WAC EXPANDS TO 10 After just one year as a nine-team league, the WAC expanded to 10 teams for the 2001-02 season. The Boise State Broncos and Louisiana Tech Bulldogs joined the conference, July 1, 2001. In basketball, all 10 teams play each other home and home, giving everyone an 18-game conference schedule.
FRESNO STATE OPENS SEASON IN NIT The Fresno State Bulldogs are the first WAC team to begin its season when it hosts Montana State tonight in the first round of the Preseason NIT. If the Bulldogs win, they would play the winner of the USC-Wyoming game on Thursday. USC is ranked 20th in the AP poll. The site will be determined tomorrow. This is the 17th year of the 16-team Preseason NIT. The best finish for a WAC team was third when Tulsa defeated Evansville in the 1996 consolation game. Six other games were played last night. The winners were No. 15 Michigan State, No. 21 Syracuse, No. 25 Oklahoma, Wake Forest, DePaul and Arkansas.
SANDY DECLARED INELIGIBLE Fresno States eligibility appeal to the NCAA on behalf of junior guard Chris Sandy has been denied. The NCAA said Sandy did not meet the NCAA satisfactory progress requirements. The school has filed a second appeal.
UTEP PLAYS IN LAS VEGAS CLASSIC UTEP opens its season on Friday and hosts Arkansas-Monticello. The game is part of the 16-team Las Vegas Classic. The first eight games are being played at home sites. UTEP then travels to Las Vegas for three games next Monday-Wednesday. On Monday, the Miners will play Northwestern State followed by a game against former WAC member TCU on Tuesday. On Wednesday, UTEP will play a fourth team depending on its record in pool play. The other four teams in the tournament are Siena, Austin Peay State, Providence and No. 18 Oklahoma State.
SAN JOSE STATE AND HAWAII ALSO TIP-OFF IN TOURNAMENTS San Jose State opens its season on Wednesday in the eight-team BCA Tournament in Raleigh, N.C. The Spartans will play Fairleigh Dickinson in the opening game. If it wins, San Jose State will play either the North Carolina State or Prairie View winner. It it loses, San Jose State will face the loser of that game. The three-day tournament ends on Friday when San Jose State will play either Rutgers, East Carolina, Northwestern or VCU. Hawaii takes on Norfolk State in the opening game of the Nike Tip-Off Tournament in Honolulu on Friday. The Rainbow Warriors will face either Sam Houston or Drake on Sunday.
OTHER ACTION Five other teams open their seasons this weekend as well. On Friday, Rice hosts Navy and Savannah State travels to SMU. The next day, Nevada heads to Cal State Northridge, Louisiana Tech travels to Iowa and Boise State hosts Portland State. SMU plays another game when it hosts Navy on Sunday. Tulsa is the only school that doesnt begin its season this weekend. The defending NIT Champions host Grambling on Nov. 19.
BASKETBALL SIGNING DAY Wednesday, Nov. 14 is the beginning of the early period for basketball signings. The period lasts until Nov. 21.
NATIONAL RANKINGS No WAC teams are ranked in the AP or USA Today-ESPN top 25 polls, but Fresno State is receiving votes in both polls and Tulsa garnered votes in the AP poll. In the Sagarin ratings Tulsa is ranked 22nd followed by Fresno State (36th), SMU (81st) and UTEP (90th).
NON-CONFERENCE MARK Last year, WAC teams were 88-32 (.733) in non-conference games last year, including a 77-32 (.706) mark against Division I teams. The WACs best record ever against non-conference opponents came during the 1974-75 season when it was 73-22 (.768).
PLAYER ACCOLADES In five preseason publications (Athlon, Basketball News, Lindys, The Sporting News and Street & Smiths), three players were named to this years all-WAC first team by all five magazines: Fresno State senior center Melvin Ely, Fresno State junior forward Chris Jefferies and Hawaii senior guard/forward Predrag Savovic. Louisiana Tech senior guard Gerrod Henderson and Tulsa junior forward Kevin Johnson earned all-WAC consideration by three of the publications. Two of the magazines placed SMU senior guard Damon Hancock on their first team and one had UTEP senior guard Eugene Costello on its first team.
