Wednesday's WAC roundup -- reading this will kill your morning plans

CBS Sports and its list of top 50 Bigs nationally contains zero WAC players. Who is going to step up and prove 'em wrong?

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The WAC coaches and media polls have been released.

Check out these links: Kyle Goon, Josh Wright (including a note that Kyle Barone is back practicing),

Kyle Goon has the inevitable words from Coach Stew Morrill.

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Jason Groves has posted his New Mexico State depth chart.

PTW is apparently missing the boat as Tyrone Watson is first at power forward. It's certainly the best spot for him regarding his shooting range but can he perform his best there at 6-foot-4? Remi Barry is also listed at the four as well as elsewhere.

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Sean Kramer writes about how the early positional battles are shaping up in Moscow.

Mark Nelke covers similar ground.

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Blue Ribbon Basketball Yearbook previews San Jose State University.

SJSU athletics covers a Spartan intra-squad scrimmage.

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Justin Harrison covers the bigs for USU.

Jordan Dahl looks at the wing types and guards.

Kyle Goon adds a bit more to how matters in Logan are playing out.

The conspiracy theorists will have a field day

The Moscow Pullman Daily News has the factor behind the Barone suspension.

The Vandals play in Pullman on November 28, the arrest was in Pullman, so ... have at it.

Guaranteed, some Vandal fan in the great state of Idaho will offer up that Cougar subterfuge was at work.

Actually, PTW doesn't want to be facetious about a serious offense as Barone is very lucky he and others were not injured, or worse.

But something so much more important is at play for Barone and that should rightfully be the focus. Even basketball is a distant second.

Thursday's very abbreviated WAC digest

Since when did the WAC turn into a football conference? Utah State, San Jose State University, Texas San Antonio, Louisiana Tech ...

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All PTW has today is a couple of posts from the Vandals.net basketball MB on the starter and the coming-off-the-benchers for Idaho plus a questionable inclusion.

We've never seen him play but don't discount Denzel Douglas at the point.

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Let's go step into the Conjecture Machine for a moment.

Bear with PTW.

Coming out of Washington as a prep backcourter, Xavier Bazile signed with Idaho, redshirted last year but got into trouble and finally landed at State Fair Community College in Missouri for this season.

Saw this today at JucoJunction: "Practice officially started this past week in the junior college ranks and some players have decided on a future school. Read more about which player will take his game to the northwest next season..."

The State Fair Community College Roadrunners logo is also presented.

Not having access to the complete article, PTW is speculating that it is Bazile heading back to familiar territory (he is the only player from the Northwest on the roster). If so, where is he headed?

Anyone know? Or is JucoJunction referring to someone else?

Wednesday's WAC roundup

Frank Burlison is first with this news: "The University of Idaho has received commitments from Seattle-area guards Perrion Callandret (Bothell) and Sekou Wiggs (2012 grad of O’Dea)"

Background

From Mark Knight/Left Coast Recruiting in January 2012 on the 6-foot-2 Callabdret: "...A very quick point guard, he can slice through the land and get to the hoop. He excels at finding his teammates the ball and finds plenty of opportunities playing alongside Zach Lavine. He shows tremendous upside. He has interest from a few Pac-12 schools."

Kevin Cacabelos in August 2012 wrote: "The combo guard excels in transition and projects well at the shooting guard position in college. His long arms enable him to grab rebounds and get into passing lanes on defense. He'll need to make adjustments on his jump shot - his release is slow right now. He'll also need to bulk up, he's a tweener right now and stronger guards will expose him on defense. Idaho has offered, while Wyoming, Saint Mary's, Portland State are showing interest."

The 6-foot-3 Wiggs is at Kingdom Prep in Georgia, having reclassified to 2013, per Cacabelos.

Cacabelos again on Wiggs in 2011: "What word best describes Sekou Wiggs' game? Crazy. He's crazy quick and athletic, he finds crazy ways to get to the basket and he's just plain unpredictable. The one thing you know you're going to get with Wiggs is a polished basketball player. He is a one-man fast break and can easily beat his man off the dribble with a variety of spin moves. He projects as a combo guard at the next level."

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That didn't take long.

At 6:17 p.m. yesterday, Jerina tweeted: "San Jose State watching 2013 G Jason Webster & 2014 F Jalen Canty & G Jose Flores at St.Patrick-St.Vincent open gym"

Then Cameron Schott at 9:11 typed: "San Jose State has offered 2014 St. Patrick/St. Vincent F Jalen Canty"

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Good new for New Mexico State hoops fans as less is more regarding Sim Bhullar.

