We'll have much more later but here is the a.m. version:
There are usually multiple factors involved between winning or losing but will New Mexico State versus host Nevada boil down to which team defends the best tonight?
Jason Groves leads us off with his preview here. Jason also takes a look at Gordo Castillo and the three ball here.
Chris Murray comes at the matchup from both the Wolf Pack and Aggie perspective here.
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Will Fresno State get a break tonight by hosting a Kyle Gibson-less Louisiana Tech? Daniel Lyght previews the contest here.
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This is the best quote from a WAC coach this season: "When you go on the road, you try to ugly the game up." -- Bob Nash. The Honolulu Advertiser game preview between UH and Boise State that contains these priceless words is here. Brian McInnis provides his look here.
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Thursday, March 4, 2010
Your morning WAC roundup
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Some must-see/read items from the Bulletin in the Zone
Here are a bunch of Richard Davis photos from the New Mexico State - Boise State game. It was good to see Lou Henson again.
Plus, Jim Hilley and Gabe Vasquez have a quote - a - palooza for you from the most recent Aggie press conference. As for WendellM fearing BillS maybe some other verb is needed or was intended (maybe distracted?). McKines is from Oakland, CA -- 'nuff said.
Andy Katz re-discovers his roots
PTW goes back to when Andy Katz was a sports reporter for the Fresno Bee. It was in the pre-WAC Fresno State days but ESPN Katz still gives a shout out every so often based on his western roots. Here, he brings Utah State to the basketball consciousness outside the WAC:
USU finds itself in a familiar positionGo here for the remainder.
Andy Katz
ESPN
March, 3, 2010
Utah State coach Stew Morrill is in the same predicament as he was a year ago.
The Aggies are atop the WAC, have a long winning streak and have the numbers to be a given on Selection Sunday -- but are once again in an angst-ridden state, unsure about how safe they are heading into the conference tournament.
Last season, Utah State won 30 games, was 14-2 in the league and yet still had to win the conference tournament to feel like a bid was available to it.
The same is true again...
Dont let the door hit you on the way out
Louisiana Tech head men’s basketball coach Kerry Rupp has announced that Yonas Behre and Trey Felder have been released from their scholarships at this time...
Go here for the remainder of the official announcement.
More Wednesday WAC links
Chris Murray offers his keys to the game on Thursday night's matchup between the Wolf Pack and New Mexico State.
Hey, Wendell McKines is correct in what he said. Chris has more on the upcoming Nevada - Aggie game.
Utah State and New Mexico State are the two best teams in the WAC at the moment. There are a few other teams that could beat either squad (not sure about both as that seems unlikely) in a single elimination event -- such as the WAC tournament -- but it will take an off-shooting nice by the northern Aggies or a DNP for Jared Quayle, or a laxity on defense or an overreliance on the three-point shot by the southern Aggies for such to happen.
Sammy Yeager
Because recruiting ebbs and flows as often as the daily tides, the current long distance relationship between Sammy Yeager and Idaho could be kaput, on respite or hot and heavy. Keeping this in mind...
The 6-foot-4, 190-pound Yeager, as a 2007 Modesto High (central California) prepster, committed to San Diego of the West Coast Conference. But academics forced a detour and, at least in regards to basketball, Yeager spent 2008-2009 at Modesto Junior College. He played for most of the season until differences between Coach Paul Brogan and the backcourter resulted in Yeager no longer being part of the team.
Here's a snippet from a November 14, 2008 Modesto Bee article on Yeager after his prep days and as he joined MJC:
- "...The 6-foot-4-inch, 190-pound guard bounced around four community colleges since high school graduation, not playing at any of them and lacking direction..."
How is he doing? Try a team-leading 19.5 points per game on 53% shooting and tops on the squad in rebounding at 6.7 a contest.
There hasn't been anything in print about any discord so maybe some growing up has taken place.
Coach Don Verlin could certainly use a topnotch backcourter what with Mac Hopson and Steffan Johnson departing. But remember that the scholarship was extended prior to the early signing period and no signed letter-of-intent was forthcoming.
So this entry may be a day late and a dollar short...or not. We'll try and find out the current status.
Wednesday and the WAC
Gabe Vasquez of the Bulletin in the Zone reports on the Aggie senior night, leading with an item about a missed class resulting in Wendell McKines' reduced playing time. Go here for the entry.
Jason Groves reports here that Da'Shawn Gomez is no longer a New Mexico State basketballer. Jason also has a fascinating post about the standings implications of this weekend's final games and former Arkansas mentor Nolan Richardson here.
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Brian McInnis offers a long feature on senior Roderick Flemings here.
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Shawn Harrison has a lengthy list of USU basketball notes here, including some predictions from Brady Jardine that will be used as lockerroom material during the WAC tourney. But until someone actually beats the Aggies, we'll quote the Walter Brennan character in "The Guns of Will Sonnett": "No brag, just fact." Yes, most if not all of you are rightfully and quizzically asking who, what? Call Sonnett a 180 degree character from Grandpappy McCoy and we'll end our meanderings among prehistoric television now.
