The Refraction-ers do Idaho

Them Refraction-ers are at it again, publishing the Idaho game issue with time to spare -- hint, hint.

Actually, we don't wish to rile the duo behind the publication because we heard that Pistol Pete got on their case last year and, you guessed it, New Mexico State is currently searching for a new PP.

The dynamic duo go brutal on Moscow, the one in Idaho, for some laughs as well as pot-shotting individual Vandals.

It can be found here.

Many thanks to Jack Nixon and Sam Wasson

A big tip of the ol' sombrero goes out to Jack Nixon, the long time voice of the New Mexico State Aggies, for alerting us that Louisiana Tech's David Jackson didn't play in the matchup with NMSU due to being late to a team shootaround.

PTW formulates that, like with Stew, you don't mess around with Kerry either.

+++++

Sam Wasson lines up with Jack Nixon for his sending along an Associated Press feature on Adrian Oliver. Here it is.

+++++

We would be remiss is we didn't offer this today: may all your gridiron signees be football field and academic superstars.

A couple more WAC items

Draft Express has an update on Luke Babbitt:

Joseph Treutlein
Assistant Director of Scouting
Draft Express
2-3-2010

One of the highest impact freshman in the country last season, Luke Babbitt has picked up right where he left off as a sophomore, upping his numbers across the board and just playing outstanding basketball for the Wolf Pack.

On the offensive end, Babbitt possesses an extremely high skill level to go along with an outstanding feel for the game, assets which allow him to score easily and efficiently from all over the floor. The smooth left-handed shooter is hitting with deadeye accuracy from the free-throw (89%) and three-point lines (41%), while also showing strong ability off the dribble, namely with his mid-range jumper...

Go here for the remainder.

+++++

Jeff Portnoy is not wanting Dwain Williams to return:

on tobacco road
Jeff Portnoy
Hoops Talk
February 2, 2010

if you think Bob Nash and the rainbows are struggling, you should hear the angst here in Chapel Hill as the Tarheels suffered their worst home loss under Coach Roy Williams Sunday night against Virgina. TheTarheels are perilously close to missing the NCAA tournament after winning two National Championships in the last 4 years. And Duke got smashed by Georgetown over the weekend and look to rebound against Georgia Tech Thursday night. Frankly, both teams have problems defending quick guards, but i suspect Duke is a possible final 8 team while it may be the NIT for the Heels (something Rainbow fans would give their eyetooth for)...

Go here for the remainder.

+++++

It's WAC Wednesday with news and notes and links

I guess the expectation is that we are supposed to rip Troy Gillenwater , New Mexico State basketball, Dr. Boston and Marvin Menzies all a new one but the following is our take. The NCAA doesn't give a damn about WAC schools and there is certainly no 'favoritism' or leniency ever from the powers-that-be in Indianapolis. Gillenwater met NCAA academic requirements and so be it. He harmed his team with a lackadaisical approach to academics and he and the team paid the price for his doing so. Let's hope he learned something valuable from all this. It certainly appears his presence will aid the Aggies -- another inside threat was really needed -- but let's also see who now receives less minutes and how that plays out.

+++++

Chris Murray has a recruiting update on local Reno-ite Tre Johnson here and there is a mention of another WAC team.

+++++

Brad Rock has an insightful feature on Stew Morrill here. Morrill's situation is a rarity as are his numerous achievements. We don't now how far any talks with Washington State advanced but we're thankful he remains in Logan. It's great for the WAC despite all those losses the Aggies inflict on others.

+++++

Shawn Harrison features Nate Bendall here.

+++++

Dwain Williams has returned to the team in Hawaii and Dayton Morinaga has the feature.

Brian McInnis writes about the health status of a few of the the UH players here.

+++++

Not in anyway making light of a very serious situation but a pulmonary embolism took the court with Travis Mason-Bushman and is being vanquished as we speak. Vandal Nation is tough home and away and we're hoping he is back writing and taping soon.

