Friday and the world of WAC hoops

Max McCombs reports that Coach David Carter is buying next time.

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Robert Kuwada writes that Fresno State will be hitting Pauley Pavilion in late December -- Robert Upshaw versus Josh Smith.

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Dayton Morinaga has a print and video update from Coach Gib Arnold. Is it Gerry Blakes being alluded to? Does having Sham help make it happen? Don't think they played on the same club team but must have known one another but to what degree?

Wendell McKines is interviewed after working out for the Golden State Warriors. 

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Mel Grussing offers what he's been hearing about Kyisean Reed and the folks in Logan should be happy.

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Utah State and Nevada are looking at Beehive State prepster Stephan Holm. Note that Casey Oliverson looks headed to Salt Lake Community College.

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Payton Dastrup has now been offered by ASU, in addition to UC Davis and Utah State. Plus, Arizona is in the wings for the 6-foot-10 2014 high schooler.

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Sportsbow has this note on a possible UH walk-on, Michael Harper. Everyone should have an Aussie, even just for post-game interviews.

Thursday's WAC hoops abbreviated version

As Robert Kuwada reports, the Terry mojo has worked again as Fresno State landed a wing. The Fresno State recruiting class isn't the largest (even at six) but is the most promising this season in the former WAC. (working on a future article on 'rating the classes') -- Robert also posted again on the same subject.

Somewhat channeling the late Peggy Lee, that's all there is.

Tuesday's WAC hoops compendium

Robert Kuwada writes that Fresno State will be going five-on-five with UCLA and Texas next season.

Hey, that's it so far.

This cannot wait

6-foot-11 Robert Upshaw just became the newest, and therefore the most popular, Fresno State student in ... decades. Thanks to both David Loewen and Jerry Albright for notifying PTW of this magnitude ten turn of events -- just got back and was wondering which college Upshaw had chosen.

Getting Upshaw and Braeden Anderson (earlier) should put to rest Coach Rodney Terry's recruiting prowess, or alleged lack thereof. What's fascinating coincidences are that both of these young men had initially pledged to other schools but became available and that's when FSU became a player plus in those particular recruiting scenarios.

As was written earlier, the Mountain West and the Bulldogs are perfect places -- quality competition, immediate playing time -- for the senior high schooler. He will also have the opportunity to establish a legacy in the area in which he grew up. That is, taking (with help) the Bulldogs to a level not enjoyed for decades.

UW liking Robert Upshaw

Mark Knight/Husky Haul has Washington in the pursuit of Robert Upshaw: "Robert Upshaw is the main back to the basket guy on their radar"

Talking with Boyd Grant

Boyd Grant. Fresno State's last ultra-successful coach and someone who did it with 'smalls' playing inside. No matter what opponents did or tried, Fresno State played its game, it's style, it's pace, and won as the Bulldogs imposed their will. Robert Kuwada interviews the Fresno State basketball icon.

Thursday's slate of games and more

Hawaii and Nevada tangle tonight in Honolulu.

Chris Murray has posted his four keys and also has a prediction for the matchup. Dayton Morinaga goes long and multi-media with his look. Dayton also writes about a blackout and he's not referring to any television showing. Joe Santoro has posted an interesting column touching a number of Wolf Pack basketball subjects. Chris has another post about Nevada getting into the zone.

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Idaho welcomes New Mexico State.

Wendell Faines and Djim Bandoumel talk about the game in a Vandal Nation video. Jason Groves write about stylin'.

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Louisiana Tech will be exposed to The Spectrum Experience but will the students keep up the attendance and therefore the effect for Utah State?

Tony Jones, Shawn Harrison and Kraig Williams each preview.

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Fresno State is short-tripping it to San Jose State.

Angel Moreno/The Collegian looks at the Bulldogs and Robert Kuwada drills down to what is different of late about FSU.

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Jason Groves writes about a mini-McK on the Aggie roster.

Jeff Portnoy is back with a new UH hoops column.

Sunday's report on Saturday's WAC scores

It was 44-40 New Mexico State over Louisiana Tech after the initial 20 minutes and the Aggies upped that lead to eventually win 83-72 -- this despite 30 points from Raheem Appleby. Hamidu Rahman led NMSU with 20 points (but just 6-15 at the foul line), Daniel Mullings contributed 15 and Wendell McKines totaled a 15/10 double-double.

Jason Groves tweeted the matchup.

Jason provides a game report as does Anthony Esparza while Tim Barnett-Queen has posted a bevy of game photos. 

