Dave Reardon on Hawaii hoops

We wish we didn't have to report this but it's a position that through good and bad receives prominent public play and such is a known factor going into it. We've never met Bob Nash but all reports indicate he is a genuinely good person and the kind of friend anyone would like to have.

Nash needs a miracle
Dave Reardon
Honolulu Star Bulletin
March 5, 2010

After last night’s loss to Boise State, it’s nearly impossible for Hawaii to make the WAC basketball tournament.

And even if the Rainbows do make it to Reno, that’s no guarantee coach Bob Nash is back for the final year of his contract. UH would have to win at least its first-round game if it did get in … being the second-to-last place team in the conference in your third season isn’t quite the progress anyone should be satisfied with.

UH radio voice Bobby Curran has the most inside information on the Rainbows of any media member, except possibly Artie Wilson. This morning, on his radio show, Bobby stated “No,” when asked if he thought Nash would be back. (Artie’s show is on right now on 1420)...

Go here for the remainder.

Here's Jack Fertig on Fresno State hoops

Jack Fertig possesses a unique eye for commenting on Bulldog basketball, from Tarkball to now. Here's a recent post on Bulldog basketball and the San Joaquin fan-dom:

The Argument Over Fresno State Basketball - Then and Now
Jack Fertig
March 6, 2010

Basketball fans in Fresno seem to be divided between the state of the team from the decade starting in 1995 and what’s gone on during the past five years. Proponents of the former talk of the excitement and post season play, while people who favor the current program speak of the embarrassment the “winners” brought and how it’s handicapped the current staff - which hasn’t achieved the success on the court the paying customers expect.

I completely understand each side. Naturally, I’m prejudiced toward the Tarkanian administration (since I was part of it - as Director of Basketball Operations). What intrigues me is that there has to be a comparison at all...

Go here for the remainder.

Here's Jack site if you would like to know more about him.

Saturday a.m. WAC links and notes

It's the end of the ifs, ands or buts tonight because we'll finally know the actual matchups for next week's WAC tournament. But for now, Jim Hilley at the Bulletin in the Zone has all the possibilities here.

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A quick take on the USU-NMSU matchup: it is in Logan which is a +135 for Utah State but the meeting of the Aggies will have psychological implications on both teams should these two squads meet again in the tournament next week.

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Here is Josh Wright with the genesis of the Kashif Watson kerfluffle (which it appears that Wright scooped everyone and initially brought Watson's tweets to light).

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Here's a special shout out to BSU's Kurt Cunningham, who will have earned his master's degree by July -- from Nick Jezierny's article here.

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Shawn Harrison provides a lengthy feature here on Utah State's lone senior, Jared Quayle. Jared Eborn blogs about Styeven Thornton's visit here.

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Symbolism can be so rich -- both Brian McInnis and the Honolulu Advertiser have articles here and here about Hawaii's trek from Boise to Moscow -- complete with, yes, the bus breaking down and time spent alongside the road. Bob Nash has to be asking 'what next?'

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Tony Jones has the scoop on a USU recruit visiting

Tony Jones has posted a blog about a Stoneridge Prep (southern California) player -- Steven Thornton -- visiting Logan this weekend. Go here for the article.

We're relying on our memory here (a dangerous avenue to travel) but we seem to recall talking to a southern California club team coach last year and Thornton's name popped up. The kid was described as an excellent athlete who needed to work on his jumper/shooting consistency.

Thornton was being coached at Stoneridge Prep by Derryck 'Tank' Thornton -- who we are presuming to be a father or brother but have no confirmation of such.

We used "was" because Kentucky Ink Recruiting had a Jim Tirey-penned February 23 post about Derryck Thornton being let go by the Stoneridge A.D.

Many thanks to PremierBall.com for the Steven Thornton photo.

Remember Richie Phillips?

Nevada will be honoring Richie Phillips on Saturday -- Chris Murray offers the details here.

The Refraction-ers tackle New Mexico State

The New Mexico State Refraction issue has been posted by Kraig and Matt (or Matt and Kraig if you're a Sonnenberg clan member. Scroll down to the Back Page to get the Aggie material as the 'first page' is the Refraction 2009-2010 awardees. Check and see if you were honored. Here's the link.

Go away for a few hours and a soap opera breaks out

Man, talk about strange!

This was posted at the Idaho Statesman on Friday afternoon:

"University of Idaho men’s basketball player Kashif Watson is suspended indefinitely for conduct detrimental to the program, head coach Don Verlin announced Friday.

