Friday night WAC

Jason Groves reports that New Mexico State has received a verbal commit.

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Dayton Morinaga tells us it's 'no ocean for you' for the UH basketballers who are now ensconced on Maui for a matchup. PTW speculates the Chicago Staters will probably hold a fullout practice on the golden sands of Ka’anapali Beach or at the very least the coaches will be holding an all hands meeting amidst the bikinis. We're undecided but such would qualify as either a mortal or a venial sin NOT to do so.

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Boise State came mighty close on the road but fell by two, 86-84, against the Runnin' Utes. Daequon Montreal totaled 28 points in 34 minutes of play and Reggie Arnold added 16 but didn't shoot particularly (5-15) well. Freshman frontcourter Ryan Watkins came close to a double-double with 10/8 in 23 minutes.

The Broncos had a 48-40 lead at the half.

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In the second half, host Nevada doubled its point total achieved in the initial 20 minutes but fell just short against Arizona State 78-75. A quartet of Wolf Packers scored in double figures: Malik Story with 19, Deonte Burton turning in 18 plus Olek Czyz and Dario Hunt providing 10 apiece. Czyz shot 3-4 overall, 1-1 from long distance and 3-7 from the foul line in his first game.

A couple of more items

Here's a tweet from Nick Jezierny:

"Stopped by Boise State basketball practice today: Freshmen Thomas Bropleh and Ryan Watkins will play this season"

Twiitermark him here.

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The first day to sign and fax a letter-of-intent (LOI)  is Wednesday -- basketball coaches will be in their respective offices very early that day. Marc Isenberg isn't wishy-washy on the subject of LOIs. Go here for his rant.

The state of the WAC on Saturday

The New England Recruiting Report (NERR) has more on former Utah prepster Nick Paulos' decision to verbal to UNC Greensboro:

“They like to get up and down the court.  They have a lot of athleticism and young talent but don’t really have anybody who can knock down shots and I think that’s part of the reason why they were really interested in bringing me in,” he said. “I’m really looking forward to playing in that up and down system and being a guy who can knock down some three-pointers and things like that.”

Go here for the full article.

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Credit mbrooks for noting on the SCOUT New Mexico State Sports Trough board that AggieVision has posted a video interview with Coach Marvin Menzies.

It's here.

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Make Brian McInnis' Court Sense a daily stop for your take on Hawaii hoops. He has a couple of new posts up so head there now.

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Sam Wasson at Bleed Crimson offers a link to the Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook assessment of the Aggies this season -- check out the lengthy take.

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Nick Jezierny highlights newcomer Ryan Watkins here. He also reports on the Bronco contest with Montana Tech.

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Shawn Harrison offers a report on the USU basketball -- covering the intra-squad scrimmage and an exhibition set for today.

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Tony Jones (and Brady Jardine) give some love to Brockeith Pane.

Tuesday's serving of WAC news and notes

Nick Jezierny is back with more on Boise State's new signing -- it was prep school(s) that occupied some of Ryan Watkins' time this past school year. Go here.

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Credit Seansf49 at the Scout AggieAlert.com basketball message board (the Sports trough) for locating the whereabouts of former New Mexico State Aggie Jonathan Gibson. Think what is the mainstay of Thanksgiving Day dinner.

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Simi Valley's (southern California) Jonathan Davis is racking up the suitors. Hawaii offered earlier and now Pacific and UTEP have joined the club, per Jack Pollon. Davis is 6-foot-7 and 190 and ESPN abreviatively describes him: "Davis has filled out some and now projects to the 4-position at the next level. He doesn't have great athleticism (bounce or quickness), but he can catch lobs over the top of a zone if he has enough momentum going to the rim. In addition, he has good hands..." ESPN also has him at 215 pounds.

It was previously reported on August 3 by Pollon that Southern Methodist and George Washington have offered.

We didn't watch it all but here's a 2009 YouTube highlight video of Davis.

Here's a January 29, 2010 feature on Davis in his local newspaper.

Boise State get a 2010 frontcourter

Leon Rice extended and Ryan Watkins accepted so Boise State basketball has another player on the roster for the upcoming season. Nick Jezierny has the details here.

He played as a junior at Taft High in Woodland Hills before moving over to Reseda High. Watkins was named the most valuable player of the Valley Mission League in May 2009, ahead of  now UCLA Bruin Tyler Honeycutt.

Here's Alex Schwartz of NorthStarBasketball on Watkins -- posted 6/1/2010 (scroll way down): "Playing in the U17 division with Pump 'N' Run was unsigned senior Ryan Watkins '10 of Reseda  (CA). A big body at 6'8, 225-pounds, the center does need to get himself into a bit better shape, but once he does, he could be a nice player at the low-major level. He works hard in the paint, rebounds, and can score the ball."

Here's Gerry Freitas of HoopReview.net on Watkins, dated April 10-11, 2010 (again, scroll way down): "Good hands, strong post moves. At times dominant in the half court set. Struggles a little in transition."

PTW was unable to determine where Watkins was or what he did the past year.