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Host Nevada owned a 35-31 lead at the break over Idaho, then it was 60-58 the Vandals with four minutes left and finally 72-68 as time expired, with Don Verlin's squad winning. Stephen Madison came off scoring zero last game to lead with 18 points, with Kyle Barone and Deremy Geiger each adding 16. Idaho shot 52% overall plus 10-22 on treys. Deonte Burton's 18 paced the Wolf Pack who won the battle of the boards 35-23 but shot 43% and 6-24 from long distance.

Chris Murray was tweeting.

Josh Wright reports on the pairing while Chris Murray and Joe Santoro were on press row. Chris also added a 'notes' column. Mark Rauh serves up quite a number of photos from last night.

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SJSU and Hawaii were tied at 70 at the end of regulation and it finished 83-81 in favor of the Rainbow Warriors, whose shaky foul line numbers almost came back to bite them. Joston Thomas finished with a double-double of 29/12 while Vander Joaquim posted his own of 17/10. UH shot 54% overall but just 18-31 at the charity stripe. Wil Carter enjoyed his own 22/12 double-double for the Spartans plus backcourter James Kinney added 21. SJSU had a 16-point lead in the second half.

Brian McInnis took to Twitter.

Dayton Morinaga and Jimmy Durkin were present and accounted for.

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The score was a remarkable 21-16 at halftime as Fresno State hosted Utah State and the Dogs carried that to the end, winning 60-54. Bulldog Kevin Olekaibe was on top with 26 points, Jerry Brown added 14/8 plus Tyler Johnson's line was 12 points, five rebounds, five assists and a trio of steals. Morgan Grim's 13/8 was the best Aggie performance. Preston Medlin also scored 13 points but didn't shoot well and totaled five turnovers. Brockeith Pane produced six TOs.

Robert Kuwada, Shawn Harrison (who again traveled with the team. kudos, kudos, kudos) and Matt Sonnenberg all check in.

Saturday's game previews and more

Louisiana Tech enjoys the privilege of hosting Nevada tonight and it might be a Bulldog squad minus freshman backcourter Raheem Appleby due to injury. It's appearing to these eyes that the Wolf Pack will be way too strong upfront for LT.

Chris Murray provides his keys to the game plus a prediction. Chris also serves up another look at the pairing. Jerit Roser looks at how LT is approaching the game.

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Fresno State has to face what will be an undeniably upset New Mexico State squad in Las Cruces.

Robert Kuwada checks in. 

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Will San Jose State get Spectrum-ized or will facing a similar style of play to Thursday's opponent (Idaho) aid the Spartans against Utah State? Keith Shamburger is out for the game due his flagrant foul late in the loss to Idaho.

Tony Jones and Shawn Harrison pre-game the duet. 

Matt Sonnenberg has a piece up on the USU addition of Matt Lopez. Anyone have the details on the how and why of Lopez, a young man out of New Joisey, becoming a Logan resident -- usually there's a coaching connection of some degree.

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Hawaii meets up with Idaho in Moscow in a game the Rainbow Warriors really need but one the Vandals also want in order to keep close to Nevada and tied with New Mexico State.

Dayton Morinaga has a preview.

Brian McInnis provides a 'notes' column.

It's Friday morning ... so what happened last night?

Louisiana Tech played the role of rude host, topping Fresno State 59-58, on Brandon Gibson's thisclose-to-the-last-second deuce. Cordarius Johnson led the Bayou Bulldogs with 16 points while Kevin Olekaibe topped the visitors with 20. Tech's Raheem Appleby left the game with an injury in the second half.

Jason Pugh and Jerit Roser were on press row plus Robert Kuwada also checks in.

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Nevada led host New Mexico State 44-30 at the half and finished with a 68-60 victory. The Pack shot 56% to 33% for the Aggies. Wendell McKines went 2-12, Bandja Sy 2-9.

Jason Groves and Teddy Feinberg tweeted the pairing as did Chris Murray.

Jason serves up his take on the contest plus Teddy Feinberg added a commentary. Jason also authored a blog entry. Chris was also courtside (a shout out to the suits at the Gazette Journal is deserved) and also provided a second article.

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Utah State held an eight point lead over Hawaii after 20 minutes and the matchup ended with the Logan-ites owning a five point, 77-72, margin. Preston Medlin led the way with 25 points, a remarkable (in both makes and attempts) 13-14 from the foul line. Vander Joaquim posted a 24/14 double-double (is he entering WAC MVP territory?) but Zane Johnson shot 4-15 and Joston Thomas 4-12.

Brian McInnis was a-twitterin'.

Shawn Harrison, Tony Jones, Matt Sonnenberg and Dayton Morinaga all supply game reports. Craig J. Peterson offers 42 game photos.

