (a Rivals sub is required) has posted a feature on two big in the Arizona community college ranks. One is Matt Korcheck/Cochise College who had USU interest some time back and the other, is Arizona Western's Renan Lenz, a native of Brazil. Might Hawaii be checking out the latter? Ray says both are now high major prospects.

Monday's WAC basketball-aroo

Former Bulldog Paul Millsap will soon enter the LT Hall of Fame -- what an example of someone who could do one thing really well expanding his game in the pros. He's a poster player for what hunger and hard work can achieve.

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Dayton Morinaga reports on Coach Gib Arnold speaking Mandarin -- the fluency will be exemplified when -- not if -- UH lands a talent from China. This trip made so much sense for the Rainbow Warriors program.

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Are you an Idaho student with college basketball aspirations? Then go here.

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ericsil7 has posted on the USU Fans Stews' Spectrum MB that former Aggie backcourter James Walker's new home is a SoCal junior college. It's the same school as new Hawaii signee Garrett Jefferson.

Tuesday's WAC basketball-aroo

Yikes, take a photo and trouble ensues...

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Louisiana Select has posted a note on the Bulldogs Barks & Bytes MB on LA Tech in-state recruiting target Michael Qualls, a 2012 prospect.

Here is an old report (August 2009) from Jerry Meyers on the young man:

"At 6-foot-4 and as about as long as a prospect can get at that size, Qualls was the top athlete at the event. A promising transition and baseline dunker, Qualls played with an impressive intensity. He's a dangerous rebounder and defender and also displayed flashes of a developing skill game. It is tough to say what level Qualls will end up at as a prospect, but his upside makes him a prospect that high majors need to be tracking."

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Chris Murray writes about Cole Huff, a CA talent of interest to Nevada. The Wolf Pack appear to be the top team looking at him.

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Jeff Borzello has a post up on 2013 basketballer Torren Jones, a frontcourter out of Arizona who is earning Pac-12 interest plus that of San Jose State University.

Friday's world of WAC basketball

Our condolences go out to the family of Scotty Robertson -- Jimmy Watson reports.

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Seldomseensmith has the scoop on Tyler Newbold's next basketball destination.

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Dayton Morinaga is back with three multi-media posts here, here and here. The latter announces the signing of Christian Standhardinger, the forward from Nebraska. Dayton also includes updates on recruits Dillon Biggs and Gerry Blakes in it.

Personnel changes in mid-June?

Actually, most player shifts are a long time coming and probably were in place sometime ago. Anyway, here goes:

Well, this is a surprise.

KOFan on the Save Mart Center MB at the BarkBoard site, is reporting that Bracken Funk has departed from the Fresno State basketball team, thus weakening an already thin front line.

PTW recalls this from Funk in Daniel Lyght's April 7 Fresno Bee article right after Rodney Terry's new hire:

"I'm behind this guy 100%. I would take a bullet for him right now, and I only met him for 20 minutes. He's awesome."

The timing sure is curious, what with so many teams now at 13 scholarships.

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Jason Jones at his Here Come The Dawgs Louisiana Tech Scout site makes note of another Ole Miss transfer -- this one a backcourter -- joining the squad in Ruston.

JAY noted the above at the Bulldog Barks and Bytes MB and added that sophomore-to-be cornerman James Johnson may be packing.

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Tony Jones reports that UVU will be back in the house during the WAC meeting this week, the latest status in an on-again, off-again relationship.

Conversely, Bob Condotta has the details on Seattle's desire to join the WAC.

With Denver already aboard, will the league add two non-football playing members? Or just one?

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Brian McInnis offers the details on the UH players participating in summer league play.