Additional WAC basketball links, news and notes

Shawn Harrison shines a light on one of the unsung USU Aggies:

Difference maker
Shawn Harrison
Herald-Journal
January 20, 2010

It was not looking good for the Aggies a week ago at Nevada.

The Wolf Pack men’s basketball team had scored nine straight points to build a 62-52 lead. Utah State had come up empty on three offensive possessions, hadn’t scored in two-and-a-half minutes and the Nevada fans were howling.

The Aggies needed a field goal.

Enter Pooh Williams. The junior dialed up a 3-pointer to slow the Wolf Pack. The Aggies would end up rallying for a 79-72 overtime win...

Go here for the remainder.

Plus, he offers a slew of notes and quotes in a separate article here.

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With a top of the fedora to Sam Wasson/BleedCrimson.net for first finding this, Scott Ficklin tells us why Jared Quayle deserved the WAC Player of the Week award over Jahmar Young, his closest competition.

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Dayton Morinaga features Hiram Thompson, Brandon Adams and others here in his Hawaii basketball report. Brian McInnis salutes Adams in a feature here.

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Ah, the vagaries of recruiting. Portland, Portland State, Fresno State and Nevada all received mentions as places of interest once Andy Poling left Gonzaga. So where does he end up? Seattle Pacific.

Here's Jim Meehan with some quotes from Poling on his choice:

"...I just think it should be a really good fit,” Poling said in a telephone interview from his home in Portland. “I really liked the coaching staff, they’re all really good guys and the team is really competitive, top 15 (in NCAA Division II) right now. I lived in Seattle until I was 9 or 10. It’s a great city and it’s a little closer to home. My family can come watch me and it’s a smaller school, and I really liked that about Gonzaga.”

Poling said he’ll enroll for spring quarter in March. He’ll have three seasons of eligibility..."

Portland State, Portland and Nevada were mentioned by Poling in a previous article in the Oregonian.

A small collection of notes and links

One thing we do feel badly about in the USC - O.J. Mayo - Tim Floyd Lie-apalooza is that the present Trojan basketball players bear the brunt of at least some of the penalties. Mayo is in the NBA and handsomely rewarded, just like in his so-called prep and college days. Ditto for Floyd.

AD Mike Garrett has the credibility of Baghdad Bob. Will the NCAA at least require that he banish himself to his see-no-evil, hear-no-evil, speak-no-evil (as for the latter, it's unless I am desperate to save our most fair-haired son, our big bucks football program) island in Beverly Hills?

Will the NCAA do just such to itself for its obvious myopia? Are there any islands near Indianapolis? How about a sandbar in the Mississippi?

Mike DeCourcey has a nice summary here.

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Chris Murray looks at the pro potential throughout the WAC and more. Go here.

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6-foot-10 Andy Poling is leaving Gonzaga. Does Idaho and or Boise State have a shot or is he headed home to one of the Portlands? Poling played just 23 minutes in six games this season. He's only a (redshirt) freshman but it appears that means he will forfeit a year of D-1 eligibility since he cannot re-redshirt.

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Scout's Dave Telep has a brief post up today about Nevada recruiting target K.C. Ross-Miller unofficially hitting Oklahoma State and Baylor this week and Oklahoma next week. Again, our ample gut feeling is that the point doesn't end up too far from home -- a prediction not based on any specific knowledge.

Ross-Miller's wing teammate Titus Rubles still has Nevada and New Mexico State pitching some woo.