PLAYER OF THE WEEK TCU forward Marquise Gainous, a senior from Orlando, Fla. (Jacksonville CC), racked up two double-doubles last week in a pair of victories over SMU and Rice. At SMU last Monday, he scored 27 points and pulled down 14 rebounds in an 86-83 win. He was 8-of-15 from the field and 9-of-10 from the free throw line. On Friday versus Rice, he scored 28 points and had 13 rebounds. He was perfect from the line, making all six attempts. He also had three steals and a block in that game. For the week, he was 19-of-40 from the field (.475), 15-of-16 from the free throw line (.938) and averaged 27.5 points and 13.5 rebounds.
OTHERS NOMINATED Statistics and notes of others nominated for player of the week:
Courtney Alexander, Sr., G, Fresno State - scored 40 points against San Jose State including a 35-footer at the buzzer to give Fresno State a 77-74 win. He tied a school record with nine three-pointers in the game. Against Hawai`i, he scored 24 points, hitting 10-of-18 field goals.
Troy Ostler, Jr., F, Hawai`i - scored a team-high 19 points and grabbed seven rebounds at Fresno State. He was 9-of-17 from the field.
Tony Heard, Sr., G, Tulsa - scored a career-high 24 points and pulled down a career-high six rebounds in an 83-78 double overtime victory at SMU on Saturday. Heard hit a game-tying three-pointer with 0.2 seconds left in regulation to send the game into overtime.
WAC TOURNAMENT DEDICATED TO DON HASKINS WAC Commissioner Karl Benson announced last week that the 2000 WAC Basketball Tournament will be dedicated to retired UTEP men's basketball coach Don Haskins, and that the conference's men's coach of the year award also will be named after Haskins. Haskins, who retired following the 1998-99 season, was UTEP's head coach for 37 years and ranks 10th on the NCAA's all-time victory list with a record of 719-353 (.671). His Miner teams won 7 WAC titles, made 14 NCAA Tournament appearances and won a national championship in 1966. His teams also made 7 NIT appearances.
ALL-WAC TEAMS The WAC men's basketball postseason award winners as selected by the league's eight head coaches were on Sunday. All five of the all-WAC first team members come from different schools. The team is led by Fresno State senior Courtney Alexander who was also voted the WAC's Player of the Year. As of last week, Alexander led the country in scoring with 25.0 points per game. He is currently averaging 25.6 points, 4.7 rebounds, 3.7 assists and is shooting 46.1 percent from the field. In conference games only, he is scoring 27.2 points per game. Eric Coley, a senior forward from 14th-ranked Tulsa, was a first team selection and is the WAC's all-time leader in steals with 275. TCU's Marquise Gainous, SMU's Jeryl Sasser and UTEP's Brandon Wolfram were also first team selections. UTEP forward Roy Smallwood was named the WAC's Freshman of the Year. Smallwood is averaging 13.5 points, 5.8 rebounds and is shooting 52.4 percent from the field. Tulsa head coach Bill Self was named the Don Haskins Coach of the Year after leading the 14th-ranked Golden Hurricane to a 27-3 record and a WAC regular-season title (12-2).
THREE IN TOP 15 In last week's national statistics, three WAC teams were ranked in the top 15 in scoring (there are 318 division I teams). TCU was second nationally with 88.7 points per game and was followed by Fresno State at 5th (83.2), and Tulsa at 11th (81.4). Updated NCAA statistics are released on Tuesday afternoons.
TULSA TIES WIN RECORD With Tulsa's win over SMU on Saturday, the Golden Hurricane tied a school record with its 27th victory of the season. Tulsa reached that mark during the 1983-84 season. The 27 victories are also the second most in the country this season behind only Cincinnati's 28 wins.
ALEXANDER LEADS COUNTRY IN SCORING In last week's NCAA statistics, Fresno State's Courtney Alexander was the top scorer in the country with 25.0 points per game. In second place was George Washington's SirValiant Brown at 24.5 ppg.
FOUR PLAYERS IN TOP 10 The WAC had four players ranked in the top 10 of a couple of national statistics. Fresno State senior guard Courtney Alexander was first in scoring (25.0 points/game), Fresno State senior forward Larry Abney was fourth in rebounds (11.6/game), Fresno State junior center Melvin Ely was seventh in field goal percentage (.614) and Tulsa senior forward Eric Coley was eighth in steals (3.3/game).
TWO SCORE 10 OR MORE The WAC has two players that have scored in double figures in every game he has played this year. Brandon Wolfram, the WAC's second leading scorer with 21.0 points per game, has scored in double figures in all 27 games for UTEP and in 39 straight dating back to last year. Fresno State's Courtney Alexander, has reached that mark in all 23 games he has played (he has missed seven games due to injuries) and has scored in double figures in all 55 games he has played as a Bulldog. Alexander is one of nine players to score at least 30 points in a game and has done so seven times. He is also the only player to score 40 or more points in a game this season and has done so twice.
