A pair of interesting tweets from Nick Jezierny

Here's is Nick Jezierny's extra large All-WAC first-team.

Plus, Nick projects the WAC tourney seeding.

Nick Jezierny offering a public service

Here's Nick on his Twitter account: "To my WAC media friends: The rate for the Orleans Hotel during WAC Tourney is cheaper w/out using the special code. Just an FYI."

What are the odds that Nick's OH room reservation disappears into the ether?

Tonight's scores so far

Boise State beat host Idaho 70-67 tonight. Nick Jezierny tweeted the game.

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Host Utah State leads New Mexico State 35-23 at the half. It's now 45-29 with 11:48 left.

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Nevada leads LT 57-49 with 6:33 remaining. Now at the 3:22 mark, it's 60-56 W9olf Pack.

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Brian McInnis is tweeting the UH - SJSU game which just started.

Follow Nick Jezierny

No, we're not saying track his whereabouts but on his Twitter account, Nick Jezierny is offering up a number of WAC basketball-related entries. Check him out.

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.

Nick Jezierny breaks down the Bronco woes

Nick Jezierny analyzes the factors behind Boise State's being winless in the WAC to date:

Boise State basketball teams take a combined 0-9 WAC record into Wednesday's games
Nick Jezierny
Idaho Statesman
1/20/10

Zero. That's the combined number of WAC wins for the Boise State men's and women's basketball programs this season, placing both teams in last place in the conference standings. Promising nonconference starts - the men were 9-4 and the women 11-3 - have been dampened by January blahs that have players and coaches searching for answers. The teams hope to find them Wednesday when they play a doubleheader at Taco Bell Arena. The women (11-6, 0-3 WAC) play San Jose State (4-12, 0-3) at 6 p.m., while the men (9-10, 0-6) take on Nevada (11-7, 3-2) at 8:15 p.m. To win their first games in 2010, the Broncos must overcome a few issues that have ailed them.

SIX REASONS THE MEN ARE 0-6...

Go here for the remainder.

Plus, here's a prospect with a Boise State recruiting mention (other schools are Texas-Arlington, Alabama, South Alabama and Prairie View):

Damon Sayles
TexasHoops.com Senior Writer

Fort Bend Bush senior Jordan Clark has a problem that all high school athletes would love to have. He didn't immediately remember his team's last defeat on the basketball court.

It's been a while - over a month and a half ago against Austin Reagan at the Jack Frost Invitational in Georgetown - since the Broncos last left a gym floor with a loss, and that's something Clark takes pride in. The 6-foot-5, 190-pound forward is the leading scorer for a Bush team that is 21-3 and winners of 14 consecutive games...

Go here for the remainder and a Rivals sub is required.

Tuesday's WAC basketball items

Sam Wasson/BleedCrimson.net fills us in with a lengthy look at New Mexico State's forwards in his latest preview here.

Jason Groves/Las Cruces Sun-News provides some notes on last night's Aggie exhibition game.

Louisiana Tech gets a full-fledged preview from Chris Murray/Reno Gazette-Journal. He also offers the Wolf Pack all-decade squad as voted on by the fans. Luke Babbitt just edges out Kevin Pinkney (huh?) but we're going to administer sobriety tests to the voters in the point guard category where Armon Johnson fell to Todd Okeson by the count of 218-104. Hey, this isn't Afghanistan.

Travis Mason-Bushman at Vandal Nation has his pick for the top team in the WAC for 2009-2010. He's prepared for the inevitable incoming ordnance.

Speaking of incoming, Dayton Morinaga has more on Bob Nash's new backcourters.

Nick Jezierny profiles Bronco newcomer Westly Perryman who has major quicks and East Coast toughness.

Nick Jezierny is on a roll

Nick Jezierny covers WAC scheduling, Boise State and Idaho scheduling and the Bronco basketball television package in a series of articles today. Beginning with the latter:

KTVB will show Boise State football games, but not Bronco home hoops games
The economy was a big factor in the decision, according to the station's general manager
Nick Jezierny & Chadd Cripe
Idaho Statesman
6/30/09

Boise State men's basketball coach Greg Graham said he has a team that fans will enjoy watching this season.

And to do that, they will have to leave the house and go to Taco Bell Arena.

"We are not planning to televise any home games," said Brad Larrondo, the senior assistant athletic director for promotions and marketing at Boise State...

Go here for the remainder.

