Remember Boise State?

Hey, they're coming back in another year if what is in place stays, which is never a given nowadays. Them being Boise State basketball, currently standing 0-7 in Mountain West Conference play.

No, this isn't to bash the breakaway Broncos (who else in the WC would NOT have taken the action they did?) but to indicate what a step (or two or three) up Mountain West Conference basketball is over the WAC. -- or at least as both are currently constituted.

But such a record happens, especially when your last four opponents are UNLV, Wyoming, San Diego State and New Mexico. Plus, be sure to add in that Leon Rice's troops are generally a mix of newcomers and freshmen.

So those still desiring to switch conferences have to be careful with what they are seeking. The dollars might be greener but not necessarily the grass. Other than Nevada (which along with Fresno State is headed MWC way next season), seemingly every other WAC team would be experiencing a below .500 league record this go-around if each had MWC membership.

Your Wednesday p.m. WAC basketball edition

Although the Broncos are departing and any PTW coverage will be concluding at some point, Boise State athletics has announced the signing of three players to LOIs. We may be wrong but our eyeballs are telling us Kenny Buckner doesn't measure out at 6-foot-9.

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Jeff Portnoy offers up a new Hawaii hoops commit and indications are the 6-foot-5 wing will be a boom-or-bust recruit. Dayton Morinaga had this coverage back in January when the name initially surfaced. Here is an article first published in 2007 when it was Vegas for the young man.

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Daniel Lyght is back with an update on Fresno State recruiting and assistant coach hiring.

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Here's the official announcement of the staff surrounding new LA TECH Coach Mike White.

Thursday's a.m. WAC hoops links

Call it a season as Boise State fell to Oregon in Eugene -- Nick Jezierny has the game report as does Bob Clark. 

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Jason Jones at the HereComesTheDawgs site gets into who are the replacement candidates for Kerry Rupp.

Jason Pugh of the Shreveport Times writes about how the tide turned during this season for Rupp.

Jonathan Ford at the BleedTechBlue site (a Rivals sub is required) offers the background on four possibilities for the opening.

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There's World Wide Wes who first received such a mantle but World Wide Gib is coming up fast on the outside -- Ferd Lewis explains.

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It's not WAC-related but here's a fascinating article about Precision Time Systems, or lack thereof, during the Big Dance.

Tuesday's WAC roundup

San Jose State University is at Creighton, Boise State is welcoming Austin Peay and Hawaii is hosting Portland -- all tonight. Idaho is taking the court at San Francisco on Wednesday.

Steve Takaba and Steve Pivovar at the Omaha.com site preview the Spartans coming to the Midwest.

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Nick Jezierny is all over the BSU post-season matchup, as is Jimmy Trodglen.

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Brian McInnis writes about Coach Eric Reveno's Pilots. Brian also posted a blog entry touching on a number of UH basketball-related subjects.

Jeff Portnoy's latest is up.

Ferd Lewis' column brings back the jingle of the old Gallo television commercial: Hawaii will produce no contract before it's time.

Joey Gulino of The Signal offers a Trevor Wiseman feature.

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Kraig Williams, Shawn Harrison and Tony Jones all report on the Thursday matchup for USU with Kansas State in the Big Dance. Tony also has a blog entry on Jacob Pullen, the on-court leader for K State.

Monday's a.m. WAC report

Reality has indeed bitten. That and an indeterminable degree of anti-Western basketball bias or, at the very least, disregard.

Tony Jones, Shawn Harrison and Kraig Williams are all on top of USU's seeding and matchup with Coach Frank Martin's Big 12 team.

Lya Wodraska offers some background on K-State. Kellis Robinett has more on the tumultuous season of the Wildcats.

Just like with our Wall Street government, he who has the gold, rules as Stew Morrill, plain and simple, offered in Shawn Harrison's piece: "How are you supposed to play top-25, top-50 teams on the road and some of them won't play you? You are going to help your strength of schedule and hurt your RPI because you are going to lose. Nobody wants to hear that, but you are."

One positive: at least the Aggies don't have to go tromping through the snow somewhere back east. The high Thursday for Tucson is forecast for 85 degrees so bring those short pants.

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Nick Jezierny reports on Boise State hosting Austin Peay in a CTI game Tuesday.

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Brian McInnis covers all the WAC post-season matchups in his blog entry, plus some UH personnel updates.

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Jason Groves puts the Aggies on the couch and analyzes the New Mexico State season.

