Matt Bauscher has seen the light

Matt has switched his blog site host so here is his new 'address' so to speak and do change your bookmarks:

http://mattbauscher.blogspot.com/

He makes it a point to combine interesting photos with his diary entries and keeps his blog extremely current.

Thanks to Matt for doing this -- we do appreciate it and wish him the best as it sounds like he is doing quite well.

A significant New Mexico State statistic

From the folks at the Bleed Crimson site comes this stat from this post that should be causing some alarm for NMSU Aggie fans:

"...the Aggies were manhandled on the boards. KU had 20 offensive rebounds, the Aggies had 20 total rebounds. KU outrebounded the Aggies 46-20. As we mentioned in last week's WAC roundup for Rush The Court, the Aggies are being out rebounded at an alarming rate. Last season the Aggies were second in the nation in rebounding margin at +8.9. Heading into last night's game's the Aggies' rebounding margin was -7. That's a difference of nearly 16 rebounds from a year ago. Whether they be offensive or defensive, that's 16 less opportunities that the Aggies have to score and 16 more opportunities Aggie opponents have to score..."

By the way, the Bleed Crimson site is one to check every day for all the latest on NMSU athletics.

Nevada notes from Chris Murray

Here's Chris Murray with his take after viewing the Nevada - Colorado State contest:

Plenty of positive signs for Pack basketball team
Chris Murray
Reno Gazette-Journal
12/3/2008

As documented in our Nevada-Colorado State game story, the shots were falling for the Wolf Pack on Tuesday night. But there were some more encouraging signs beyond that. Here are a few.

- The Wolf Pack was able to shut down CSU's Andy Ogide (seven points, six rebounds), who was averaging a double-double entering the game. Nevada had been torched inside the previous three games, but the combination of Dario Hunt, Luke Babbitt and the Phillips boys (Richie and Ahyaro) held Ogide in check. The Rams did score 42 points in the paint -- which is way too much -- but a lot of those came off drives.

- Ahyaro Phillips got his first extended playing time and looked good in the process. He made one defensive mistake that led to a layup and was called for a lane violation on a free throw, but the freshman grabbed four rebounds in five minutes and hit a pair of free throws. Phillips is the most athletic player on the team and, judging by the pre-game warmups, has a pretty solid stroke. Phillips also put on an impressive dunking display prior to the Portland game...

Go here for the remainder.

Fresno State comes close

Fresno State came tantalizingly close to winning against UNLV and Coach Steve Cleveland is vowing there is no 'wait til next season' -- that his squad will start coming out on top in 2008-2009.

This game was also interesting because it seemed inevitable that Fresno point Dwight O'Neill would come up against his half-brother, Rebel point Tre'Von Willis. But this matchup didn't happen until very late in the game.

Close won't cut it for men's hoops
Fresno State keeps pace until end in loss to UNLV.
Bryant-Jon Anteola
The Fresno Bee
12/03/08

Fresno State is tired of playing that "young and inexperienced" excuse card.

And coach Steve Cleveland on Wednesday proclaimed the Bulldogs would start winning on a consistent basis this season -- not next.

But in the end, Fresno State suffered a second straight close defeat at the Save Mart Center, losing 82-76 to UNLV, an NCAA Tournament hopeful and favorite to win the Mountain West Conference.

"I take no solace in coming close," Cleveland said. "We were prepared to win this game. The competitive and effort level were great. At times, the execution wasn't. ... It's taking time to figure out how to make the plays, the stops.

"There will be a day we overcome adversity. And we're not waiting till next year..."

Go here for the remainder.

Boise wins again

We just may have missed the proverbial boat is not showing as much early PTW love to Boise's Mark Sanchez as he is now commanding. The Broncos beat Wyoming despite being more than doubled up in free throw attempts.

Last-second layup lifts Boise State men's basketball
Mark Sanchez scores with 0.9 seconds remaining on BSU's 'fist down' play
Nick Jezierny
Idaho Statesman
12/04/08

Fist down meant thumbs up for the Boise State men's basketball team - again.

Mark Sanchez hit a layup with 0.9 seconds left off a designed inbounds play called fist down - the same one that BSU used at Fresno State last season to win in overtime - to give the Broncos a wild 86-85 victory over Wyoming on Wednesday night in front of 3,067 fans at Taco Bell Arena.

