Friday's WAC escape to the Weekend -- Utah State style

Off to a JC tourney so it's brief:

Matt Sonnenberg has PrestonM at #14 -- which will probably force the former into wearing disguises when out and about until the Aggie faithful settle back down.

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Tony Jones writes about USU's 2012-13 schedule. It appears Stew is singing the lyrics from "Master of the House" (or a small portion thereof) from "Les Miserables" as the Aggies do very little packing and traversing until conference play.

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Remember Marv Roberts? Craig Hislop has the details for those who don't.

Not WAC-related but ...

Who the heck is Jack Murphy? Does he have some incriminating photographs?

To answer the first query, he is the new head coach at Northern Arizona University of the Big Sky Conference and the reason for this post is an event he is hosting in early August, one that features: 

Coaches Scheduled to Speak

* George Karl, Head Coach, Denver Nuggets 

* Josh Pastner, Head Coach, University of Memphis 

* Mike Dunlap, Head Coach, Charlotte Bobcats 

* Jamahl Mosley, Assistant Coach, Cleveland Cavaliers 

* Damon Stoudamire, Assistant Coach, University of Memphis 

* Chad Iske, Assistant Coach, Denver Nuggets 

* Al LaRocque, Former Coach, Durango High School (NV) 

* Jeff Rutter, Head Coach, Arizona Christian University 

* Jack Murphy, Head Coach, Northern Arizona University 

* Sue Darling, Women's Head Coach, Northern Arizona University

Having worked at Memphis under Pastner and also for the Nuggets organization obviously is paving the way but have you ever heard of any other Big Sky level coach bringing in such luminaries? Murphy's initial recruiting class is also rather remarkable considering the timing of his hire.

It's sounding like Rodney Terry redux is taking place in Flagstaff.

Thursday's WAC roundball roundup

It's Mark Brown at #16 for Matt Sonnenberg.

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Cody Futrell writes that former LT backcourter Lonnie Cooper has chosen family over overseas ball.

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A pair of Texas State basketballers are also recognized for their classroom achievements.

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Denver has five student-athletes honored for academic achievements.

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A former Texas Arlington hoopster is headed to the Olympics representing Nigeria.

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You won't believe this story.

Wednesday's WAC-aroo

Matt Sonnenberg has a major bromance with a recent Aggie, his #16 selection in the countdown of Stew Morrill's Top 20 talents. Here's a re-post of Timothy Olsen's recent followup on said selection.

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Teddy Feinberg attempts to quantify the negative effect on New Mexico State recruiting (and therefore Idaho's too) with the looming implosion of the WAC.

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A pair of Texas Arlington graduates are playing on NBA summer league teams.

Tuesday's WAC roundup

Treesap32 & SeldomSeenSmith have tracked down the whereabouts of former USU Aggies Adam Thoseby and Igor Premasunac respectively.

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Matt Sonnenberg has posted selection #17 in his detailing of the Top 20 performers in the Stew Morrill era.

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Brian Murphy has the latest on the options for the Western Athletic Conference. Start humming 'you know it don't come easy' as even Houdini never faced such a formidable task.

Monday's WAC hoops link collective

It's BG for Matt Sonnenberg as Stew Morrill's #18. How cryptic is that?

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The InsideRunnerSports folks have another UT San Antonio recruiting post up, this one about an area wing.

Here's the 2013 IRS Hoops Recruiting Board.

Sunday's WAC basketball rundown

FYI, former Hawaii 'energy' player Trevor Wiseman has landed at Cal State Los Angeles. His new coach is Stephen Thompson, the ex-Syracuse player. This move will gain Wiseman a starting position which wasn't going to happen at the D-I level.

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Chaz Spicer takes the #19 position in Matt Sonnenberg's Stew Morrill Top Player rundown.

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Former southern Aggie Jonathan Gibson has a summer job: "Always thank God 1st* I will be playing for the Boston Celtics in the NBA summer league." PTW wishes him sell.

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Shawn Harrison writes more on that latest northern Aggie addition.

Saturday's WAC breakdown owned by USU

The rich are getting richer -- no, this isn't about the banksters among us -- but Coach Stew Morrill/Utah State as Tony Jones explains. Matt Sonnenberg provides commentary on the addition.

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#20 in Matt Sonnenberg's countdown of all-time Aggies under Stew Morrill has been posted.

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Andy Katz, in writing about conferences banning departing members from league tournaments:

"What would a WAC tournament look like without Utah State and San Jose State?
Not worth it. USU has been the benchmark program in the WAC since Morrill arrived. New Mexico State can't anchor the conference on its own. NMSU needs a rival, and Utah State has been that nemesis. San Jose State wouldn't be missed, but the Aggies' absence would have been a glaring omission in Las Vegas. Rebuilding Utah State will likely need the tournament to get a bid this season, but the WAC was in no position to be punitive. So the Aggies will have one final chance to represent the WAC before it joins SJSU and former WAC members Fresno State and Nevada in the Mountain West."