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San Jose State challenged Idaho up in the Land of Famous Potatoes and encountered (Kyle) Barone Night to the tune of 21 points and 11 boards and a 74-66 defeat. But the best Vandal stat was 14 shots on the night for the Idaho junior center. Djim Bandoumel also posted a double-double consisting of 11 points and 10 boards. Coach Don Verlin's squad shot 50% on the night and a remarkable 48% on 23 trey attempts. For the Spartans, Wil Carter came close to another double-double with 15 points and nine rebounds and freshman guard D.J. Brown led with 18 markers.

John Blanchette has the details as does Vandal Nation and Gaylen Wood. VN also offers an 11-minute video featuring post game interviews.

Thursday's a.m. look at tonight's matchups

Four games tonight ...

* Louisiana Tech hosts Fresno State in what should be a close one.

Jerit Roser writes about Tech's homecourt troubles so far while Robert Kuwada profiles Bulldog Jerry Brown.

* New Mexico State and Nevada go at it in Las Cruces (to ESPN: in what should be a televised game). This one will feature duels between equally talented, skilled and athletic bigs and smalls.

Jason Groves previews as does Chris Murray with his four keys/prediction piece and then Chris takes a second look. Sam Wasson also previews

* Idaho and San Jose State face off in Red Square, make that Moscow. Which team is Putin rooting for?

Vandal Nation serves up a five minute Spartan scouting report video out of the mouths of Kyle Barone and Mansa Habeeb.

* Utah State welcomes Hawaii Spectrum-style.

Dayton Morinaga takes a multi-media look at the pairing with Kraig Williams, Tony Jones and Shawn Harrison all also checking in about a contest that should tell us much more about both teams.

Saturday's showdowns in the WAC

Utah State and Idaho --- aka Morrill v. Verlin -- meet up in Moscow. Can the Vandals add to the road woes of the Aggies?

Kraig Williams, Tyler Huskinson, Tony Jones and Shawn Harrison all preview the matchup.

Missed this earlier: Theo Lawson has issued his grades for the Vandals.

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Fresno State will be entering The Biggest Little City in the World in pairing up with Nevada. Can the little Dogs handle the big Pack?

It's "target: Burton" for FSU as Robert Kuwada explains.

Chris Murray serves up his pre-game analysis plus a prediction. Chris also serves up another look at the game.

Chris further notes that ESPN's Doug Gottlieb has taken a fancy to Malik Story.

Joe Santoro provides a 'notes' column.

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Hawaii hosts New Mexico State in what appears to be the game of the night. The obvious key: who is available to play for the Rainbow Warriors? Expect Zane Johnson and Jeremiah Ostrowski to both be back but UH will be feeling a degree of pressure to win at home.

Dayton Morinaga goes multi-media on the matchup and Jeff Portnoy looks backwards and forwards. Jason Groves checks in with his pre-game take.

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San Jose State throws out the welcome mat for Louisiana Tech. With Raheem Appleby (28 points in the Thursday win in Hawaii) in the neighborhood can the Spartans make him shoot 2 for 20? SJSU is still looking to get off the schneid in league play.

Saturday's WAC basketball rollout

So it's Nevada hosting Hawaii tonight matching up the current heavyweight and a light heavyweight wanting to move up. This will certainly be the opportunity to do so but Vander Joaquim and Joston Thomas have to shine, starting by reducing the 11 turnovers they paired up for against Fresno State.

Chris Murray looks at the matchup as does Dayton Morinaga.

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Coming off the 20-point win versus Utah State, New Mexico State welcomes Idaho. A second road win will boost the Vandals confidence but Wendell McKines and Company are riding high.

Jim Hilley and Jason Groves each goes pre-game. 

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Do you want to be Louisiana Tech? The Utah Staters is coming to Ruston after a reaming out and a charge of quitting issued by Coach Stew Morrill. Let's see how the Aggies respond. Let's see how the Bulldogs respond to the USU response?

Tony Jones, Shawn Harrison and Kraig Williams all look at the pairing. Jerit Roser comes from the Ruston perspective, with Tech Coach Mike White calling the game huge.

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Fresno State has San Jose State entering the SaveMart Center in a matchup where each squad sees a victory after 40 minutes. But alas, only one vision will prove correct.

Robert Kuwada looks at the contest as well as Garrett Johnson's strong last game. Robert also writes about Fresno State getting thisclose in a couple of the WAC contests.

Thursday's WAC hoops report

Finally, it's game night.

Kraig Williams leads off with his look at the USU - New Mexico State matchup in Las Cruces -- add Tony Jones and Shawn Harrison to the northern Aggie mix. Jason Groves offers his southern take. Jason also posted a blog entry.