+++++

The G - Man is cleared for landing

Not only is the season a marathon but so was Troy Gillenwater's eligibility determination.

Gillenwater cleared by NCAA
Jason Groves
Las Cruces Sun-News
2/02/2010

After missing the first 21 games of the men's college basketball season, New Mexico State redshirt sophomore forward Troy Gillenwater was declared eligible by the NCAA late Tuesday afternoon.

NMSU Athletics Director McKinley Boston said the decision was effective immediately.

According to a release issued by the university, Gillenwater will make his first appearance of the season on Saturday against San Jose State at the Pan American Center...

Go here for the remainder.

A CA kid mentioned in connection with USU

It's impossible to gauge the degree of mutual interest but 6-foot-3 Spencer Butterfield of Del Oro High (near Sacramento) is mentioned here in conjunction with Utah State plus some other schools:

Del Oro football standout holds out for hoops
Bill Paterson
Sacramento Bee
February 2, 2010

Del Oro High School's Spencer Butterfield is considered one of the area's top football prospects. But the Bee All-Metro first-team wide receiver says he will not sign an NCAA national letter of intent Wednesday.

The 6-foot-3, 200-pound senior is committed to playing basketball in college, even though he has gotten a lot less recruiting attention in that sport...

Go here for the remainder.

Tuesday's WAC links and notes

Daniel Lyght has an excellent feature on Paul George here. We have a question: do teams generally stop weightlifting activities once the season begins? Is it a matter of available time?

+++++

Go here for a ton of Nevada notes and links from Chris Murray.

+++++

Jared Eborn has the scoop here on Stew Morrill indefinitely suspending one of his redshirt players. In the words of the late Jim Croce (with one word of artistic license), "You don't mess around with Stew."

Shawn Harrison offers an article about Utah State and the bench contributions that have been aiding the Aggies.

Just a thought...

Hey, is there any of those experts -- at least those posting on them nefarious message boards -- who is happy with 'their' current head basketball coach?

Geesh, one would think Beelzebub himself has multiplied and assumed head coaching status throughout the WAC.

Heck, even Stew Morrill was drawing his detractors after the first two games of the season. That's one for Ripley's Believe It Or Not.

Sports passion is great, if not an exercise in even-keelness.

The season is a marathon, not a sprint. Sometimes, we're not happy with our spouses or significant others (and vice versa) but dumping or being dumped sure doesn't pop up as often as changing a coach --in order to rectify what is often a number of 'problems' within a specific program not always connected to coaching -- does.

But that's the nature of the so-called beast.

A get well to one of the good guys

Vandal Nation's Travis Mason-Bushman is enduring some health issues for those of you used to his prolific posting and blogging and missing the 'normal' amount of work he provides to us.

He is the hardest working student-journalist we are aware of and his absence right now leaves a gigantic hole in UI's sports coverage.

Send him some good thoughts and, selfishly, here is hoping he is back at it soon but, much more importantly, with optimum health.

Mostly BracketBuster links

Chris Murray has his college basketball Weekly Insider, with some interesting WAC notes, posted here.

He breaks down Missouri State -- Nevada's BB foe -- here.

Tony Jones has some information on Wichita State -- USU's BB opponent -- here.

Being 'George-less' just may be a thing of the past for Fresno State on Saturday per Daniel Lyght here. It seems unlikely that PG will be able to play but who knows until the moment arrives.

Was this part of the equation in pairing up host Idaho and Long Beach State? That being, the 49ers are coached by Dan Monson whose father Don is warmly remembered for heading the Vandal program. Joshua Wright has much more here, including the fact that the younger Monson is a a 1985 Idaho graduate.