“Kashif’s suspension is a matter that he must work through in order to be reinstated for practice and play,” Verlin said. “The matter will be revisited prior to the WAC Tournament next week...”

Speculation has this action connected to the content of Watson's Twitter account (where Watson appears to confirm it): "Wow just gott in trouble for my Twitter comments!! Gotta watch wat u say may hurt peoples feelings.. about 8 hours ago

Watson is apparently referring to what he tweeted on March 27: "Another fuckn L yo.. Don't gett how we pose to win wit this guy coachin us, just don't want it that bad I guess."

But his Match 26 tweet isn't exactly class personified: "Just seen Karl Malone in the lobby drunk then a bitch lol, oh bitch ass N*gg* drinkin his sorrows away from when Mj use to thrash his ass!!"

Wow.

Thankfully, there are games to be played on Saturday even though Kashif Watson won't be there. It's hard to imagine he will be back in uniform for the tourney but time will tell.

Some additonal WAC-related notes and links

Dave Keefer at the Rivals California Preps site recently had this to say on New Mexico State big man signee Tshilidzi Nephawe's play in a recent game:

"...Stoneridge [Prep] had another big, 6-foot-9 senior Tshilidzi Nephawe ("Chili"), who was very effective in the paint. Chili's got a pro body... and had his way under the basket..."

Here's a November 2009 description of the young man: "Nephawe uses his strength, athleticism and power to impact the game on both ends of the floor. Tshilidzi is a hard playing, aggressive post player that loves to create contact. Offensively, he doesn't play well outside of a five foot perimeter. He can only score around the basket, predominately..."

Here is the signing announcement from back in November. For what it's worth, here is his Facebook page.

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Jared Eborn catches up here with former Aggie Stavon Williams.

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Jeff Portnoy offers advice about Hawaii basketball here with the promise that he'll have more to say on Sunday

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The Draft Express site Twitter account contained this item:

"Most ridiculous one I heard is Magnum Rolle passing up playing at the PIT. Buddy, u play in the WAC, 95% of NBA doesn't even know your name.
2010-03-05 12:09:04"

We haven't seen anything definite on this but Rolle would be smart to utilize every opportunity for exposure, including the Portsmouth Invitational tourney.

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Your Friday wrap of last night's games

Let's lead off with the game, make that the shootout, of the night -- one that ESPN2, in retrospect, should have televised. Fields usually get furrowed but it was the Aggies plowed under by Brandon Fields last evening in Reno.

Chris Murray is all over the Wolf Pack win over New Mexico State here. Chris offers a plethora of game notes here. Sam Wasson is here and Jason Groves here with their game reports.

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Showing some fire still remains, host Fresno State rallied from a second-half deficit to beat Louisiana Tech, a southern Bulldog squad minus Kyle Gibson due to an ankle ailment. Daniel Lyght has his game report here.

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Travis Mason-Bushman live-blogged Idaho's victory over visiting San Jose State. Here is his game report plus a post-game video interview with Kashif Watson (although there is no definitive word if Watson called his bank shot). Josh Wright provides his game report here.

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Host Boise State had an easy time with Hawaii -- here is Nick Jezierny's game report. The Honolulu Advertiser has Josh Rodriguez and his take here.

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It was a night where each home team won, some unusual firepower was on display at a couple of the venues, where Fresno State had something to prove and did so and with Boise State continuing on its resurgence of sorts.

Chris Murray honors Luke Babbitt & Adrian Oliver

The top 10 mid-major players in the country
Chris Murray
Reno Gazette-Journal
3/4/2010

Here are my top-10 mid-major players in the country. Lots of these guys don't get the national headlines they deserve, so we will give them a little "Wolf Pack Blog" love (although that's probably not worth much). There's no specific order on the players listed and the selections were made on college productivity rather than pro potential...

Go here for the names, plus the contenders group which also has some WAC flavor.

Tony Jones offers up USU recruiting names

Tony Jones has dipped into recruiting for Utah State. He has posts here, here, here and here. Tony has certainly been a great addition this season to WAC coverage and we're hoping for many, many more years to come.

The New Mexico State student newspaper editor doesn't like what he sees

The following certainly won't be popular in Las Cruces or a number places elsewhere, isn't the first clarion call nor will it be the last. But it should be debated for what it is -- not what it isn't (such as what is the NMSU basketball team's GPA and where is the squad APR positioned at the moment in relation to the last few years).