Tuesday's WAC basketball digest

Here's Michael Clay on a backcourter New Mexico State has offered: "Marquette and Creighton will be in Clovis, NM today to see @BYCElite PG John Dawson. The recruiting wars have heated up significantly"

Earlier this month, Dawson tripped to Wyoming. Auburn has also offered.

Marquette and Creighton are some heavy competition. Auburn too.

Hard to see Coach MM winning this one but who knows what's the factors and thought processes of a teenager? Being non-discriminatory, adults too. Just look around.

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Mel Grussing writes that Idaho has been in to Antelope Valley College, a team that is simply loaded this season, even more so than last year. Bigs abound at AVC and Idaho will need a replacement for Kyle Barone.

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utaggies at the USU Fans Stew's Spectrum MB has posted that Lindy's is out with its annual basketball magazine and the folks there are going with Utah State as the winner of the WAC.

Saturday's easing into the weekend WAC compilation

John Blanchette holds nothing back in his Idaho-to-the-Big-Sky column assessment.

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NY2LASports has tweeted: "Per his father 2014 Riley LaChance is planning unofficial visits to Missouri, Virginia, and Utah State. He visited UWM earlier this month"

He's a 6-foot-1 guard out of Wisconsin. Here's an article on him and his club team.

Plus, here's some video:

Idaho has landed

Brian Murphy writes that the Vandals are going Big Sky-ing, except for football.

Regarding hoops, this gives Don Verlin a solid shot at going to the Big Dance every season, much more so than being in the WAC, which remains at death's door and knocking heavily.

Divining what it means for Idaho football will be left for Murphy and others to detail.

The opening at Idaho is apparently filled

Here is what appears to be the answer to the question of who is filling the assistant coach opening at Idaho.

From the Hoop Dirt folks: "It sounds like Idaho DBO Chris Helbling has been promoted to assistant coach. Helbling has been on Don Verlin’s staff at Idaho since 2008. Prior to working for Verlin, Helbling was a student assistant at Gonzaga University under Mark Few. Helbling also played and coached at Walla Walla CC."

Here is Heibling's bio.

Congrats to Coach Helbling.

Wednesday's WAC orange spherical digest

Tales of the tape, NBA draft style:

* Joston Thomas

6-foot-5 without shoes, wingspan 6-foot-8.25, 12.8% body fat, 29" standing vertical

* Troy Gillenwater

6-foot-6 without shoes, wingspan 7-foot-2, 15.3% body fat, 33.8" standing vertical

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Idaho assistant Ray Lopes has moved into the Pac-12 with Washington State. Job one: land players from a region the Cougars don't currently have access.

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Brian Murphy reports that the Sun Belt Conference has declined Idaho's advances.

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InsideRunner Sports has new on another possible D-1 transfer heading to AlamoTown.

The 2012-13 Vandal-izers

Roster inhabitants for the Idaho Vandals always seems a super secretive subject, which probably goes with the territory when you're based in Moscow. So without the use of moles, double agents and the like, PTW is taking its best guess at the composition of Coach Don Verlin's 2012-13 roster.

In the middle, it's 6-foot-10 senior Kyle Barone. Let's just hope 20-25 additional pounds have settled in on his frame come next November because then he'll be close to an unstoppable force in the paint. 6-foot-9 junior Joe Kammerer is back to fill in as is Wendell Faines, a 6-foot-9 senior who can also be positioned at the four.

Add athletic 6-foot-8 JC transfer Marcus Bell to the mix in the middle and also to battle Faines for playing time as a corner. 6-foot-8 frosh Ty Egbert is a likely redshirt candidate so he can add the necessary weight and muscle for college competition. Someone has to step up and be this coming season's Djim Bandoumel for Verlin and Bell is at the top of the line upfront.

6-foot-5 junior Stephen Madison is secure at the three and one of the two possibilities (alongside Barone) as the leading scorer for the Vandals. Who backs him up remains to be seen.

Replacing the backcourt production AND efficiency of Deremy Geiger and Landon Tatum will be a tough task but there are plenty of candidates.

6-foot-3 senior Mansa Habeeb returns as a jack-of-all-trades but distance shooting isn't in his arsenal. However, 6-foot-2 sophomore Connor Hill is a beyond-the-arc specialist as only 21 of his 153 shots last season were two-point attempts. Mike McChristian, a 6-foot-2 senior, has the capacity to emerge at the point.

Coming to town are Antwann Scott, Denzel Douglas and Robert Harris, all JC transfers. Scott is a 6-1 junior with shooting and scoring talent, the 5-foot-10 Douglas is more a true point and the 5-foot-11 Harris led his squad with 4+ assists per game but his shooting accuracy needs upgrading.