The Sun-News is going all out with live coverage of the pairing.

Professor Sonnenberg has issued his first semester grades for Utah State's players. There's no cruising through Sagebrush 101.

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Nevada is welcoming San Jose State so that means Chris Murray has his 'keys to the game' and his 'prediction' posted. Plus, Chris also serves up a 'notes' column. Making it a threesome, Chris has posted a third piece on the Spartans and Wolf Pack.

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Louisiana Tech is hosting Idaho in what actually is an important early season match because LT needs to defend its home court at every opportunity while the Vandals have to nab a road victory here and there to end up beyond .500. 

Josh Wright provides the Idaho perspective plus updates and Cody Futrell does the same for LT.

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Hawaii is away from the islands and in Fresno. While the Rainbow Warriors need proficiency at the point and 15-20 points from Zane Johnson, the primary key is who wins the paint -- the UH bigs versus the Bulldog not so bigs.

Robert Kuwada writes about possessions, efficiency and KO. Robert also has a blog entry on Bulldog Kevin Foster getting back to normal physically.

Upshaw to the midwest

Fresno area big Robert Upshaw has cast his college lot with Coach Frank Martin and Kansas State. We thought it would be Georgetown so toss an egg in PTW's direction. Congrats to Robert.

Scott Wright on Aaron Anderson

Scott Wright of The Oklahoman has a feature on Aaron Anderson's commitment to Fresno State.

Thursday's galaxy of WAC basketball

Jason Groves works through the New Mexico State schedule in a lengthy piece, prognosticating wins and losses.

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Even after this (warning, the written portion is coarse so you may want to stick to the video), recruit Kyndahl Hill didn't commit to Utah State. What's the guy thinking? Them Aggies know when to schedule a visit.

Blue Zertuche @ Texas Hoops (a sub required) offers a feature on Hill's decision to go with Weber State. Key quotes:

"... It's a great feeling that I have committed to Weber State," said Hill. "The coaches have been there the longest and really made me feel wanted by them ..."

and

"... Weber State wants me to play the three for them ..."

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 The USUStats site serves up a feature on Aggie commit Sean Harris.

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Tyrone Wallace, a  6-foot-4, 180 pound 2012 point out of the Bakersfield CA area, has October visits planned to Cal, Colorado, Oregon and a fourth school. Anyone been able to determine the latter? Fresno State has offered.

He would be the type of talent that just might influence big Robert Upshaw to remain in the San Joaquin.

Tuesday's WAC basketball digest

Former Fresno State center John Ryan has transferred to UC Irvine. It's interesting it took until now -- PTW doesn't know if the timing was mutual or based on one or the other's decision. Signing a financial aid package allows a student-athlete greater flexibility if another change of address is desired.

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Dayton Morinaga reports that Zane Johnson is receiving treatment on his knees which is producing a much faster daily recovery time.

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Jason Groves writes that the WAC basketball tourney isn't leavin' Las Vegas. But do check out the annual attendance numbers Jason provides.

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bpd at the USU Fans.com Stew's Spectrum message board has the scoop that USU 2012 commit Cory Calvert has opened his recruitment back up.

Personnel changes in mid-June?

Actually, most player shifts are a long time coming and probably were in place sometime ago. Anyway, here goes:

Well, this is a surprise.

KOFan on the Save Mart Center MB at the BarkBoard site, is reporting that Bracken Funk has departed from the Fresno State basketball team, thus weakening an already thin front line.

PTW recalls this from Funk in Daniel Lyght's April 7 Fresno Bee article right after Rodney Terry's new hire:

"I'm behind this guy 100%. I would take a bullet for him right now, and I only met him for 20 minutes. He's awesome."

The timing sure is curious, what with so many teams now at 13 scholarships.

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Jason Jones at his Here Come The Dawgs Louisiana Tech Scout site makes note of another Ole Miss transfer -- this one a backcourter -- joining the squad in Ruston.

JAY noted the above at the Bulldog Barks and Bytes MB and added that sophomore-to-be cornerman James Johnson may be packing.

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Tony Jones reports that UVU will be back in the house during the WAC meeting this week, the latest status in an on-again, off-again relationship.

Conversely, Bob Condotta has the details on Seattle's desire to join the WAC.

With Denver already aboard, will the league add two non-football playing members? Or just one?

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Brian McInnis offers the details on the UH players participating in summer league play. 

An Ernie Kent feature

PTW has no idea if Ernie Kent is in the mix for the Fresno State position but if he has Elite Eight and Final Four expectations, well, the WAC is not a fit. Check out this article -- we loved the “We walked into a Mac Court that had mice and maggots" line.