Another LA TECH feature --- and1

Ha! Just another example of great minds thinking alike -- here's Ethan Conley on the Bulldogs and the formula that is at work in leading Tech to its lofty state:

ON A ROLL: Streaking Tech men were once picked in middle of pack
Ethan Conley
The News Star
January 9, 2010

RUSTON — Where is Louisiana Tech supposed to finish in the Western Athletic Conference standings?

Second? Third?

Preseason polls were brought up during the post-game news conference that followed Tech’s 82-60 win over defending conference champion Utah State on Monday. Tech center Magnum Rolle was sitting in the back of the room, waiting for his turn with reporters, and he was quick to remember how the polls shook out.

“Fifth,” he said, his voice laced with equal parts disgust and annoyance. “Fifth!”
Rolle may not agree, but those middle-of-the-pack expectations didn’t come without justification. It appeared that Tech was fielding the same team that went 15-18 last season. The same team that lost to Alaska-Anchorage and McNeese State...

Go here for the remainder.

Here's a second Ethan Conley feature on the Dogs.

So how is Louisiana Tech doing it?

It's certainly way too early to truly tell how the WAC is going to shake out come March but one definite contender has emerged -- Louisiana Tech -- and is showing no signs of imitating Icarus.

Curiously, Louisiana Tech was picked fifth in the pre-season coaching poll, sixth in the media poll, so more than fans are presently surprised.

Things bode quite well when when your squad is second in scoring, second in scoring defense and are first in scoring margin,with a double digit differential. Coach Kerry Rupp's team is shooting 52% early on in league play while also tops in rebounding margin. Seemingly. the only number marring the the season is residing in last place in assist-to-turnover ratio at 39/53 although such most assuredly isn't bothering anyone's sleep in Ruston.

The LT schedule hasn't been of the creampuff variety either with home wins over Nevada and Utah State and road victories over Idaho and Boise State.

Here are some specific numbers and factors leading to the 4-0 LT record:

Against Nevada: caused 17 turnovers -- held the Wolf Pack to 40% shooting -- owned a +14 in foul shots attempted -- even though Magnum Rolle played just 26 minutes, contributing 11 points and three boards

Against Utah State: shot 53% against the Aggies, 50% on 14 trey attempts -- only gave up nine foul shots -- out-boarded USU 40-27

Against Idaho: it was a combination of 11 steals, 57% shooting overall, Idaho's 9-21 foul shooting and out-scoring the Vandals by double figures in a second half stretch that did the job

Against Boise State: a 52% shooting night (39% for the Broncos) plus a gap of 10 more rebounds

Individually, the emergence of Olu Ashaolu in both scoring and rebounding has dramatically lessened the psychological load on Rolle. Ashaolu's WAC numbers: 11.3 ppg. and 8.5 rpg. with indications they will go even higher.

Point DeAndre Brown had enjoyed a rather swift and successful transition from junior college ball. Try 59% from the floor in WAC play and scoring more (13.0) than what he averaged in non-conference play.

Kyle Gibson remains The Rock (although we want a higher WAC shooting percentage from him), producing what is needed game after game. He has already attempted 34 foul shots in just four league games.

Magnum Rolle has better numbers than in non conference play at 14.5 ppg. and 9.0 rpg. and higher than last season.

Jamel Guyton is doing the same at 13.8 ppg. while shooting 58% overall and 54% from long range.

David Jackson accepts his role and remains very steady off the bench.

Guard Anson Bartlett is also contributing positively as a walk-on in the backcourt.

The bench isn't long for Rupp but this is a veteran team. Rolle is in his fifth season of D-1 ball, Gibson his fourth, Ashaolu his third, Guyton his second and Brown is the newbie. Jackson played his freshman year at Idaho so he is a third year D-1 player.

Maybe this is a case of harmonic convergence -- a complementary blending of talent, experience and coaching coming together but such seems to shortchange the work and effort of the players and coaches so who cares as to why the success.

But the the coaching staff, young men and fans in and around Ruston are certainly enjoying it and rightly so.

The Hawaii basketball situation

Are the drum beats getting louder or is it a case of "if a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?" For the sake of clarification, the latter doesn't refer to basketball attendance but to UH's AD and the matter of media influencing a decision, or not. We still side with the precept that it's the program's big money donors that influence matters.