The situation with 6-foot-5 sophomore Matt Borton is cloudy as he suffered another knee injury.

So who are we missing as there is one more scholarship to account for? Could the long-rumored Darrington Banks arrival still in play or possibly even Tim Johnson in the backcourt mix or are we overlooking someone?

In summary, expect Barone and Madison to lead the charge but the key will be getting consistent performances from two to three backcourters, whoever that may eventually be.

Two more Thursday links

Gaylen Wood has a report posted about the Idaho takedown of UC Santa Barbara.

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Joe Santoro evokes Neil Diamond in looking at Nevada's season.

Kyle Barone WAC POW

From Jason Erickson, WAC Director of Media relations:

"Idaho’s Kyle Barone has been named the Verizon Western Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball Player of the Week for the week of February 13-19. The honor marks the second career WAC Player of the Week for Barone.

Barone, a junior center from Garden Grove, Calif. (Pacifica HS), had a career game on Saturday in Idaho’s 77-68 Sears BracketBuster win over Portland State. Barone scored 25 points, connecting on 10-of-11 (.909) shots from the floor. He added eight rebounds, two assists, one steal and one block in the win. He also went 5-of-5 from the free throw line. He connected on 9-of-10 shots in the first half to give Idaho its biggest halftime lead of the season at 42-25. His 10-of-11 shooting performance is the best single-game effort by a Vandal since 2008 and is tied as the third-best in Idaho single-game history. The game was Barone’s ninth in a row with at least seven rebounds and his sixth-straight double-figure scoring game. His 25 points and 10 made field goals are both career highs. During the team’s season-best active five-game win streak, Barone is averaging 17.6 points and 8.4 rebounds on 33-of-54 (.611) overall shooting and 22-of-28 (.786) from the free throw line.

Other nominees: 

* Fresno State junior forward Kevin Foster
* Louisiana Tech freshman guard Kenneth Smith
* Nevada senior forward Olek Czyz
* New Mexico State senior guard Hernst Laroche
* San Jose State sophomore guard Keith Shamburger
* Utah State sophomore guard Preston Medlin

Monday's WAC hoops links and notes

No games until Thursday ...

Scott Daniel/Silver and Blue Sports assesses the Wolf Pack with a chock full of cultural references column.

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The free is always free but then that throw kicks in, a little too often for UH -- check out Dayton Morinaga's latest post. 

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A brief look at Idaho: After the sins (venial or mortal? PTW is going with the former) of dropping home games to Hawaii and then Fresno State, Idaho has pulled off victories against:

* Nevada (by four points)
* Seattle (by one point)
* New Mexico State (by one point)
* Louisiana Tech (by nine points)
* Portland State (by nine points).

If this trend continues, who wants to face the Vandals come tourney time? Yes, the Kyle Barone Emergence Project seems in full force.

Saturday's WAC results on Saturday night

Four games tonight and no big surprises as teams seem to be settling into place.

Host Nevada maintained its spot at the top, defeating Fresno State 74-61.Four starters scored in double figures: Deonte Burton with 18, Malik Story had 17, Dario Hunt totaled 13 and Olek Czyz finished with 10 points. Tyler Johnson topped the Dogs with 17, Jerry Brown contributed 14 and Kevin Olekaibe ended with 13. The latter shot just 4-17 on the night. It was a 51% versus 37% overall shooting divide favoring the winners. Chris Murray tweeted the game.

Chris offers a game take as well as a notes collection and Robert Kuwada checks in.

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Visiting Utah State enjoyed a four-point halftime margin over Idaho. At the eight minute mark, it was the Aggies still leading 46-44. But the Vandals has 57 to USU's 54 at the buzzer. Forward Djim Bandoumel was the top scorer and rebounder for Don Verlin's squad with 16 points and Deremy Geiger added 12. Despite an off 1-7 long distance shooting night for Preston Medlin, he still paced the Logan-ites with 17, plus his seven rebounds also led. The turnover differential: eight for Idaho, 16 for USU. The latter also totaled but six assists. Josh Wright and Theo Lawson both tweeted the pairing.

Shawn Harrison was in the building (more thanks to HJ management for making it happen) as was Josh Wright and Gaylen Wood while Theo Lawson plus Tony Jones chime in. Matt Sonnenberg is not a happy camper here and here.