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AW Prince at Silver and Blue Sports has an article posted about the Wolf Pack transformation this season and includes some recruiting tidbits -- a sub is required.

Thoughts while viewing last night's Boise State - New Mexico State game

Besides images of various food stuffs, certain liquids and a fleeting appearance or two of Scarlett Johansson, here is what appeared inside the ol' cabeza while watching the BSU - NMSU matchup: 

* Is there anyone who can stay in front of La'Shard Anderson?

* How did Chili nab that rebound (16:42, first half) with three Boise State players surrounding him?

* Paging Jahmar Young -- report to the Aggie bench, preferably in uniform and ASAP

* Anderson is schooling Kabongo but then K got that steal and resulting dunk

* Kabongo is one of the very few creators on the Aggies, out-of-control at times but aggressive -- he's definitely a keeper

* This isn't a comment about Tai Wesley or Adrian Oliver but La'AShard Anderson's play makes PTW want to see the voting totals by the coaches for WAC MVP

* Reggie Arnold was MIA until that trey, then another, then another. Just a thought but when you hit three in a row, what are the odds of the fourth going in? It didn't.

* No Rahman? That calf injury resulting in his declining production had to be more bothersome than we know.

* A Watson trey attempt (top of the key) when down by 24?\

* Overall, the WAC is down this season -- not a knock, an observation. Forget the RPI and all that, it's simply the quality and consistency of play that has dropped. The coaches will beg to differ but reality bites.

Sunday's report of last night's WAC games

Hawaii did it and definitely possesses the mighty mo heading into the last week of the regular season. What a turnaround for a team with a large contingent of newcomers. So much so that Gib Arnold just might grab some Coach of the Year votes if UH keeps moving forward.

Dayton Morinaga, Brian McInnis and Sam Wasson provide reports of the host Rainbow Warrior win over New Mexico State. Bill Amis and Vander Joaquim earned double-doubles. Has the latter played himself into Newcomer of the Year contention?

Dayton also has the news of a prep commit to the UH hoops program. Dave Reardon contributes a column and we catch up with a Ferd Lewis column we missed the other day.

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Boise State didn't mind any road woes, taking down a fast-slipping Nevada last night as La'Shard Anderson again led the way.

Mark Littlefield, Chris Murray and Joe Santoro fill us in on the 40 minutes of play.

Nick Jezierny was in Reno (thanks from us goes out to the Idaho Statesman management) and we benefit from his game report.

Mental readiness, or the lack thereof, is missing from the Wolf Pack, as Chris Murray covers. Here is Chris' notes article about the game.

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Host Utah State has no trouble in the rematch with Idaho.

Josh Wright, Kraig Williams, Shawn Harrison and Tony Jones.

Also, here are 21 Alan Murray game photos and 26 Craig Peterson photos. Craig also offers another gallery of 65 photos.

Tony Jones also writes about the duo of Wesley and Pane.

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No newspaper report of the host San Jose State University - Louisiana Tech matchup was available so we're going with the SJSU athletics game report of the 72-60 Spartan victory.

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Daniel Lyght looks at the state of Bulldog basketball.

Previews of Saturday's games plus good news about The Refraction

The Idaho edition -- a two pager at that -- of The Refraction is up and what might be the last edition goes out with a bang. No, wait........the spawn of Kraig Williams and Matt Sonnenberg are in place so there will not be a void next season in our WAC basketball lives. The Refraction lives! But there are big shoes to be filled.

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Josh Wright leads off the UI - USU preview coverage. Here are Kraig Williams, Shawn Harrison and Tony Jones also are present and accounted for.

Don't forget that it is going to be Senior Night for six Aggies, another obstacle for the Vandals. Shawn Harrison highlights this sextet.

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The Irish in the Rainbow Warriors comes out as Dayton Morinaga reports. Dayton also offers a UH - New Mexico State game preview. NMSU is rocky and Hawaii is rolling so don't count Gib Arnold's squad out on this one.

Brian McInnis reports that it's senior night in Honolulu and that should give the hometowners even more fire in the belly. Brian also serves up a WAC tourney outlook at his Court Sense blog.

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Jason Groves quotes Coach Marvin Menzies about must-win games in his preview of tonight's matchup. Jason also has posted a "Luck of the Aggies" (as we continue with the 'Irish' theme) blog entry.

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Daniel Lyght writes that Fresno State is in the WAC tourney but it's certainly been a conference run of streaks for the Bulldogs.

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A hot (even in this weather) Boise State team finally made it to Reno as Nick Jezierny reports. Say La'Shard Anderson continues his points barrage and the Broncos win their last two games -- does that top shelf him into most valuable player consideration?