UH must step up for Nash's sake
Ferd Lewis
Honolulu Advertiser
January 13, 2010

The hope is still that the University of Hawai'i men's basketball team will somehow manage to find itself and make something of this season while it can.

The wish, at least among those who have followed Rainbow Warrior head coach Bob Nash since his days with the storied Fabulous Five of the early 1970s, is that there is a providential five- or six-game winning streak in his immediate future.

But the reality of the moment is that this season is getting away from the 'Bows...

Go here for the remainder.

and

Nash Era At UH Is Winding Down
Steve Murray
Midweek
January 13, 2010

The University of Hawaii has entered its winter of discontent. The clouds have lowered upon the house of Stan Sheriff, and in the deep bosom of the ocean the program is being buried.

And fans are in a state of revolt. Head coach Bob Nash entered the season with the tempered support of athletic director Jim Donovan, who made public the level of success needed for Nash to receive an automatic one-year contract rollover. His current deal runs through the 2010-2011 season. The goal - 18 wins or a post-season tournament - was fair. The Rainbow Warriors averaged 16.7 wins over the length of Riley Wallace’s tenure and 19.2 over his final seven.

With 21 home games, the WAC tournament and four post-season tournaments that provide a venue for one-third of all Division 1 basketball teams to extend their seasons, opportunity exists. As mandates go, it wasn’t exactly a trap.

Unfortunately for Nash, one of the university’s most well-liked coaches, the chances of achieving either of those benchmarks are slim, which means we could be seeing the downside of Nash’s long association with the university...

Go here for the remainder.

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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PTW's notes and reflections on the Nevada - Utah State gane

These are all snapshots from last night's game:

Of all the players in the WAC this season, why should Luke Babbitt return for his junior year? What would he accomplish by doing so? Wouldn't he better advance his skills set by focusing on such without the need to attend class and also be limited to the number of practice hours? We don't see a reason for him to remain in college unless he likes being a student and prefers to put off the jump into the pros...

...From the Easier-Said-Than-Done Department: make Armon Johnson go to his right on dribble-drives as he appears to shoot a lower percentage when forced to do so...

...Nevada (it was mostly Johnson) did a tremendous job at getting the ball to Ray Kraemer where he could catch and shoot in rhythm -- there was no having to reach down or above or to his right or left to catch the ball, thereby forcing him to have to re-set himself...

...We first used this phrase in describing Babbitt's shooting range when we saw him play as a senior in high school - long, longer and longest. Such was on display last night...

...Nate Bendall sure missed a number of 'chippies' last night...

...When was the last time Babbitt missed consecutive free throws? Has it ever happened?

...When Joey Shaw misses, the ball seems to come off so hard that someone could get hurt...

...Brady Jardine is an athletic freak and we mean that in a good way -- however, he seems to rush his shooting form whenever he is not dunking the ball...

...How does Jared Quayle -- at his height -- get so many clear looks at the basket?

...Pooh Williams was the Aggie MVP last night -- he plays like a velvet hammer

Thursday's WAC links and notes

It was the heavyweight match of the evening and the key phrase to us was "tired legs" as Utah State overcame a second half double-digit deficit to top host Nevada. Anyone have a need for a very slightly used (maybe un-used even if the package was opened) Panic Button? Call the Logan phone operator and...

Jared Eborn's game report is here. Shawn Harrison is here. Tony Jones is here. For a visiting game, press row certainly had its share of out-of-town reporters. Plus, here are Jones' post-game thoughts.

Chris Murray has his game report here. Joes Santoro offers his here. The Nevada Sagebrush is certainly well represented too. Lukas Eggen has his report here. Damian Tromerhauser live-blogged the matchup here. Maybe best of all, Casey Durkin has a ton of photographs from the game here.

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We guess it ain't over until the NCAA sings as New Mexico State is appealing to the Entity-That-Must-Be-Obeyed and Will-Make-No-Decision-Before-It's-Time on Troy Gillenwater's eligibility status.

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Newcomer Steve Shepp is featured today here. Can someone come up with a new phrase a la the straw that stirs the drink?

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Dayton Morinaga has the injury report and more on Hawaii here and does Brian McInnis here.