Did Katz actually employ the term rebuilding and USU in the same sentence? Yowza.

Friday's WAC digest

Matt Sonnenberg rolls out his player list of "Stew's Top 20" with five honorable mentions.

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UT Arlington Coach Scott Cross has elevated Andrae Patterson to assistant coach status.

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Inside Runner Sports has posted an entry about UTSA's interest in another San Antonio prepster.

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From ESPN's Andy Katz: "Denver officials weren’t initially talking about the Pioneers becoming members of the WAC on Sunday. But men’s basketball coach Joe Scott offered up a few statements Thursday about the move. “The league will be good for us,’’ said Scott of the Pioneers’ first-year in the WAC with fellow new members Seattle, UTA, Texas State and UTSA before the latter three jet off to the Sun Belt and C-USA, respectively. The league will also say goodbye in 2013 to Utah State and San Jose State (MWC) and Louisiana Tech (C-USA). “We’ve got to do well in the WAC this year. We’ve got four starters back from a 22-win team.’’ Denver would love to be with other like teams and get an invite from the WCC. But that’s not an option at this point. “We just have to do as well as we can in the WAC, win as many games as we can and hope things have a way of working out. Hopefully good things will happen. It’s a fluid situation out there.’’

Thursday's WAC hoops roundup

Inside Roadrunner Sports reports that 2013 Texas prep backcourter Michael Williams has checked out Texas San Antonio as one candidate for his basketball future.

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Matt Sonnenberg is the source that keeps on giving and that's going to last a while as he will begin his countdown of the Top 20 Players of the Stew Morrill Era. Here's one vote for Nate Harris to make the cut. Nobody maximized his talent to the extent that Harris did, nobody.

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Irv Moss reports that going non-football is being looked at by the WAC and that a decision is imminent.

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David Ramsey reports that Denver Coach Joe Scott has Nate Engresser on his mind for the one opening in the Pioneer starting lineup.

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From Blue Zertuche/Texas Hoops (a Rivals sub is required), "(6-foot-8 Dustin) Thomas is currently getting interest and offers from Kansas State (offer), Texas, Nebraska, Lehigh, UT-Arlington (offer), Colorado State (offer), Arkansas, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State."

Big Wen changes history

The ASTI folks have tweeted that a certain someone has declared today to be Wendependence Day and who is going to argue?

Wednesday's (make that Tuesday's) WAC basketball how can I miss you when you won't go away edition

Per DRinCA, the Tim-Johnson-to-Idaho condundrum has been solved -- the 6-foot backcourter is headed to Cameron University in Oklahoma, a D-II school.

Johnson played at Los Angeles Trade Tech from 2009-2011 and sat out this past season to hone his academics. At one point, it was announced that he was headed to Moscow but it appears academics waylaid that option.

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DRinCA also lists Darnell Martin, a 6-foot-6, 225-pound forward at Mt. San Antonio (Walnut, CA), as moving on to Seattle. Martin was an All-SCC First Team selection after this past season.

Haven't seen this listed anywhere else, least of all the Seattle athletics site, so take it as a maybe.

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Tony Jones writes about the eventual USU move -- its benefits and challenges -- to the Mountain West Conference.

Added: ESPN's Eamonn Brennan piggybacks on Tony Jones article.

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Jason Groves writes that Wendell McKines has found a summer home and it will be a very short commute.

Monday's WAC-aroo

Welcome Texas State to the Western Athletic Conference.

Likewise Texas San Antonio.

Ditto Seattle.

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Matt Sonnenberg saves Preston Medlin's grading for last -- damn, look at those shooting number as a soph.

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With the departures of Nevada, Fresno State and Hawaii from the WAC, a trio of very solid sources for links has evaporated. The new WAC members unfortunately don't receive nearly similar coverage.

Because of this, what PTW will be doing is going to a three-day-a-week or so posting cycle, all dependent on what we locate. It's preferable to have daily continuity in posting or even a certain say Monday, Wednesday, Friday type of schedule but right now it's posting when enough material has bee collected.

PTW will jump back into the daily posting schedule as soon as the collected information dictates such.

Thank you for your patronage and patience.

In case you missed it (not WAC-related)

Bill Simmons and crew took on that particular NBA gathering on Thursday with, just like the draft itself, some hits and misses.

Sunday's sermon WAC style

Wendell McKines has a summer home: "Its official I will be playing on the ‪#Warriors‬ ‪#NBA‬ summer league team #510 lol. The irony is crazy"

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Brian McInnis has been tweetin' away so start clicking for news on Isaac Fotu, Caleb Dressler, Keith Shamburger and Michael Harper.

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Probably missing something as PTW is heading out early to catch a club team practice. We bid adieu to Nevada, Fresno State and Hawaii (which means off-season coverage from here on is going to be even more scantier) but Parsing The MWC will be in operation a year from today.