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Here is a preview of the host San Jose State University - Louisiana Tech matchup.

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Mark Rauh at Silver and Blue Sports has posted a bevy of Nevada - Idaho game photos.

We're king of the Bracketbuster! We're king of the BracketBuster!

Cribbing off James Cameron, the WAC answered the 'who's your daddy?' question with an exclamation point over this weekend.

Shawn Harrison was on press row and has a lengthy account of the USU victory over St. Mary's. Tony Jones also took in the game and here is his account. Tony also posted a blog entry. Ben Enos looks at the outcome from a St. Mary's perspective.

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Daniel Lyght reports that Greg Smith went extra large on the court as a Steed-less Fresno State manhandled UC Riverside.

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It took a little extra time but Boise State went into Gaucho territory and grabbed a victory. Rod Couch has the story.

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Here's Jason Pugh with the scoop on Louisiana Tech's win over Georgia State.

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PTW doesn't have a term for it but Zane Johnson was beyond en fuego as Hawaii battered host UC Davis. Dayton Morinaga and Damin Esper fill us in on the UH triumph.

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Nevada played well in spurts and it was good enough to easily nab a victory against visiting UC Irvine. Mark Littlefield offers a game report. Mark also captured post game video from the contest. Joe Santoro provides his take.

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Josh Wright covers Idaho's rather easy win in Bozeman against Montana State.

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In the sole loss, New Mexico State hosted Northern Colorado in what PTW termed a 'big against small' matchup and NC surprisingly came away with a two point triumph. Jason Groves has the details and also serves up a post-game blog entry.

One game from last night and all the game previews for today

San Jose State University cooled down a surging Weber State last night -- head here for the game report. Roy Burton of the Ogden Standard-Examiner also has an article posted.

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Gotta set aside time to watch the Utah State - host St. Mary's tussle. Shawn Harrison  (who is there), Kraig Williams,and Tony Jones all check in.

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Brian McInnis offers an interesting game preview as the Rainbow Warriors are at UC Davis today.

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Northern Colorado is in Las Cruces and PanAmmunition is all over the matchup. Jason Groves also serves up a look at the pairing plus the inside story of Tyrone Watson which will give opposing fans pause about ever booing the sophomore.

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Mark Littlefield previews host Nevada welcoming UC Irvine to Reno. Joe Santoro checks in, too.

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Daniel Lyght writes that familiarity is the byword when UC Riverside shows up at Fresno tonight.

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Boise State is on the beach at UC Santa Barbara for what should be a fast-paced game -- Nick Jezierny has the details.

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Also, Louisiana Tech hosts Georgia State and Idaho matches up with Montana State in Bozeman.

Mostly previews of Saturday's games

As New Mexico State heads to Ruston to tangle with Louisiana Tech, the assisting of Hernst Laroche is featured in Jason Groves' latest.

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This pairing should bring out the best in creative animosity -- we hope. Nick Jezierny covers the buildup to the host Boise State - Idaho get together tonight.

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Referencing a couple of cultural icons, Joe Santoro writes about Nevada and the road this season. The traveling Wolf Pack match up with San Jose State University this evening.

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Daniel Lyght unveils that Fresno State's Bracken Funk will start tonight in a venue where the freshman forward is undefeated. Here are Shawn Harrison, Kraig Williams and Tony Jones. Tony gets to the point with this. Does BillS have a make-fun-of-a-Bulldog costume?

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Dayton Morinaga has been busy with a post about a European point currently playing back East who is interested in UH (as well as Utah State) and another focus of Gib Arnold's this week. Brian McInnis has posted an entry at his Court Sense blog.

Monday's a.m. WAC report

Dayton Morinaga leads us off with some UH recruiting items, including video -- a great way to start the day.

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Pat Hauge at the GoVandals site looks back at Idaho's week in hoops.

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At the Silver and Blue site, Mark Rauh gas a collection of game Nebada - SJSU photos. Scott Daniel is out with a new Cannon Fodder (for you Katy Perry fans). Check it out for an explanation. Also, Chris Murray's Nevada basketball last week column is posted.

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With a tip o' the hat to Sam Wasson at Bleed Crimson, The Refraction-ers have some competition. Maybe the two can get together for a WAC poetry slam at the tourney in Las Vegas. Jason Groves previews tonight's New Mexico State - Louisiana Tech matchup in Las Cruces.