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Last but certainly not least, Chris Murray details here -- in a must-read -- the keys for Nevada if they wish to reach the top of the WAC kingdom come tournament time.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Can Aggie-ball work elsewhere?
Chris Murray has a post up about the whys and hows and factors of Utah State's basketball success. Go here for that feature.
Stew Morrill's uber-success in Logan can be deconstructed in many ways. What piques PTW's interest is the sometimes expressed idea/thought that other coaches should replicate Morrill's system/style.
That's a subject also definitely worth exploring.
There are any number of successful systems/styles -- just look at the last ten or so Big Dance winners. The key is matching up who can be successfully recruited to Program A and how those talents can be most opportunely integrated into a team.
There aren't many guarantees in life but here's one: Morrill-ball would be quite different if he had access to eight or nine athletic thoroughbreds possessing solid basketball skills. He lacks that availability so instead he has implemented a method of playing that he can recruit to and this has resulted in a prosperous combination. (it's going off on a bit of a tangent but maybe this is also another version of the old chicken and egg debate -- recruiting or style -- which came first?)
Blue chip AA's will never get off the plane, bus or out of the car in Logan -- that's a given. This sometimes will take place at BYU, pretty rarely in Utah.
There are also kids who won't choose to come to Utah (the state) to play college basketball for a multitude of sociological reasons.
With Utah State in particular, the system of play actually also eliminates a segment of prospects: those not 'smart' enough to comprehend the style and those unwilling to learn and/or play in such a style.
Knowing/accepting all of the above, Morrill has married a system/style to the talent/intelligence/maturity level of recruit he can typically land...and the rest is history as we know it.
But it's not so simple as a coach -- even if he so desired -- stating that 'I am going to replicate Morrill-ball' and then doing so elsewhere in the country.
Just how would such play out in other programs, say even in the Western Athletic Conference?
Nobody really knows the answer but Utah State is typically landing older and usually more mature recruits because of the LDS mission requirement. We wouldn't go so far as say it's men versus boys on the various WAC rosters but there are some physical and emotional differences that cannot be dismissed or discounted.
Can other WAC schools land such LDS players? Maybe more importantly, can they land solid recruits over the BYUs, the Utahs and the Utah States or would it be a matter of settling for lesser LDS talents?
Plus, with the uber-emphasis on getting up and down the floor as the desired program playing style for 99.9% of prep and JUCO basketball recruits, would a much more disciplined style be a benefit or a hindrance in recruiting for non-LDS players? We have to go with the latter.
It also helps recruiting when a coach can point to winning records and entries into the Big Dance. Such sometimes will win the heart and mind of a recruit even if the playing style isn't the desired one. But it's awfully hard to sell a .500-type program if such is utilizing a highly-designed/programmed offensive attack or going to install one.
Anyway, these are some thoughts.
All hail Jared Quayle
Gordon Monson offers a feature on Jared Quayle, the velvet glove destroyer of opponents for USU:
Jared Quayle, and college basketball at its best
Gordon Monson
Salt Lake Tribune
3/02/2010
Jared Quayle is a pastoral picture of what college basketball can do and be. It is what it is, and he loves what it is: a chance to play the game in front of people who love to watch it. What it isn't, for him, is a freeway to the NBA, or some bloated reason to be indulged.Go here for the remainder.
He has no delusions about playing pro ball. Five years from now, the Utah State senior point guard -- whom coach Stew Morrill calls "irreplaceable" -- hopes to be managing fish and game or shepherding bears and coyotes or maintaining God's green land in some form or another for the U.S. Forest Service...
Some additional Tuesday WAC links and items
Juan López of The Nevada Sagebrush forsees a short run for the Wolf Pack in the upcoming WAC tourney.
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Chris Murray has been a-bloggin': he covers does momentum matter here, offers his final WAC rankings here and updates the season of three ex-Nevada basketballers here.
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Ferd Lewis' latest column on Coach Bob Nash and UH basketball is here.
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Is the a Sproat youth movement in the making? Tom Smart of the Deseret News has some evidence of just this here.
The Sproat portfolio can be found here. Amazingly, Germany is now aware of the Logan phenomenon.
By the way, please excuse our cultural ignorance but who or what is Mr. Bill dressed as in Tom Smart's photo?
The Fresno State debacle
Let the onslaught begin:
Fresno State men get roughed up at Utah StateGo here for the remainder.
Bulldogs done in quickly in 37-point loss; Aggies clinch WAC
Daniel Lyght
The Fresno Bee
March 1, 2010
Things were so sad, so pitiful for the Fresno State men's basketball team Monday night that Utah State's home crowd offered the Bulldogs a mock cheer after scoring their first bucket.
Mike Ladd's lay-up and ensuing free throw came with 10 minutes, 9 seconds to play in the first half. It made the score 22-3. The night was young, but for the second straight game, the night was over...