Jeff Portnoy on Hawaii basketball

A Crossroad Up Ahead
Jeff Portnoy
Honolulu Advertiser
January 12, 2010

This is a painful blog to write. Painful because I am friends with the Hawaii coaching staff and have been a loyal supporter of the Basketball Program for almost 40 years. Painful because I am a longtime member of the Booster club and supported Bob Nash on his successful effort to succeed Riley Wallace. But after last night's record setting loss at Utah State, it must be clear to anyone who thinks with his/her brain, and not with their heart, that this year's team is at a crossroads in its season...

Go here for the remainder.

More Tuesday WAC links

Jason Groves has a blog entry on the status of Troy Gillenwater here. Set your watches for 5 p.m. tomorrow Las Cruces time.

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The Wolf Pack is going 'OC' -- actually make that the other way around. Chris Murray has the details here.

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Nevada and Utah State rumble Wednesday night in Reno. Chris Murray has the breakdown here and the matchups here and, most delightful of all, it's on ESPN2. Tony Jones provides a blog entry on the subject. Jared Eborn contributes an article here.

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Andy Boogaard is back here with an item about Fresno State's interest in a point. No, another one.

Utah State's secret weapon

Well, the secret is out. By now, we've all heard about the vaunted student section in The Spectrum during Utah State basketball games but the X-factor has been kept under wraps from us.

Not any more.

Bill Sproat got all duded up versus visiting Hawaii -- gotta love his version of a bro. No wonder UH never had a chance.

Go here for the photo -- it's #22 in a series of 23. Credit it to AP Photo/The Herald Journal, Eli Lucero.

* We displayed the photo of Sproat in this post but we were 'requested' to link to it instead so do go to the link. It is a marvelous series of photos but #22 takes the cake.

Today's reports on last night's games

Sam Wasson has a game report here on New Mexico State's win up in Moscow. Jason Groves blogs about a question Jahmar Young recently asked him.

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Daniel Lyght has the wrap on Fresno State's three-point barrage in the win over San Jose State. We especially liked his opening paragraphs. He also notes that Coach Steve Cleveland had a visitor out of Oregon in the house. Lyght also has a blog entry here on the game.

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Nick Jezierny covers Boise State's loss to LA TECH and offers his take -- plus, the headline writer pulls no punches.

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Jared Eborn goes Cyndi 'Aggies just wanna have fun' Lauper on us with his theme here. Shawn Harrison chooses a Marvin 'mercy mercy me' Gaye meme here. Tony Jones offer a 'Rainbow flattening' lead -- sorry, we couldn't find a musical connection for this one -- here.

Tonight's WAC scores

It's a good thing that Dandy Don Meredith wasn't in the audience and that the operators of The Spectrum don't abide by the lyrics "Turn out the lights, the party's over..." because otherwise the Utah State - Hawaii game would have been in darkness early on.

Maybe the Rainbow Warriors wouldn't have minded since they fell 98-54 in Logan.

Per Tony Jones/Aggieville, "Hawaii flat out quit in this game and that's pretty embarrassing for a division 1 team to do with 30 minutes remaining in a basketball game." That's about the heaviest charge anyone can make of a team.

Tyler Newbold, Tai Wesley and Nate Bendall each scored 15 points.

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Now clearly established as a resident of the 800-pound elephant in the WAC living room, Louisiana Tech didn't mind the cold weather and topped host Boise State 79 - 64. Magnum Rolle offered a double-double of 18/12.

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Fresno State got a win-by-George although the sophomore wing (29 points) was ably aided by Mychal Ladd, Greg Smith et al in an 80-70 victory over visiting San Jose State. Fresno enjoyed 22 assists versus just five turnovers.

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Idaho hosted New Mexico State and both teams went back and forth with leads in the game until the Aggies prevailed 75-72. We were able to follow the game via Travis Mason-Bushman's game blogging (a hat tip to him). By the way, he came out of the hospital to do the game so hopefully he has health insurance and that it is in order.

Chris Murray's notebook, Matt James and an unbelievable partial score

Chris Murray has some notebook items posted that have most of us go-figure perplexed -- the content of the items, not their posting. You'll see by going here. His 'Week In Review' is here.

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Matt James will be at the Fresno State game as a ticket-purchasing fan but first here is his column today.

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Would you believe Utah State leads Hawaii 79-33? Yikes.