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Nick Jezierny looks into the reasons for Boise State's recent dip on the court.

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Shawn Harrison looks back at what made USU successful in the romp over Boise State. Jay Drew reports on the bump up in the polls this week for Utah State.

Sunday's report on Saturday night in the WAC

What an up-and-down WAC season it has been so far, Utah State excepted.

Idaho frustrated Hawaii up in Moscow. Doug Bauer, Dayton Morinaga and Josh Wright all provide game reports.

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Host Nevada re-started the momentum in a 'Hunt' against San Jose State University.

Mark Littlefield, Chris Murray, Chris again and Joe Santoro fill us in on the matchup.

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If possible, Boise State would have settled for a tie but got "Tai-ed' instead.

Nick Jezierny (who made the trip to Logan), Kraig Williams, Shawn Harrison, Tony Jones and Weston Mangum tell us all we want to know about the contest. Craig J. Peterson serves up 47 photos, heavily emphasizing the female Aggie species.

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It's two in a row now for Fresno State as last night's was a victory over Louisiana Tech..

Daniel Lyght took in the game and also offers a blog entry on how the southern Bulldogs utilized planes, a bus and automobiles to reach the San Joaquin -- all for naught.

Friday's WAC basketball report

In a game the Vandals will long rue and the Spartans savor, a 10-point Idaho lead vanished with less than two minutes to play and Idaho fell to Visiting San Jose State University 92-89 in double overtime.

Josh Wright covered the game as did Theo Lawson.

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Led by a pair of underclassmen and with limited minutes from Greg Smith, Fresno State nabbed a much-needed victory versus visiting New Mexico State.

Daniel Lyght was there, plus he contributed a blog entry. Sam Wasson also filed a game  report.

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Minus Zane Johnson, Hawaii went into Boise and upended the Broncos 73-66 -- Nick Jezierny offers an account as does Dayton Morinaga. Brian McInnis also posted a blog entry and Jeff Portnoy likewise.

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Chris Murray writes about the takeaway from Nevada's loss to USU.

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Kraig Williams features Nate Bendall, Shawn Harrison has a lengthy and informative column and Tony Jones reports on another Aggie commitment, a basketball one in a football week.

Thursday's a.m. WAC report

It was exciting for 20 minutes but then the Aggies began dominating. But Nevada's early second half shot selection fed the Utah State breakout.

Kraig Williams, Shawn Harrison and Tony Jones all report. So does Weston Mangum while Craig J. Peterson serves up 45 game photos.

Chris Murray (who was In Logan/a tip o' the hat to RGJ management) is here and here (the latter an informative look at the key factors).

Joe Santoro writes a fascinating column, completed prior to the tussle with Utah State.

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Dayton Morinaga writes that the UH team facing host Boise State tonight is a different one than in the earlier matchup between these two teams. Brian McInnis covers the confidence factor now emanating from the Rainbow Warriors.

According to Nick Jezierny, Leon Rice is calling it a very critical game for his Broncos.

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Can New Mexico State broom it versus host Fresno State? Jason Groves is here.

Daniel Lyght covers the visa players for the Aggies.

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Idaho is hosting San Jose State University in another rematch tonight. Will the Vandals sweep or the Spartans even the score?

Sunday's report on Saturday's games

A couple of weeks back, it certainly appeared that LA TECH was minus the experience and shooting prowess to make a run but the Bulldogs have proven conventional wisdom wrong. Kerry Rupp's team bopped Boise State in Ruston last night.

Read about it here, here and here.

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Wow. Utah State hits the islands and escaped with an 89-84 double overtime win. Is Brian Green playing his way into an All-WAC spot?

Here are Dayton Morinaga (with print, photos and video) and Brian McInnis (with print and photos). Shawn Harrison has a lengthy report.

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New Mexico State took down Idaho in Las Cruces -- here are Jason Groves, plus he offers a blog entry, and Josh Wright look at the game from the Vandal angle.

We couldn't access the Bleed Crimson site but we'll go back later.

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Rivals San Jose State and Fresno State matched up again and the host Spartans topped the Bulldogs by 12.

Daniel Lyght covered the matchup.

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Here are the WAC standings to date:

Utah State 9-0    
New Mexico State 6-3    
Nevada 5-3    
Boise State 5-4    
Idaho 5-4    
Hawai'i 3-6    
Fresno State 3-6    
San Jose State 2-7    
Louisiana Tech 2-7

The Friday morning scoreboard

Tony Jones was prophetic as visiting Utah State used Mr. Clean Energy in propelling past San Jose State University 84-65. Shawn Harrison and Tony Jones were there (thanks to HJ management and the suits at the Salt Lake Tribune respectively-- now, do they get to go to Hawaii?) plus Tony tweeted the game. Ray Hacke covered the game for the Mercury News.