Lyght captured or maybe it's best to say Sylvester Seay spoke the truest encapsulation of the evening -- the Bulldog mindset:
"They have like 100 damn plays," said Fresno State's Sylvester Seay. "We can only go through so many of them. ... It's like taking a test and guessing what things the teacher's going to put on the test. You go out there and the teacher puts the opposite of what you studied. It's nobody's fault. It's just tough."Jared Eborn writes that the above is really a compliment.
The in-family behavior is getting ugly as Lyght writes here.
Lyght also offers this in-game drama between the two head coaches here but it's much ado about nothing.
Here's Tony Jones' game report and post-game wrap.
We have a quibble with the headline writer for Shawn Harrison's take on the game. The Dogs embarrassed themselves.
"Obliterate" is apropos atop Jared Eborn's game report.
More, hopefully not on this subject, later.
Monday, March 1, 2010
This is painful
In a WAC football battle, the Utah State Aggies are pulling a major upset, leading Fresno State 49-19 early in the second half.
Lampooning intended, Stew Morrill's squad is executing Steve Cleveland's Bulldogs by that score with 15:57 remaining in the second 20 minutes. Wow!
Here's Tony Jones with a couple of blog entries here and here.
FSU managed but 16 points in the first half against San Jose State on Saturday.
This is like basketball treason but have the Fresno State players quit on their coach? They've at least quit on themselves.
Robert Arnold is the WAC POW
From Jason Erickson, the WAC Director of Media Relations, a former California Community College player, is being honored:
Boise State's Robert Arnold has been named the Verizon Wireless Western Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Week for the week of Feb. 22-28. The honor marks the first career WAC Player of the Week award for Arnold.
Arnold, a junior forward from Lancaster, Calif. (Antelope Valley CC), led the Broncos to a 1-1 record last, including a road win at Louisiana Tech. Arnold also helped keep the Broncos close in a road game at New Mexico State, scoring a career-high 35 points with a career-best 15 rebounds, marking the first double-double of his career. He also tallied nine points and three rebounds in the win at LA Tech.
On the week, Arnold averaged 22.0 points, 9.0 rebounds, and 3.0 assists per game. He also shot 75.0 percent (15-of-20) from the field and 66.7 percent (6-of-9) from the three-point line.
Other nominees:
* Fresno State freshman center Greg Smith
* Hawai'i senior forward Roderick Flemings
* Idaho senior center Marvin Jefferson
* New Mexico State senior guard Jonathan Gibson
* Utah State senior guard Jared Quayle
You asked for it -- here it is
The latest issue -- the Fresno State edition -- of The Refraction is up. Head here. Our lawyers (Dewey, Cheatum and Howe) insist we provide this disclaimer: PTW is not responsible for any resulting high blood pressure, indigestion or any other resulting side effects, including additions in the loss column.
Monday's WAC-aroni
So where to begin?
Can Fresno State locate some pixie dust between San Jose and Logan? Hey, we'll settle for tonight's Bulldog team not appearing like extras in George Romero's latest zombie flick.
Shawn Harrison leads us off here. Jared Eborn here. Jared also has a blog entry on USU and the Field fo 64 here. Tony Jones chimes in here.
From the San Joaquin, Daniel Lyght writes about the Spectrum and its inhabitants, giving some love to Bill Sproat and also Refraction-er Matt Sonnenberg -- but not a certain KW, Matt's fellow satirist. We're guessing the split is now complete but who gets to keep the copyright? TMZ.com is on its way to Logan.
Hold on, maybe we typed too fast -- Daniel also writes about the Spectrum atmosphere here, with mention of both minds and wits behind The Refraction.
Finally, we think this is quite the appropriate getup but will he or won't he? The question is surrounding Bill Sproat's 'costume' for tonight -- Bulldog-ish or not? If affirmative, we're warning those in the same zip code: watch out for the drool.
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We loved the headline here:
Aggies firmly positioned on the bubbleGo here for the remainder.
Jason Groves
Las Cruces Sun-News
2/28/2010
LAS CRUCES — Karl Benson believes the New Mexico State men's basketball team will "be on the board" when the NCAA tournament selection committee convenes in a couple weeks.
Benson's belief stems more from his five-year term on the 10-person committee itself, rather than his position as the Western Athletic Conference commissioner.
"You start the process by trying to figure out possible at-large teams," said Benson, who was in the selection room as recently as 2006. "This is before conference champions are determined. I think New Mexico State will be on the board the first night as they meet generally Wednesday or Thursday night before the conference tournaments. If they lose in the first or second round, chances of coming off the board are pretty good..."
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Nevada's all-expense-paid trip to Honolulu was more like the players staring at the four walls of each one's hotel room, with a few peaks out the window at paradise lost, or at least untouchable, as Chris Murray details here.
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Hawaii and Boise State square off later this week in a surprisingly very meaningful matchup, as Brian McInnis reports. Ditto for Dayton Morinaga here. Nick Jezierny details the same from the Bronco and Vandal perspective here.
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