Thursday's WAC news and notes

Dave Reardon writes that the best -- no, make that -- the most acceptable of all moves now is for UH to put the WAC in its rear view mirror. But finding a suitor and a heck of a lot of independent football opponents may be Sisyphus-like tasks.

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Sam Wasson offers video of one Jonathan Tshibuy, out of Montreal, (the geographical area the Aggies just toured) -- aso will their be a November announcement pairing up Tshibuy and New Mexico State?

Remi Barry's hometown newspaper has a profile of the young man here.

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Chris Murray on has more on K.C. Ross-Miller 'See America' tour -- go here.

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The Quayles are now  in Belgium -- check out the photos (especially the waffle one) and updates here.

Saturday's WAC-aroo

New Mexico State closed out its Canadian trip on a successful note -- go here for the details.

Bleed Crimson's Sam Wasson offers two different links to game writeups here.

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Boise State had some degree of interest and at some point in 6-foot-3 Arizona transfer Garland Judkins but he decided to return to his home state and play for Texas A&M - Corpus Christi. Go here for the details.

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The Idaho Statesman's Brian Murphy has a post up on Coach Don Verlin's new contract, which contains a very interesting item about the financial requirement to Idaho for a non-conference contest.

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Jared Quayle's better half has an entertaining  post up on the couple's arrival and first day or so in Belgium. Go here.

The late Wednesday WAC offerings

If you are the trailblazer general manager, do you go with Armon Johnson or Patty Mills? Chris Murray has the details.

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aggiedawg777 has posted an all-about New Mexico State 2010-2011 basketball  piece on the Sports Trough message board at Scout's Aggie Alert site. Go here -- if that doesn't work, go to the site and click on Forums.

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Eurobaskest's Peter Buyse offers this: "Stella Artois Leuven Bears has added its final 2 players to the 2010-2011 roster. The 2 new additions are Jared Quayle (185-G-85)...Quayle is a rookie straight out of Utah State..."

Better yet, head to the blog of the Quayles and answer some of the questions Jared has asked.

Here's our offering -- a great line from Wikipedia on Belgium cuisine: "Belgium serves food of French quality in German quantities."

The Monday a.m. WAC-mobile coming at you

Boy, are we glad that all the uproar and hoopla have died down over how the Western Athletic Conference was a dominant factor in the NBA draft -- not. It's fascinating how blinders -- often self-imposed -- obscure reality. A story ripe for the writing and, quite apropos metaphorically, the ball was dropped. Guess that 4,050th story on John Wall was too compelling not to write.

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Djim Bandoumel. No, he didn't score the winning goal in the World Cup -- he's an Idaho recruit out of the New York community college ranks who Vandals fans are wondering about, a la if he will be on the court in Moscow next season. Bandoumel was recently sighted on the Idaho campus but his eligibility remains up in the air. The NCAA Clearinghouse works in mysterious ways and most certainly on its own timetable. Our sense is Bandoumel will enroll and be in school even if a verdict on his eligibility remains pending. The stumbling block could be about core class acceptability or possibly when his eligibility clock began ticking

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Thanks to mcgeorgeaggie for finding it and treesap32 for the translation -- Jared Quayle is heading to Belgium. The info can be found at the Basketball Forum of the Utah State Scout site.

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Fresno State's Greg Smith is attending (invite only) the Amar'e Stoudmire Skills Academy. He was measured in sneakers at 6-10 and weighed 249, with a 7-1 ½ wingspan.

Thursday's WAC news and notes

Steve Cleveland says Fresno State can now look forward to talking about academics with recruiting prospects -- quite the change from what he inherited. Go here.

Baylor transfer Givon Crump, 6-foot-7 and 210, is visiting Fresno State on Monday, per Adam Zagoria here. Crump also has a pair of Big East schools on his itinerary. More on Crump can be found here and here.

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Jared Quayle worked out for the Utah Jazz and is doing what he can for exposure to scouts here and abroad. Go here.

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Here is Jeff Goodman's off-season WAC rundown. Of note: he has Marcus Lawrence transferring out of Idaho.

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San Jose State has filled its assistant coach vacancy:

Talvin Hester, formerly the associate head coach of the Prairie View A&M University men's basketball program, has accepted a men's basketball assistant coaching position at San Jose State University. George Nessman, the Spartans' head coach, made the announcement.

Hester spent five seasons (2006 through 2010) at Prairie View A&M and helped the Panthers to winning records in 2009 and 2010. Prior to 2009, Prairie View suffered five consecutive losing seasons, failed to win at least 10 games in each of those seasons and did not have back-to-back winning records for a 50-year span...

Go here for the remainder.

Sunday's WAC brunch (we get spicy at the end)

Thanks to warriorbow at the Scout Hawaii site basketball message board for posting this: a feature on UH backcourter Hiram Thompson. Here is one from April on Jared Quayle.