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Sam Wasson/Bleed Crimson is all over New Mexico State's overtime win against the Boise Staters. 21 crisp photos are here, AggieVision video here and the game report here. Jason Groves offers a game report. 47 Aggie free throws, 13 coming in the OT period, will probably require some floor touchup around the charity stripes in Las Cruces.

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Host Nevada got past Fresno State -- read all about it from Chris Murray here, here and here. Joe Santoro is here. Mark Littlefield, along with three superb game photos, is here. The Fresno Bee's report is here. Daniel Lyght tweeted the contest.

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Ethan Conley and Jason Pugh report on Louisiana Tech getting into the WAC win column with a victory over Idaho.

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Besides the games, Dayton Morinaga has a feature revealing the nicknames of various UH basketballers. Brian McInnis writes about the Rainbow Warriors getting defensive, but in a good way (both the quality of the article and the effort and focus of the players). Jeff Portnoy muses about hoops and life, not necessarily in that order.

Thursday's WAC links and notes

Utah State faces host San Jose State tonight now as a ranked team. Shawn Harrison and Kraig Williams preview. Tony Jones goes Green.

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Nick Jezierny writes about Boise State losing its freshmen but gaining sophomores. It's Boise State venturing into Las Cruces tonight and Jason Groves fills us in on what should be a dandy. Plus, Sam Wasson presents Troy Gillenwater.

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Daniel Lyght previews both the Fresno State matchup at Nevada and also Doc Cleveland. Joe Santoro employs the term score settling which conjures up Hatfield and McCoy visions. Chris Murray is here with his look at the game.

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Dayton Morinaga has video, a photo and print on the evolution of Zane Johnson. Miah Ostrowskiis carrying around a heavy heart as Brian McInnis reports. We missed this from yesyerday but here's the latest from Jeff Portnoy.

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Scott Ferrell's article on Louisiana Tech -- "Trials of Tech" -- lays out the Bulldog season to date. Idaho comes in tonight.

There are a host of intriguing games tonight

Sam Wasson provides a loaded Daily Aggie as usual as New Mexico State heads into The Spectrum to face USU. Jason Groves writes about The G-Ness and Sir Tai. Also check out Kraig Williams, Shawn Harrison and Tony Jones.

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Nick Jezierny has the details as state bragging rights are on the line with Idaho welcoming Boise State into Moscow. Nick also offers some background on the latest Bronco commit.

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Joe Santoro issues grades based on the Wolf Pack performance versus New Mexico State. Neil Henderson at Silver and Blue Sports has a Nevada and visiting Louisiana Tech preview.

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Can host Hawaii remain ahead of San Jose State University as the two tangle tonight?

Brian McInnis, Dayton Morinaga (including video) and Jeff Portnoy all write about the matchup. Brian also offers some Court Sense notes.

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Fresno State is out of conference tonight, hosting Seattle. Daniel Lyght serves up more perspective on the Bulldog loss in Hawaii. The Chieftains lost early in the season to LA TECH in Irvine, beat Idaho at home and lost to SJSU at home. Daniel also provides a blog entry on the need for a three-shooter to emerge for Steve Cleveland. The Fresno Bee's Jeff Davis has the Bulldogs as full-fledged members of the Bricklayers Union.

The world of the WAC on Thursday

Tony Jones lauds the Utah State basketball program, a collective which has the chance to set a consecutive winning streak record.

The last shall be first and the first shall be last, unless we're talking USU hoops. Shawn Harrison continues the theme of the Aggie steamroller.

Kraig Williams also previews the Utah State - Louisiana Tech matchup.

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To DH or not to DH (and we're talking basketball), that is the question posed by Nick Jezierny.

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Daniel Lyght looks at what Fresno State must upgrade as the Bulldogs faces Hawaii in the islands.

Dayton Morinaga previews the FSU - UH get-together.

Brian McInnis does the same.

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It's Reno and Logan next for New Mexico State and Jason Groves fills us in.

Per Joe Santoro, Nevada wants "to be a contender" (using your best "On The Waterfront" Marlon Brando imitation) in the WAC and feels ready to do so.

It's not Gillenwater v. Story per se tonight but the pair have some history and each would like to top the other as Chris Murray writes.