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Louisiana Tech came into Silicon Valley and emerged with a win, 71-67, over San Jose State. The Spartans held a 33-31 lead after the initial 20 minutes but the Bulldogs came on after intermission. Raheem Appleby and Brandon Gibson matched point totals with 19 apiece as LT finished at 49% to SJSU's 39%. James Kinney was the top producer for the home team with 22 points, followed by Keith Shamburger's 16 (but on 18 shots). Frontcourter Wil Carter put up a 12/11 double-double.

Louisiana Tech athletics and Spartan athletics both serve up game reports.

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Yes, PTW isn't counting this one as a large surprise -- the second game of a road trip, the various distractions in Hawaii, you name it for New Mexico State -- as UH led 44-34 at the half, extended the lead to 71-52 at the 11-minute mark and won 91-85. As predicted, Zane Johnson and Jeremiah Ostrowski played major roles, the former finishing with 29 points on 7-13 from long distance and the latter passing for eight assists. Vander Joaquim enjoyed an 11/10 double-double. When's the last time NMSU encountered 10 blocked shots in a contest? For the Aggies, Bandja Sy posted a fantastic line of 17 points, 10 boards, four assists and a trio of steals. 16 shots attempts (four made) by Daniel Mullings was probably not in the pre-game plan of Coach Marvin Menzies.  Jason Groves was a-twitterin' as was Sam Wasson as well as Brian McInnis.

Wes Nakama was present and accounted for. Sam Wasson and Jason Grovesalso posted reports.

Saturday's showdowns in the WAC

Utah State and Idaho --- aka Morrill v. Verlin -- meet up in Moscow. Can the Vandals add to the road woes of the Aggies?

Kraig Williams, Tyler Huskinson, Tony Jones and Shawn Harrison all preview the matchup.

Missed this earlier: Theo Lawson has issued his grades for the Vandals.

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Fresno State will be entering The Biggest Little City in the World in pairing up with Nevada. Can the little Dogs handle the big Pack?

It's "target: Burton" for FSU as Robert Kuwada explains.

Chris Murray serves up his pre-game analysis plus a prediction. Chris also serves up another look at the game.

Chris further notes that ESPN's Doug Gottlieb has taken a fancy to Malik Story.

Joe Santoro provides a 'notes' column.

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Hawaii hosts New Mexico State in what appears to be the game of the night. The obvious key: who is available to play for the Rainbow Warriors? Expect Zane Johnson and Jeremiah Ostrowski to both be back but UH will be feeling a degree of pressure to win at home.

Dayton Morinaga goes multi-media on the matchup and Jeff Portnoy looks backwards and forwards. Jason Groves checks in with his pre-game take.

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San Jose State throws out the welcome mat for Louisiana Tech. With Raheem Appleby (28 points in the Thursday win in Hawaii) in the neighborhood can the Spartans make him shoot 2 for 20? SJSU is still looking to get off the schneid in league play.

Nick Jezierny is the Answerman

Taking a break from his Boise State coverage, Nick Jezierny offers a couple of tweets -- here and here -- on the fate of Luiz Toledo.

Toledo's journey was always a mysterious one for PTW. He signed with BYU out of Modesto Christian High, seemed to disappear and later on, it was noted that he was planning on playing professionally in Brazil. Here's that link. We're not sure if he ever played for pay but apparently not if he was granted NCAA eligibility. He was also known as Luiz de Toledo back then.

A big hand to Idaho

Compared to its current 2010-2011 team, Idaho had a more talented roster last season which concluded with a 15-16, 6-10 records and featured seniors Mac Hopson, Steffan Johnson and Marvin Jefferson. Each is probably playing for pay at different locations around the world.

The higher capability level and greater accolade potential for last season's collective are indisputable.

So is not being better.

For the sake of comparison, here's that complete roster:

Mac Hopson G 6-2    
Jeff Ledbetter G 6-3
Shawn Henderson G 6-3
Steffan Johnson G 6-1
Landon Tatum G 5-11
Justin Stewart G 6-1
Kashif Watson G 6-4

Corey Stern F 6-7   
Brandon Wiley F 6-6
Luciano de Souza F 6-7      
Luiz Toledo F 6-8 225
Travis Blackstock F 6-5     
    
Kyle Barone C 6-10 
Joe Kammerer C 6-9
Marvin Jefferson C 6-9      

Here is the current Vandal roster:

(two players have departed since the beginning of the school year -- forward Renado Parker and guard Gary Winston both leaving for Portland State)

Matt Borton G 6-5
Deremy Geiger G 5-11
Shawn Henderson G 6-3
Jeff Ledbetter G 6-2
Shayne Sheridan G 6-0 
Landon Tatum G 5-11

Brandon Wiley F 6-5
Paul Jorg F 6-8 200
Stephen Madison F 6-5
Luiz Toledo F 6-8

Kyle Barone C 6-10
Joe Kammerer c 6-9

In a way, it's simple -- Coach Don Verlin has a better t-e-a-m this season.

