Thursday morning's WAC basketball rollout

Rafter 17 has posted on the (Scout) Bronco Country Taco Bell Arena message board that wing Igor Hadziomerovic has aligned himself with Boise State hoops. Nothing yet on Igor's Twitter account.

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Shawn Harrison serves up some analysis on the state of USU hoops.

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Dayton Morinaga/Warrior Insider introduces readers to Dom Brumfield, offering print, video and a photo.

Brian McInnis writes that Hawaii is headed to Maui to face Chicago State -- PTW is guessing that qualifies as a road, check that, ocean trip. For the record: Maui residents will enjoy temps from 79-85 degrees as highs today -- Chicagoans will bask in highs around 30 degrees. Brian also offers another edition of his Court Sense blog.

Jeff Portnoy also has posted a new blog entry and will be having CofC Coach Bobby Cremins (formerly of Georgia Tech) plus Notre Dame's Mike Brey as his radio show guests tonight.

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Jason Groves has a clever opener in his latest New Mexico State basketball article -- check it out. He also provides an introduction to Aggie freshman Christian Kabongo.

Saturday's WAC report

New Mexico State makes one more official:

New Mexico State men’s basketball head coach Marvin Menzies has signed Christian Kabongo to a National Letter of Intent, he announced Friday, April 30. Kabongo is a 6-4 combination guard from Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

“(Assistant coach) Paul (Weir) has done an excellent job by bringing Christian Kabongo to the table,” head coach Marvin Menzies said. “Christian is the exact student-athlete that we need in order to replace Jonathan (Gibson) and Jahmar (Young). He is an athletic, scoring guard that should also give us quality minutes at the point guard position.”

Kabongo joins the Aggies this fall from Central Commerce Collegiate Institute in Toronto. The Hoop Scoop named him the No. 4 ranked fifth-year player in the Class of 2010. As a sophomore, Kabongo scored a personal-best 58 points in a single game. In July 2008, Kabongo and his AAU team, Grassroots Canada, won the adidas Super 64 Tournament.

In addition to Kabongo, the 2010 Class includes Tshilidzi Nephawe, a 6-10 center from Johannesburg, South Africa, that signed during the fall period.  

When the young man slams down a dunk, will the Aggies fans shout out "El Kabong" or label it a kabonger?

Jason Groves provides informational tidbits on Aggie hoops here. 

From the Gift That Keeps On Giving Department:

"A lawyer representing former New Mexico State basketball player Jahmar Young has signaled his intent to file a lawsuit against the Las Cruces Police Department..."

Go here for the remainder of Jason's article.

He also has a piece on a recruit aptly being described as a mystery player.

It looks like the young man is a shooting guard out of Orange Coast College in California. In July 2008, he participated in a junior college tournament for OCC but doesn't appear on the roster or in the stats for this past season.

He played for La Quinta High in Orange County. As a 6-foot-4, 170 senior in 2006-2007, he averaged 14.9 points per game.

We're guessing that this is his Facebook page.

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Stephen Madison is also finally official with the Idaho Vandals. From Idaho athletics:

Don Verlin and the University of Idaho men's basketball team capped off their 2010 late-period signing period with the addition of Portland wing, Stephen Madison, on Friday.

Madison, a 6-5, 200-pound wing from Jefferson High School, officially committed to Idaho on Friday in a ceremony at his school along with four teammates. Madison helped lead JHS to a 26-2 record and a 2010 Oregon 5A state title this season while averaging nearly 19 points and eight rebounds per game.

"We are very excited to announce Stephen's signing," Verlin said. "He is a talented young player that has a bright future. He has great size for playing on the perimeter and his understanding of the game is beyond his years.

"Stephen is a great finishing touch on what we think is a very good recruiting class."

At the end of the season, Madison was honored as a first-team all-state selection, as well as a first-team all-Pacific Interscholastic League choice. He was also chosen to participate in the Les Schwab Northwest Shootout all-star game and led all scorers with 27 points.

He was named Player of the Game twice during the Democrats' state tournament run, including after the quarterfinal round when he scored 28 points on 12-of-22 shooting and grabbed 10 rebounds. In the state championship game victory over Mountain View, Madison scored a game-high 20 points on 8-of-17 shooting. Madison reached 20 points three times and averaged 19.3 points in the team's four state tournament games.

"I feel that Idaho is a great fit for me both on the floor and in the classroom," Madison said on Friday. "I fit well with their returning players and the new ones coming in. I think that we have a great chance to be successful with this team and the coaching staff."

ESPN's men's basketball recruiting grades Madison as an 84 and rates him as the No. 100 small forward prospect in the nation. The site describes him as "a deceptive athlete who can dunk over the top of his defender in transition and he can knock down the 3-point shot as well," and also lauds his high basketball IQ.

Madison is the sixth member of Idaho's 2010 recruiting class that already includes fall signees Gary Winston (Walla Walla, Wash./Walla Walla HS), Idell Bell (Lakeland, Fla./North Idaho College) and Renado Parker (Fairwood, Wash./North Idaho College), and spring signees Matt Borton (Yakima, Wash./West Valley HS) and Deremy Geiger (Las Vegas, Nev./Grayson County (TX) College).

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AW Prince/SilverandBlueSports offers video of new Wolf Pack point Derrell Conner -- a sub is required.