Sanchez's shot fulfilled a prophecy of teammate Ike Okoye, who "just knew" that his Broncos (5-1) were going to beat his former school. Okoye transferred from Wyoming last season and punished his former team with career-highs in points (21), rebounds (12), field goals (nine) and blocked shots (four)...

Go here for the remainder.

Aggies challenge Kansas for a while

A young New Mexico State team actually did quite well in hanging with Kansas -- in Lawrence -- for quite some time in last night's game. The Jayhawks are not the same team as last year or even a few previous seasons but neither is NMSU. It seems fairly easy to suspect that Coach Marvin Menzies is happy with the fight his squad displayed even if he obviously preferred a different outcome.

Kansas runs away from New Mexico State men's basketball team
Las Cruces Sun-News report
12/04/2008

The New Mexico State men's basketball team battled the defending national champions for almost 30 minutes, but Kansas proved to be too much physically for the Aggies.

Kansas outrebounded NMSU 46-20 and 20-7 on the offensive glass, scoring 56 points in the paint in a 100-79 victory over NMSU at Allen Fieldhouse on Wednesday.

After NMSU (2-3) trailed by 11 at halftime, Aggies sophomore guard Gordo Castillo drained back-to-back 3-pointers to pull the Aggies to 58-51, forcing Jayhawks coach Bill Self to call a timeout with just over 12 minutes to play. Self's timeout was well timed, as the Jayhawks pulled away with a 13-4 run for a 71-55 lead...

Go here for the remainder.

San Jose State falls to Santa Clara

Free throws. Make that missed free throws did in San Jose State. Oh and some guy named John Bryant.

SCU defeats San Jose State in men's basketball
Jon Wilner
San Jose Mercury News
12/03/2008

Neither team was at its best. Not close to its best. San Jose State, coming off a nine-day break, looked out of sync. Santa Clara, coming off a trip from hell — five flights over two days to get home from Missoula, Mont. — looked weary.

The Broncos had the lead, lost it, regained it, lost it again and then mustered the energy to snatch it back in the final minutes and escape with a 59-56 victory Wednesday before an announced crowd of 2,046 at San Jose State's McPherson Court...

Go here for the remainder.

On this day...

On this day, nothing of importance happened in Western Athletic Conference basketball.

Actually, we're busy with a couple of other projects and will try and be back later with a couple of items.

A Louisiana Tech basketball site worth bookmarking

We really enjoy this LA TECH hoops site and the usual analysis that accompanies most of the posts.

The proprietor has been busy of late with the holiday thing -- how dare he prioritize like that -- but our bet is some worthwhile comments of where Bulldog basketball is right now will be forthcoming.

Idaho rolls over Sac State

No, it's not a significant win but it's only fair to present any Vandal victory. However, do not take this as a jab at Idaho hoops. Don Verlin's squad isn't going to win a lot of games this season but his players will play hard and play 40 minutes and play as a team and this change in culture is why covering Idaho basketball is important in 2008-2009 both in Moscow, ID and for the Western Athletic Conference.

Red-hot Vandals win at Sacramento State
Courtesy: Idaho Athletic Media Relations
12/01/2008

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – A barrage of three-point field goals midway through the first half sparked the University of Idaho men’s basketball team and the Vandals never looked back in a 72-58 victory at Sacramento State.

Idaho hit six consecutive three pointers in a 22-4 stretch that opened up a game that saw just 20 combined points through the first nine minutes. The Vandals moved ahead by 16 and never trailed by more than nine in its first road victory of the young season.

Idaho shot 57-percent from the floor and 56-percent from beyond the 3-point line to improve its record to 4-3 on the season. The Vandals are above .500 in December for the first time since the 2002-03 season. Sacramento State fell to 0-5 with the loss...

Go here for the remainder.

Hawaii downs Prairie View

The outcome wasn't necessarily significant but how it came about could be. A healthy Roderick Flemings is what the Rainbow Warriors need.

Bows' Flemings takes over
Brian McInnis
Honolulu Star Bulletin
December 2, 2008

Roderick Flemings had seen enough.

Flemings threw his Hawaii teammates on his back in the second half - scoring 19 of his 22 points after intermission - as the Rainbow Warriors defeated Prairie View A&M 78-70 before a crowd of 3,090 last night at the Stan Sheriff Center. Bill Amis (16 points, 12 rebounds) and Flemings (13 boards) recorded their first career double-doubles.