TOP PLAYERS RETURNING Several all-WAC players return for the 2001-02 season including the WACs Player of the Year, Fresno States Melvin Ely. Besides Ely, teammate Chris Jefferies and Hawaiis Predrag Savovic are also first-team all-WAC players returning this year. Second teamers returning include three of the five players from last year: Kevin Johnson, Tulsa; Damon Hancock, SMU; and Eugene Costello, UTEP. All-Newcomer team honorees from last year include Jefferies, Costello, Nevadas Andre Hazel and Hawaiis Phil Martin.
STAT LEADERS BACK Statistically, four of the top 10 scorers return for the 2001-02 season. Hawaiis Predrag Savovic was third in the WAC in scoring last year with a 17.6 point per game average. Others coming back include: Damon Hancock, SMU (16.7); Melvin Ely, Fresno State (16.0); and Chris Jefferies (15.5). Ely is also the leading returning rebounder with a 7.5 rpg average last season (4th in the WAC) and Tulsas Greg Harrington returns after finishing second in the WAC in assists with 6.1 per game.
TOURNAMENT OPPONENTS WAC teams will face 11 non-conference opponents that played in last years NCAA Tournament.
Nevada
at Cal State Northridge, Nov. 17
Louisiana Tech at Iowa, Nov. 17
Northwestern State at Hawaii, Nov. 27
Arkansas at Tulsa, Nov. 28
Tennessee at SMU, Dec. 6
Cal State Northridge at Nevada, Dec. 8
Louisiana Tech at Oklahoma, Dec. 8
Fresno State at California, Dec. 11
Southern Utah at Boise State, Dec. 15
UTEP at Charlotte, Dec. 18
Tulsa at Kansas, Dec. 29
Oklahoma State at Fresno State, Feb. 10
WAC teams could also face the following NCAA Tournament opponents in regular-season tournaments this year:
Hawaii vs. Boston Coll./Georgia/Holy Cross/Iona/Wisc.
San Jose State vs. Iowa State
SMU vs. Iowa
UTEP vs. Mississippi
LETTERWINNER/STARTER CAPSULE Boise State, Nevada and UTEP are the only teams in the WAC that will return four starters from a year ago. Every other team returns three except for San Jose State with just one returning starter and Fresno State with two. For the second year in a row, Rice returns the most letterwinners with 10.
WAC LEGEND Fresno States Jerry Tarkanian will begin his 31st season as a head coach and has a record of 759-187 (.802), the best winning percentage of any active coach and fourth best of all time. His teams have won at least 20 games in 29 of his 30 years, one shy of the all-time record, and as head coach of UNLV in 1990, Tarkanian led the Runnin Rebels to a national championship by defeating Duke, 103-73.
PHILLIPS TAKES OVER AT TULSA For the second year in a row, Tulsa is the only school in the WAC that begins its season with a new coach. John Phillips takes the reigns after spending the last four years as an assistant with the Golden Hurricane. He has also spent 17 years as a high school coach in the state of Tulsa and compiled a record of 273-159.
2002 TOURNAMENT The 2002 Williams WAC Tournament will be held March 5-9 at the Donald W. Reynolds Center in Tulsa, Okla. Both the men and women compete during the same week. On the mens side, the seven, eight, nine and ten seeded teams will play on Tuesday, March 5. The remaining eight teams will all play in the quarterfinals on Thursday, March 7 with the top seed competing versus the winner of the Tuesday eight-nine game, the No. 2 seed vs. the winner of the seven-10 game, the No. 3 seed vs. No. 6 and No 4 vs. No. 5. The winners will play in the semifinals on Friday and the championship game will be Saturday night. The site for the 2003 WAC Tournament has not been determined at this time.