FROGS LEAD WAC IN SCORING TCU is averaging 88.6 points per game to lead the WAC in scoring. The Horned Frogs have led the WAC in scoring all three years they have been in the conference. Should TCU finish the season as the WAC's highest scoring team, it would mark the first time in history a conference team would win the scoring title four years in a row.
WAC FAST BREAKS Head coach Jerry Tarkanian's teams have now won 20 or more games in 16 straight seasons ... Bulldog Courtney Alexander now has 2,032 points in his collegiate career (Virginia and Fresno State) ... Tulsa has six players averaging in double figures while Fresno State and TCU have five each.
NATIONAL RANKINGS Tulsa is ranked 14th in the AP poll and 17th in the USA Today/ESPN coaches' poll. Fresno State received votes in the AP poll as well. Below are three RPIs and the WAC schools ranked in the top 100.
Sagarin RPI College
Ratings Report RPI.com
Tulsa 7 21 21
Fresno State 59 34 36
SMU 53 40 43
TCU 81 82
As a conference, Sagarin rated the WAC 11th out of 32, while College RPI.com has the WAC 8th.
NON-CONFERENCE MARK WAC teams are 79-36 (.687) in non-conference games this year, including a 69-36 (.657) mark against Division I teams. The best non-conference season in WAC history came in 1974-75 when league teams won 76.8 percent of their non-conference regular season games. The WAC has won at least 60 percent of its non-conference games for 13 consecutive years.
NCAA SUPERLATIVES Several WAC players were ranked nationally last week for single-game performances. Fresno State's Courtney Alexander's 43 points versus UAB on Dec. 11 was tied for the seventh highest single-game total in the country this year. Fresno State's Melvin Ely's 1.000 field goal percentage (10-of-10) versus High Point on Jan. 7 and versus San Jose State on Feb. 3 was tied for fourth nationally. Fresno State's Demetrius Porter made 88.9 percent of his three-point attempts (8-of-9) versus Rice on Jan. 27 to rank fifth. Fresno State's Larry Abney pulled down 35 rebounds against SMU on Feb. 17 to rank first nationally and his 24 rebounds versus Tulsa on Jan. 29, ranked fourth. TCU's Darrick Davenport had 12 blocks versus Alaska-Fairbanks on Nov. 20, the second best total in Division I this year. As a team, TCU's 143 points versus Grambling on Dec. 30 and 134 points against North Texas on Jan. 3 were the best and second best totals, respectively. TCU's 21-21 free throw performance against Louisiana Tech on Dec. 23 was the third best.
CAREER LEADERS A few players are moving up the WAC's career leaders' lists. Fresno State senior Terrance Roberson is 7th in three point field goals made with 257, 4th in three point field goals attempted with 701, 15th in steals with 167 and 37th in total points with 1,602. UTEP junior Brandon Wolfram is 9th in field goal percentage at .578. SMU senior Stephen Woods is 5th in three point field goals made with 267, 2nd in three point field goals attempted with 733 and is 13th in steals with 178. Tulsa senior Eric Coley is 1st in steals with 275 and 20th in blocks with 127. TCU junior Ryan Carroll is tied for 17th in three point field goals made with 154 and 20th in three-point field goals attempted with 373. Fresno State junior Melvin Ely is 12th in blocked shots with 174. SMU junior Jeryl Sasser is 19th in steals with 151. Fresno State junior Demetrius Porter is 13th in three point field goal percentage at .423.
2000 TOURNAMENT The 2000 WAC Tournament will be held this week, March 8-11 at Selland Arena in Fresno, Calif. Both the men and women compete during the same week. The format has all eight men's teams playing on Thursday, March 9 with the top seed competing versus the eighth seed, the No. 2 seed vs. No. 7, etc. The winners will play in the semifinals on Friday and the championship game will be Saturday night. The 2001 WAC tournament will be played in Tulsa, Okla., at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.
WAC ON FOX The WAC and Fox Sports Net have an agreement for the live telecast of up to 40 basketball games over the 1999-2000 and 2000-2001 seasons. The agreement also carries a three-year extension option. For basketball, the agreement calls for 3-5 national and up to 15 regional games in each year of the agreement. Included is the national telecast of the men's basketball tournament championship game. Fox Sports Net is the first truly national, regional and local supplier of sports programming and reaches more than 68 million homes through 22 regional networks.
WAC EXPANDS IN 2000 AND 2001 After just one year as an eight team league, the WAC will expand to nine teams for the 2000-01 season. The Nevada Wolf Pack will join the conference beginning July 1, 2000. The following year, Boise State and Louisiana Tech will join the WAC while TCU leaves the conference. The WAC will have 10 teams after July 1, 2001.