"I got it going," Flemings said. "My teammates got it to me, knocked shots down, got my confidence going.

"I felt good, that's the best I felt this year..."

Go here for the remainder.

Wilkinson and Wesley doing it for the Aggies

Here's a feature on what Gary Wilkinson and Tai Wesley have accomplished to date this season.

USU basketball: Front-court duo fuels Aggies' strong start
Jared Eborn
Deseret News
December 2, 2008

LOGAN — Call it the ultimate recipe for success on the basketball court.

Utah State has, perhaps, as good a front-court duo as they've had in ages — and that's saying something when the Aggies have had Spencer Nelson, Nate Harris and Desmond Pinegar in recent years — and is simply dominating the paint...

Go here for the remainder.

Here are features on a pair of Hawaii players

For some background on a couple of this season's Rainbow Warriors:

UH's Adams writes his own script
Brian McInnis
Honolulu Star Bulletin
December 1, 2008

Brandon Adams ties his two career interests together with a single philosophy.

Whether the junior forward of the Hawaii men's basketball team is working on his shooting on the court or from behind a camera lens, he has learned one thing: patience.

The athletic Adams arrived at Hawaii this year with the goals of both furthering his basketball career coming out of Diablo Valley College (Calif.) and getting a degree in media arts...

Go here for the remainder.

and

Balocka proves he can talk the talk
Dayton Morinaga
Honolulu Advertiser
November 30, 2008

Petras Balocka has already made a lot of noise after just four games with the University of Hawai'i men's basketball team.

Balocka, a 6-foot-8 junior center, is second on the team in scoring with 12.3 points per game, despite averaging just 20 minutes per game. He is also averaging 4.3 rebounds per game, and leads the team in field-goal percentage at .577...

Go here for the remainder.

Fresno falls to Oregon State

Yes, it was a PAC-10- WAC matchup but the Bulldogs were hoping to topple Oregon State anyway just as Nevada did at home on November 22 and even Yale and Montana State did in Corvallis. But the outcome was not anywhere near an unspeakable loss as Fresno State is simply too inexperienced and missing a degree of talent necessary to play competitively every time out.

Men's basketball team helps foe end lengthy skid
Oregon State losing streak ends at 25 with win against Fresno State.
Bryant-Jon Anteola
The Fresno Bee
11/30/08

As the first month of men's basketball came to an end, Fresno State still was searching for its first quality win.

It wasn't going to happen Sunday against the struggling Oregon State Beavers, even if the Bulldogs won.

But even that the Bulldogs failed to do, flat in their effort and execution in losing 62-54 before an announced crowd of 8,548 at the Save Mart Center.

Oregon State controlled the glass with a 34-26 rebounding advantage and held Fresno State to 24.1% shooting (7 of 29) in the second half.

"You can see some times the inexperience of this team in their execution showed," Bulldogs coach Steve Cleveland said. "There was a lack of aggression. The guys who normally rebound for us, tonight did not.

"Our group looked a step slow..."

Go here for the remainder.

Where is the Aggie leadership?

It happened earlier this season and again over the weekend. Jonathan Gibson didn't play against Long Beach State on Sunday because of missed practices -- that is, Jonathan Gibson, the junior backcourter and Aggie elder on a young New Mexico State team.

Coach Marvin Menzies sat Gibson down for the game (freshman Chris Gabriel too) in his continued effort to demonstrate to his squad just who is in charge and the level of accountability that is necessary in order to actually form a true team.

This is not an attempt to make a proverbial mountain out of a molehill but there's a pattern going on with Gibson especially. He certainly appears in need of greater personal maturity -- less 'me' and much more 'we' if you will.

NMSU hoops team falls at Long Beach
Las Cruces Sun-News report
12/01/2008

LONG BEACH, Calif. — Donovan Morris exploded for 30 points for Long Beach State on Sunday in an 82-77 win over the New Mexico State University men's basketball team on Sunday at the Walter Pyramid...

...Aggies junior guard Jonathan Gibson did not play on Sunday along with center Chris Gabriel. Menzies said that both "missed practices," recently, a violation of team rules...

Go here for the complete article.