Chris Murray with a Wolf Pack recruiting update

We've talked to Tim Miller, K.C. Ross-Miller's father once. We've never talked to K.C. Tim Miller is a quote-a-minute fun kind of guy, someone who makes great copy -- the type of individual beloved by journalists.

This is all a long-winded leadup to a Chris Murray recruiting update posted today featuring Ross-Miller, Olek Czyz and Jeronne Maymon.

Most of the time you can't quantify it and this is exactly the case with Ross-Miller as we just got the feeling that the young man wasn't going to land too far from home (near Dallas) with his choice of college.

Jeronne Maymon comes with a father who seems extra-heavily involved in his son's basketball and college future. That can be good, bad or in between but the thing to remember about transfers is that their options are extremely limited after making one jump.

Today's links so far

Luke Babbitt is the WAC Player of the Week -- here's Jason Erickson, WAC Media Relations Director on the honor:

Luke Babbitt was named the WAC player of the week on Monday after leading the Wolf Pack to a pair of wins last week. The honor marks the third career player of the week award for Babbitt.

Babbitt turned in 26 points with 11 rebounds in Monday’s 77-67 victory at New Mexico State. He made 10-of-14 shots from the field, including all three of his three-point attempts. Babbitt tallied 20 points and 10 rebounds in Saturday’s 96-67 win against San Jose State for his league-leading 11th double-double of the season. He also matched his career high with four assists and added a pair of steals. Babbitt connected on a perfect 11-of-11 shots at the free throw line against the Spartans.

On the week, Babbitt averaged 23.0 points, 10.5 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.5 steals per game. He shot 58.3 percent (14-of-24) from the field and hit 87.5 percent (14-of-16) of his free throws.

Other nominees:

* Fresno State sophomore guard/forward Paul George
* Idaho senior guard Mac Hopson
* Louisiana Tech senior guard Kyle Gibson
* New Mexico State senior guard Jonathan Gibson

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Sam Wasson offers a solid preview of New Mexico State's game against Idaho tonight up in Moscow.

Jason Groves provides his here, along with a mini-feature on Jonathan Gibson.

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Nick Jezierny previews Boise State matchup tonight with Louisiana Tech -- not exactly the squad you want to face in a game that at least borders on a must-win situation for the Broncos. It's not like BSU is being blown away but defending the homecourt and generating some postive momentum are important tonight.

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Having a week to practice, with the temperature currently at 14 degrees (thankfully outside), and a Nevada road game next, makes Utah State's contest with visiting Hawaii a must win considering all the favorable factors. Shawn Harrison has the details. Brian McInnis offers his preview. Tony Jones provides a Bendall is back feature.

A very interesting Herb Pope interview

Gonzo Ball, the unofficial Seton Hall Pirates basketball blog, offers a fascinating interview with former New Mexico State player Herb Pope. Early on, it touches upon a number of factors in his arriving to Las Cruces and some situations while he there:

Gonzo Ball Chats With Herb Pope
by GonzoBallSHU
November 4, 2009

A big thanks goes out to Seton Hall Forward, Herb Pope, who took the time to answer a couple questions for Gonzo Ball this evening. Pope covered a range of topics including his experience at NMSU, the intensity of a Bobby Gonzalez practice, the depth of the Pirates roster and what fans should expect when he's on the court.

Q: Reggie Theus was successful in recruiting you to come to NMSU, what was, or is, your relationship with Reggie like? A NY Post article referred to him as a "mentor," did you know Reggie before he recruited you?

Pope: I got close to him during the process, but it was more his experience with playing in the NBA obviously and becoming a coach. He gave me the inside traits that I wanted to learn, that’s what drew me there, he was the only guy that was a former player and head coach that recruited me. He showed me what it’s like to be a big guard in the league.

Q: It was obviously important for you to get away from your hometown when choosing a school, but what did NMSU offer that other schools you were considering couldn’t? Namely, Oklahoma, Memphis, Maryland?

Pope: It was a change of scenery, everyone was just nice, nice people, people are very outgoing there, the community and by that, not just the people recruiting me, but the average person that didn’t know me or anything about me, they were just nice people in general. It was a laid back environment, you know, people go there to retire, so, it was somewhere I needed to go to...

Go here for much more.