The BB pairings

Here are the WAC BracketBuster televised games:

Louisiana Tech at Northeastern

Nevada at Missouri State

New Mexico State at Pacific

Wichita State at Utah State


Here are the non-televised games:

UC Santa Barbara at Fresno State

San Jose State at Montana State

Long Beach State at Idaho

UC Davis at Boise State

Cal Poly at Hawai‘i

Paul George & Adrian Oliver very early evaluations

It's way too early for any hard and fast judgments, plus there are other talents in the WAC worthy of and under consideration but here are a couple of 'mini-evaluations' of WAC players

The first is from the Draft Express site and the second from Jon Wyers, at the Draft Express message board.

Draft Express is the primo site for NBA draft evaluations and Wyers is the head coach ands assistant athletic director at Villanova Prep (southern California) and a former assistant basketball coach at Ventura College.

This was from just prior to the season:

Paul George - Fresno State

The jury is still out on the kid some see him as a future late lottery pick and others a mid second round pick. I personally am very high on him and think he will be a lottery pick possibly as soon as this year.

long athletic wing, unselfish, can score slashing (more of a straightline slasher needs to develop his ballhandling) or with his jumper, high basketball IQ, plays very efficiently, rebounds well for a wing, with is athleticism and length if he can add some more strength and get lower in his stance he potentially could become a versatile lockdown defender.

NBA ROLE: Versatile long athletic wing that could be a complimentary starter in the league.

and

This one is from a recent message board thread:

Adrian Oliver - San Jose State

" I know I have talked to someone that would know a lot about Adrian Oliver and he said when I asked him is Adrian a future NBA player (1st round material), he said the kid has an outside shot at making the league, but he still has a long ways to achieve that."

Again, all of the quotes above were taken from the Draft Express site and message board.

Hamidu Rahman is the WAC POW

Per Jason Erickson, the WAC Media Relations major domo, New Mexico State's Hamidu Rahman is the latest WAC Player of the Week:

"New Mexico State's Hamidu Rahman has been named the Verizon Wireless Western Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Week for the week of Jan. 25-31. The honor marks the first career WAC Player of the Week award for Rahman.

Rahman, a sophomore center from Somerset, N.J. (American Christian), led New Mexico State to a 91-77 road victory at Louisiana Tech, handing the Bulldogs their first home loss of the season. Rahman tied his career high with 22 points in the win. Rahman shot a career-best with 10 made field goals and 15 attempts, and was a perfect 2-of-2 from the charity stripe. He also pulled down a team-high 12 rebounds with one block. The performance marks the second time that Rahman has surpassed the 20-point plateau in his career.

Other nominees:

- Boise State senior guard Anthony Thomas
- Fresno State freshman guard/forward Jerry Brown
- Idaho sophomore forward Luiz Toledo
- Louisiana Tech senior forward Magnum Rolle
- Utah State junior forward Nate Bendall"

We're back with more

Here is Chris Murray on the BracketBuster games that have been announced. Cal Poly -- mixing sports metaphors -- just won the Super Bowl with a trip to Hawaii. Booyah! Any Mustang grads on the selection committee?

+++++

With two tips of the sombrero to Sam Wasson, er, make that a leap into the air and clicking our mukluks together twice (a very inside joke), Wendell McKines has a great post at his blog here.

Plus, Ethan Conley writes here that LA TECH doesn't want the last couple of games to turn into a maxi-slide. We also want to thank him for his solid Louisiana Tech basketball coverage.

By the way, why was David Jackson's name absent from the box score of the Bulldog - New Mexico State game? He has been a solid 20-minute-a-game sub on a team lacking other frontcourt depth and that had to be a factor, of some degree, in the Louisiana Tech loss.

+++++

Monday WAC links

First off, may all your BracketBuster wishes come true.

Jason Groves writes that it was a team win -- starters and bench -- for New Mexico State in the win over Louisiana Tech.

+++++

Shawn Harrison offers a feature on the Aggie game plan versus San Jose State.

Tony Jones highlights Gary Bendall and the game he had versus the Spartans.

+++++

Dayton Morinaga reviews the interesting aftermath of Hawaii's loss to Nevada.