You can argue such should have been included but it wasn't so dive into what was.

Keep in mind, much as we hate to admit such, that D-1 college basketball is a business enterprise and therefore 'corporate' rules apply -- not high-minded educational institution bylaws.

*** We forgot earlier to include a thanks to MetsJetsAggies at the Scout Utah State basketball message board for bringing this to our attention.

COMMENTARY: Fans may be last line of defense for educated athletes
Jon Blazak Editor-in-Chief
The Round Up
January 25, 2010

While driving home from winter vacation I stumbled upon a conversation on afternoon sports radio that has remained with me since. At the root of the conversation, two former collegiate athletes and radio hosts posed the question: who should be responsible for monitoring a student athlete’s progress academically and should we as fans even care

I have seldom considered Troy Gillenwater ‘s grade point average while watching a basketball game at the Pan-Am or worried about Jahmar Young turning in a history paper after a game in which he was the leading scorer, but maybe I should have...

Go here for the remainder.

Someone has to face the USU starting five every day

Shawn Harrison features Utah State's 'other' guys:

USU’s unsung players
Aggie scout team words hard behind the scenes
Shawn Harrison
The Herald-Journal
March 3, 2010

Every star has plenty of behind-the-scene-type people.

Dare we call them unsung heroes?

Utah State men's basketball is no different. Those behind the scenes, however, scoff at the unsung hero comparison.

"I don't know about the hero part," Cameron Gardner said. "It's just fun for me to be out there playing against these high-caliber athletes. I get to guard some of the quickest players in the WAC. Just to be in a program with coaches like these, who really know what they are doing, is fun..."

Go here for the remainder.

Hail to Odessa

Ethan Conley has an informative read on a Louisiana Tech feeder program. This article not getting titled "The Odessa File" is a missed opportunity:

The Odessa Connection: Texas community college a hotspot for Tech basketball prospects
Ethan Conley
The News Star
March 4, 2010

RUSTON — Pull on to I-20 and head west. Drive. Keep driving. After some 600 miles you’ll arrive in Odessa, Texas, and after a few turns off the interstate there’s a junior college that is fast becoming a farm club for the Louisiana Tech men’s basketball team.

Odessa College has already sent one player to the Bulldogs in shooting guard Jamel Guyton. Two more Odessa players have signed letters of intent to transfer to Tech next season, and if the pipeline holds true, a fourth player will make the transition from Odessa to Ruston for the 2011-12 season.

In some instances, the junior college serves as an intermediary between Tech and its prep signees who aren’t academically qualified to play Division I basketball straight out of high school. In others, a long-standing relationship between the respective coaching staffs leads to Tech signing an Odessa product that went unnoticed in high school. Either way, Odessa has turned into one of the key programs feeding talent to the Bulldogs...

Go here for the remainder.

Is Greg Graham to be or not to be?

Yes, we're back so soon (because we came across some excellent material). Call this the "how can I miss you if you won't go away" (a tip o' the hat to Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks) version of PTW.

Nick Jezierny and Mike Prater come down differently on the Greg Graham retention question, one that has no black-and-white answer. However, after reading and re-reading the pro and con, PTW believes Nick Jezierny makes a better case. Maybe that's a wuss out on our part but no coach's future (barring illegal activity or some extremely poor display of judgment) deserves to be decided until the season is complete and the full body of work available for inspection.

Should Boise State basketball coach Greg Graham go?
Commentary by Nick Jezierny and Mike Prater
Idaho Statesman
3/04/10

Greg Graham has led Boise State to the NCAA Tournament and the NIT.

Keep him: He's won before, and the school can't afford not to bring the coach back next season.

Dear Gene Bleymaier: With attendance at an all-time low and your men's basketball team fighting for its life just to qualify for the WAC Tournament, you probably are considering a coaching change.

No one can blame you, especially after I saw you turn a deep shade of red last month when Idaho humiliated the Broncos 79-55 at Taco Bell Arena. Two weeks later, you were staring into a sea of empty seats on a Saturday when UC Davis thumped your team in front of 1,906 fans.

Getting embarrassed at home by your rival and a lack of fan support are two good reasons to make a change. But Gene, you have about 362,500 reasons not to make a change and stick with coach Greg Graham for the final season of his three-year contract...

Go here for the remainder.