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WAC unveils conference basketball schedule; BSU to play at Idaho on a Monday night
Nick Jezierny
Idaho Statesman
6/30/09

The men's basketball teams at Boise State and Idaho will open WAC competition on the road and play their first home games on Saturday and Monday nights.

But the big Monday night game for the two teams comes Jan. 25, when the Broncos travel to Moscow to try and snap a two-game losing streak against the Vandals. Idaho plays at Boise State on Saturday, Feb. 6.

Other highlights of the schedules include:

Go here for the remainder.

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Daily Debate: WAC hoops slate good for football fans
Nick Jezierny
Idaho Statesman
6/30/09

The WAC basketball schedules are never going to make every team happy because there are no good scheduling models for nine-team conferences.

At least the WAC didn't schedule any basketball games Jan. 7 - the night of the BCS Championship football game.

This is great news for fans who don't have to make the choice between watching the football game on TV or going to a basketball game.

No one can complain about that...

Go here for the remainder.

Nick Jezierny sums it up

Concisely and succinctly, Nick Jezierny/Idaho Statesman wraps up why the move of the WAC basketball tournaments to Las Vegas was long overdue:

Moving WAC basketball tournaments to Las Vegas is wise
Nick Jezierny
Idaho Statesman
6/24/09

Talk about a no-brainer. When the WAC formally announces Wednesday it is moving its postseason basketball tournaments to Orleans Arena in Las Vegas in 2011 and 2012, you'll hear little or no opposition to the move (unless you count the Reno-Tahoe tourism folks).

In fact, those are cheers you hear coming from as far as Honolulu and Ruston, La. Boise State and Idaho fans should love the move - a sunny destination in the winter...

Go here for the remainder.

Nick Jezierny's ALL-WAC selections

We love this time of the year not only for the Big Dancin' but also for the various all-league selections. Here's Nick Jezierny with his choices. Enjoy:

Nick Jezierny's all-WAC team
Idaho Statesman
3/04/09

POINT GUARD

® Mac Hopson, Idaho

There is no player who has more important to his team than Hopson, who averages 16.6 points, 4.9 rebounds, 5.8 assists, 1.8 steals and plays 34.1 minutes per game. He'd be the Most Valuable Player of the conference if the criteria for the award was "most valuable player" and not "player of the year..."

Go here for the remainder.

Great minds think alike

Gotta love that headline!

Nick Jezierny of The Idaho Statesman is thinking along the same lines as us with the pitiful performance to date by WAC teams in non-conference games. Some reasons why are offered in the following.

Early-season struggles could haunt WAC men's basketball in postseason
Nick Jezierny
Idaho Statesman
December 01, 2007

Entering December, the WAC looks more like a two-bit basketball conference rather than one that has placed two teams in the NCAA Tournament in seven of the past eight seasons.

The three teams picked to finish at the top of the standings - Utah State, New Mexico State and Nevada - are a combined 8-12, with two of those wins coming against non-Division I foes.

Two others - Fresno State and Louisiana Tech - lost to teams that haven't beaten anyone else. And another - Idaho - still hasn't defeated a Division I team...

...Right now, it isn't hard to be at the top of the WAC. The conference, which finished the past two seasons ranked ninth out of 31 leagues in the RPI power rankings and has been a top-10 conference in six of the past eight years, is ranked 23rd. It's behind the Big Sky and Sun Belt and just ahead of the Mid-Eastern Athletic. Those conferences traditionally get only their champion into the NCAAs...

...As of Friday, Nevada (2-3) had the best RPI in the WAC at 107. BSU ranks fourth at 182 and five WAC teams are ranked 213 or lower. Those numbers don't bode well for the WAC to keep its string of multiple bids to the NCAA Tournament. With the exception of 2003, when regular-season champion Fresno State declared itself ineligible for postseason play, the WAC has sent at least two teams to the Big Dance in every year since 1983.

"There is no question that your nonconference performance as a conference determines how many bids you're going to get," Mark Fox said.

Fox said this season's woes can be traced to how WAC teams have scheduled. Entering Saturday's games, the WAC played 24 home games and 23 road games, as well as six neutral-site games.

"I hate to say it, but it's ridiculous that we are putting ourselves in this position," Fox said. "We are playing far too many road games as a conference. We have to make a greater commitment to scheduling games at home. We have to invest financially in scheduling."

Go here for the complete article.