But how are they really doing it?

Let's take a look at some of the numbers

Last Season                                                       This Season (so far)

averaged 71.2, allowed 70.6                                  66.9 to 66.4

shot 46%, allowed 44% overall                              45% to 42%

shot 38%, allowed 35% on treys                           39% to 33%

earned 71 more free throws                                  have 53 more free throws

34.6 rebounds, to 33.4 boards                             34.7 to 31.0

earned 92 more assists                                        have 20 more assists

committed 34 more TOs                                       have 34 more TOs           

nabbed 42 less steals                                           have 25 less steals

The comparative numbers aren't remarkably different -- even the trends are fairly close.

*** Also injecting some individual numbers, Jeff Ledbetter shot 32% and 34% respectively while averaging 2.9 ppg. in 2009-2010. But this season, he is at 45% and 44% and 8.8 ppg.

Matters could have gone way south after the November 22 meltdown in Missoula, an embarrassing 75-33 loss to Montana.

But character prevailed.

And a three game winning streak ensued.

In league play, Idaho currently owns a 5-1 record, plus with a win over Bakersfield mixed in and four of those matchups were on the road.

We repeat: how are they doing it?

At this point, Verlin has to be the favorite for WAC Coach of the Year. Yet it's likely that none of his players will earn All-WAC honors.

Crediting all involved, this is a whole being greater than the sum of the parts -- a monumental achievement in any endeavor.

Sure, the Vandals could nosedive in the remaining conference games. Maybe an injury will curtail the momentum but the absence of Luiz Toledo in the last two games has been overcome.

All basketball fans should be acknowledging this achievement-to-date -- yes even the Boise Staters. Creating a group dynamic that results in success is always a monumental task and Idaho is over-achieving (the latter term is not to be considered anything close to a backhanded compliment).

So hats off to this bunch of true teammates.

Hopefully, Renado Parker will resurface somewhere

So Idaho's most heralded 2009-2010 recruit Renado Parker is apparently no longer a Vandal -- here's wishing he resurfaces successfully somewhere soon whether it be D-1 or lower and also that he offers some background for his moving on.

In talking with one community college coach familiar with Parker, he was impressed by the young man's offensive effort but also looked at Parker as the player to attack defensively. But who knows if this was a factor in the decision to depart. Such might have played into Parker's playing time, practice success and his station in the frontcourt pecking order but all is nothing but pure speculation at this point.

Monday evening WAC items

Travis Mason-Bushman reports that Vandal recruit Djim Bandoumel has received the nod from the NCAA Clearinghouse. Go here to read about this. A tip o' the hat to Travis for letting us know.

A quick piece of advice for Mr. Bandoumel: forget college, forget college basketball -- set up a business as an obvious expert guide through the Clearinghouse maze. You'll make millions. 

It literally is amazing that he was cleared at this point in time considering (1) the trend has been that the season begins with many recruits awaiting an outcome and the Clearinghouse folks then enter their winter hibernation AND (2) Idaho and the WAC are not on the level of say a BCS school which can 'command' more attention.

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Chris Murray has much more on Devonte Elliott's eligibility to play for Nevada this coming season -- glad it happened before he ran out of eligibility. (are we in a bad mood? maybe, but how about the NCAA tossing a few million greenbacks towards resolving the sloth-like pace of eligibility determinations?)

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Here is a 3 hours old tweet from Jeff Goodman: "No clue if its out there, but source told me former KY commit and Gonzaga guard G.J. Vilarino is headed to Appalachian State. Ideal level." Does this cause heartbreak in Fresno or a shoulder shrug?

Three hours ago Dave Telep tweeted this: "Appalachian State added Michael Neal and transfer GJ Vilarino (Gonzaga) today. Appy State's backcourt for 2010 is locked up. Nice work."

Hmmm, anyone ever seen Misters Goodman and Telep together in the same gym?

An Idaho Vandal commit -- is this a new one?

We're thinking this is news but could be wrong -- it's that memory thing again.

The PrepHoopsAssist site is listing 6-foot-5 shooting guard Stephen Madison, out of Jefferson High in Portland, as a 2010 Idaho Vandal commit.

Here is a Madison interview on YouTube.

Here is another.

The SeaTownSports site talks about Madison in the last paragraph of the article here.