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Matt James provides an interesting piece of the seemingly greater player loyalty to Bulldog football vis-a-vis Fresno State basketball. It is true that Pat Hill's roster (as opposed to Steve Cleveland's) contains more player geographically 'connected' to the Fresno area and maybe that 'pull' gets these young men to stay longer but another critical variable to consider is the period of time needed for a college football player (as opposed to a college basketballer looking at the NBA) to have a body ready for the NFL. It generally is three years for those on the gridiron but can be as minimal as one for hoopsters.

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Jared Eborn checks in on the departures of Modou Niang and Tyrone White from the USU basketball program, plus a whole bunch of other player personnel information.

The impression given in the article (hopefully we are reading it correctly) is that Utah State made the decision to drop Niang. Granted, players know that an athletic scholarship is a year-to-year proposition and plenty of players decide on their own to migrate to a new college because of a sense it will be a 'better' home but coaches also don't enter the living rooms of players and their families during recruiting visits and stress that you may be dumped if you don't work out as expected and we find someone better.

This is one aspect of college sports that has always bothered us.

Compounding this is the fact that Niang has encountered no brushes with the law nor academic failings that are known to the public. He just didn't develop at an expected or acceptable rate.of progress.

Anthony DiLoreto certainly has a familiarity with the former, twice to be exact. His inital escapade should have meant the affixing to him of a two-strikes-and-you're-out tag. Yet he remains on the Aggie roster  -- ostensibly because he is seven feet tall and talented in basketball.

There is much to admire about Stew Morrill -- even opposing fans, if truly honest, must admit this fact. But not the latest personnel moves.

Jared Eborn on Jared Quayle

Jared Eborn has a feature on who will attempt to fill the shoes of departing Jared Quayle?

Replacing Jared Quayle
Jared Eborn
Deseret News
April 1, 2010

Make no mistake about it: Utah State is going to miss Jared Quayle.

The only senior on this year's Aggie basketball team, Quayle was as big a part of USU's success over the past two years as there was. Utah State was 57-13 with Quayle on the roster and replicating that kind of success is going to be difficult.

"There's a void there losing Jared," USU coach Stew Morrill said.

There are three players ready to step in and help fill that void...

Go here for the remainder.

It won't be simply a matter of replacing Quayle's numbers (which won't be an easy chore) but more the intangibles the senior brought to the court. Adapting to Stew Morrill's system -- let alone flourishing -- at the most critical position is a major load.

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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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.

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...

Go here for the remainder.

The Monday WAC report

Forget all the other cute descriptions of Troy Gillenwater -- we think 'G-Man' tops them all. Then again, we also remain a loyal supporter of George McGovern so take our proclamations for what they are worth.

Jason Groves has a feature on Gillenwater here.

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Will Jared Quayle be an All-WAC first team selection? If so, maybe it's at least somewhat due to what he doesn't do. Huh? Shawn Harrison has the details here.

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Dayton Morinaga goes inside with Petras Balocka in an insightful article here. We love this type of feature because it goes beyond the numbers and allows a peek inside at the actual person.

UH remains focused on Reno -- the destination, not the Wolf Pack, as Brian McInnis tells us here.

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Jay Drew and Lya Wodraska report that Utah State (among many others) is sniffing around a senior in the Beehive State. Here you go.

Jared Quayle WAC POW

Per Jason Erickson, WAC Media Relations Director:

Utah State’s Jared Quayle has been named the Verizon Wireless Western Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball Player of the Week for the week of Jan. 11-17. The honor marks the second career WAC Player of the Week award for Quayle.

Quayle, a senior guard from Perry, Utah (Western Wyoming CC), led Utah State to a 3-0 record last week with home wins over Hawai‘i (98-54) and Boise State (81-59), and an overtime win at Nevada (79-72). In the overtime victory at Nevada, Quayle scored 21 points to go along with seven rebounds, five assists and one steal in 42 minutes. He was 8-of-15 from the field and 4-of-7 from three-point range. Quayle also had 11 points, five assists, two rebounds and two steals against Hawai‘i in just 22 minutes. He also tallied 10 points, seven rebounds and seven assists in just 28 minutes against Boise State.

On the week, Quayle averaged 14.0 points, 5.7 assists, 5.3 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game. He shot 55.2 percent (16-of-29) from the field, 53.8 percent (7-of-13) from three-point range and was 3-of-3 from the free throw line.

Other nominees:

* Fresno State sophomore guard/forward Paul George
* Hawai‘i senior forward Brandon Adams
* Idaho senior guard Mac Hopson
* Louisiana Tech senior guard Kyle Gibson
* New Mexico State junior guard Jahmar Young

A few more items

Caught this on Jeff Goodman's blog: "Source told FOXSports.com that Marquette transfer Jeronne Maymon was considering Tennessee, but the holdup may be that the Vols don't have a scholarship right now and he'd have to pay his own way for the rest of the year."

Will this work in Nevada's favor or is the Wolf Pack really a player in this situation?

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Damon Lewis at The Mid Majority has a report on the Nevada - Utah State game here. We didn't realize just how effective Jared Quayle was last night in every category: "...Quayle turned in a fantastic, well-rounded performance. In 42 minutes he shot 8-of-15 from the field and scored 21 points (including 4-of-7 3-point shooting), grabbed seven boards, dished out five assists and committed only two turnovers..."

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Clay Travis of Fanhouse has a fascinating and insightful article on the status of college basketball here. It's long but necessarily so in order to be informative. You'll know much more after reading it which is about the highest praise possible.

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Bush picked the wrong Quayle

We bet this Quayle could correctly spell 'potato' -- just ignore this and the headline if you are under say the age of 50 and get to read Shawn Harrison's article.

Quayle gets it
Shawn Harrison
Herald Journal
February 4, 2009

Get over it.

Those, or similar words, were used by Aggie head men’s basketball coach Stew Morrill when addressing his team about breaking into the national rankings this week. He didn’t want to divulge exactly what he said.

“I did it in my own way,” Morrill said. “... It’s great and we need to feel good about it. But we need to get on with trying to compete at the top of the WAC.”

Sure, it is great the Aggies are in the Top 25. But to stay there, they must win. One loss and they will be gone.

Reactions were mixed among the players, from big smiles to no outward emotion. No one is calmer than Jared Quayle. The point guard from Perry was already over it by Monday afternoon.

“I know we’re ranked, but it doesn’t feel any different,” Quayle said.

It didn’t surprise me to hear those words come out of Quayle’s mouth. Nothing seems to rattle him — even though Morrill keeps saying he is trying to get him to not be so hard on himself. I just never see any emotion...

Go here for the remainder.

Jared Quayle is coming on

Well, this is just what the rest of the WAC needs ... a backcourter coming on for Stew Morrill to go with Wilkinson, Wesley and Newbold.

Elevating his game
Utah State's Utah's during their game Monday in Logan.(Eli Lucero/Herald Journal)
Shawn Harrison
The Herald Journal
December 28, 2008

It has taken a few games, but No. 21 is starting to fit right in at Utah State.

Not that he hasn’t always been a big fan of the blue and white, but the former Aggie basketball spectator is now being cheered by the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum crowd.

Jared Quayle is living a dream, while also turning some heads as he earns more and more playing time for the USU men’s team.

“You are just starting to see what Jared is really all about,” Aggie associate coach Tim Duryea said. “... For about two weeks now, you are starting to see the front edge of what he can get done.”

That is especially true for the last three games. The 23-year-old from Perry has averaged 16.7 points, 6.3 rebounds and 4.0 assists, while shooting 58.1 percent from the field in the last three outings...

Go here for the remainder.

In case you're keeping track at home...

There actually has been some player movement already within the ranks of the WAC. So for those of you keeping score:

Luster given his release from NMSU basketball
Jason Groves
Las Cruces Sun-News
3/23/2008

LAS CRUCES — New Mexico State University freshman guard JayDee Luster received his release from the Aggies basketball team.

The release was requested by Luster following the season.

"He has been given his release to explore other college options," Aggies head coach Marvin Menzies said. "It's uncertain what his immediate plans are. I don't know if he is going to a smaller school or another Division I."

Menzies said Luster requested to be released on Tuesday. Luster's financial aide was not taken away. The release just allows other schools to contact Luster seeking his services...

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Other players leaving?
Teddy Feinberg
Las Cruces Sun News blog
March 25, 2008

Alright, we have [JayDee] Luster. Who else could go?

Ya know, I was thinking that [Assistant Coach] Chris Pompey is a key piece to this whole thing. With him around, it increases the chances that Herb Pope and Jahmar Young will be with the team. But what if he left? I don't know if either player stays at that point.

Jahmar was a good freshman last year, at least on the court. He averaged double-digit points and that number is sure to go up. He's a scorer. He could easily average 15-17 points per game next season.

If Pope is in place, him and Troy Gillenwater could be a scary combination on the court.

I don't think you'll see DeAngelo Jones return. He played behind some great players this past year and didn't see the court at all. I think he's gone.

There were chemistry problems this past year. That could lead to change and was an indication that not everyone was happy with their roles. Luster left. And this is just the beginning of the offseason.

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6-11 245 Shawn Oliverson has begun classes at Louisiana Tech this month. He played as a freshman at Cornell then went on a mission as part of his LDS faith. Originally from Idaho, he is a sophomore in eligibility. Oliverson is a project but won't need to play anytime soon because of the big men transfers Coach Kerry Rupp has available in the coming season.

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Western Wyoming Community College star Jared Quayle has verballed to Utah State. Originally from Utah, the 6-2 Quayle is a sophomore currently averaging 25.3 points, 7.4 rebounds and 2.7 assists a game. Outside shooting is one his fortes and he also possesses excellent jumping ability. Quayle nailed 63 3-pointers this season, shooting 52% from three-point range, and 53% overall and 78% from the foul line.