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Weekly Notes.pdf
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SEASON OPENS WITH TWO WAC TEAMS IN PRESEASON NIT The 2002-03 Western Athletic Conference mens basketball season gets underway on Monday night when Boise State hosts Eastern Illinois in the Preseason NIT. Louisiana Tech is also playing in the tournament and travels to Florida on Tuesday night to play a game that will be televised by ESPN. If both teams win, they would meet each other in the second round. The winner of that game would advance to the semifinals at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 27. Last year, Fresno State advanced to the semifinals before losing to Wake Forest. The Bulldogs rebounded with a victory over Michigan State in the consolation game.
TOP TWO TEAMS OPEN IN TOURNAMENTS
Tulsa and Hawaii were picked first and second, respectively, in the preseason polls by both the WAC coaches and media. Both teams open their seasons next week playing in tournaments. Hawaii is hosting the Hawaiian Airlines Tip-Off Tournament beginning Friday night. The Rainbow Warriors take on Arkansas-Little Rock in its first game and then will play either Texas A&M-Corpus Christi or Cal State Fullerton on Sunday night. The Golden Hurricane travel to South Padre Island for the South Padre Island Classic and will compete against New Mexico State on Saturday afternoon and then play Texas-Pan American on Sunday.OTHER ACTION
Five other teams in the WAC also begin their seasons next week. Rice plays two games, hosting Tulane on Friday and traveling to Stanford on Sunday. On Saturday, Nov. 23, UTEP hosts New Mexico Highlands, San Jose State travels to Washington State and Nevada plays at San Diego. SMU plays its first game on Sunday, Nov. 24, when it hosts rival TCU. Fresno State doesnt begin its season until Nov. 29 when it hosts the McCaffrey Classic.TULSA SECOND BEST OVER LAST THREE YEARS Over the last three seasons, Tulsa has won 85 games, tied with Cincinnati for second in the nation behind Dukes 94 victories. Gonzaga is next with 81 wins during the past three years.
HAWAII OWNS LONGEST HOME STREAK Hawaii has the WACs longest home winning streak at 12 in a row. The streak is currently the 15th longest in the nation. The WACs second longest current home winning streak is seven games by Louisiana Tech.
ENGLISH NAMED PRESEASON PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Hawaii junior Carl English was named the WAC Preseason Player of the Year by both the WAC coaches and media in polls conducted earlier this fall. English averaged 15.5 points and 5.1 rebounds last season. He was also named to the Wooden Award Preseason All-America team.TOP PLAYERS RETURNING All five of the first-team all-WAC players from last year were seniors, but four of the five second-team honorees return for the 2002-03 season: Carl English, Jr., G, Hawaii; Quinton Ross, Sr., G/F, SMU; Kevin Johnson, Sr., F, Tulsa; and Dante Swanson, Sr., G, Tulsa. Both Ross and Swanson were also on the all-defensive team. The complete all-newcomer team returns from last year and include: Darrian Brown, Sr., G, Louisiana Tech; Kirk Snyder, So., F, Nevada; Michael Harris, So., F, Rice; Brandon Hawkins, Sr., G, San Jose State; and Patrick Simpson, So., F, SMU. Harris was last years WAC Freshman of the Year after averaging 12.8 points and 8.6 rebounds per game.
STAT LEADERS BACK Statistically, five of the top 10 scorers return for the 2002-03 season. SMUs Quinton Ross was fifth in the WAC in scoring last year with a 17.4 point per game average. Others coming back include: Terrance Green, Nevada (16.3); Garry Hill-Thomas, Nevada (15.6); Carl English, Hawaii (15.5); and Kevin Johnson, Tulsa (14.5). Rices Michael Harris is the leading returning rebounder with an 8.6 rpg average last season (3rd in the WAC) and Hawaiis Mark Campbell returns after ranking second in the WAC in assists with 4.6 per game.
1,000-POINT SCORERS The WAC has five players that have scored more than 1,000 points in their collegiate careers returning for their senior seasons: Terrance Green, G, Nevada (1,220); Quinton Ross, G, SMU (1,153); Roy Smallwood, F, UTEP (1,083); Kevin Johnson, F, Tulsa (1,077); and Antonio Meeking, F, Louisiana Tech (1,027).
NATIONAL RANKINGS
Tulsa begins the season ranked 25th in the AP poll and 28th in the ESPN-USA Today poll. Hawaii also received votes in both polls.NON-CONFERENCE MARK Last year, the WAC was 71-46 (.607) in non-conference games, including a 61-44 (.581) 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).
LETTERWINNER/STARTER CAPSULE
The WAC will have plenty of experienced teams this year as six of the 10 return four starters: Boise State, Hawaii, Nevada, Rice, SMU and Tulsa. San Jose State and UTEP return the least number of starters with two each. For the third year in a row, Rice returns the most letterwinners with 10 while Boise State, Hawaii and SMU also return 10 letterwinners.FOUR NEW HEAD COACHS
Boise State, Fresno State, San Jose State and UTEP begin the 2002-03 season with new head coaches.
Boise State-Greg Graham
Graham comes to Boise State after spending the past five years as the top assistant at Oregon. The 46-year old Graham helped lead Oregon to the Pac-10 regular-season championship this past year and a spot in the Elite Eight in the NCAA Tournament. Oregon finished last season ranked third in the country in scoring (averaging 85.9 points per game) behind only Kansas and Duke.
Fresno State-Ray Lopes
Lopes spent the last eight seasons as an assistant coach at Oklahoma. He helped the Sooners to eight consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, plus a trip to the Sweet 16 in 1999 and the 2002 Final Four. The Sooners won at least 20 games in five-straight seasons, won the 2001 and 2002 Big 12 Tournament titles and had a 187-74 record while Lopes was an assistant coach.
San Jose State-Phil Johnson
Johnson, who was the head coach at San Jose State during the 1998-99 season, returns after spending the last two-plus seasons as an assistant coach for the Chicago Bulls. Johnson directed the Spartans to a 12-16 record three years ago and seven of the 16 losses were by five points or less. The Spartans won nine more games than they did in the 1997-98 season when that team finished with a 3-23 record. Johnson was an assistant at Arizona prior to his first stint with the Spartans. He also served as an assistant coach at Tulsa in 1991 and New Orleans in 1992 and 1993.
UTEP-Billy Gillispie
Gillispie arrives at UTEP following a successful eight-year Division I stint as an assistant coach at Baylor, Tulsa and Illinois. Most recently, Gillispie was a member of Bill Selfs staff at Tulsa (1997-00) and Illinois (2000-02). He was part of a coaching unit that recorded 85 wins over the last three years, the second-highest total in the nation during that period, and captured four consecutive conference championships (two Big Ten and two WAC).
2003 WILLIAMS WAC TOURNAMENT The 2003 Williams WAC Tournament will be held March 11-15 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 11. The remaining eight teams will all play in the quarterfinals on Thursday, March 13 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.
WILLIAMS IS TOURNAMENT SPONSOR For the third year in a row, Williams will be the WACs tournament sponsor. Williams, through its subsidiaries, connects businesses to energy, delivering innovative, reliable products and services. Williams information is available at www.williams.com.
FRESNO STATE, NEVADA TO HOST FUTURE WAC TOURNAMENTS Earlier this fall, Fresno State was selected to host the 2004 WAC Tournament while Nevada will host the tournament in 2005. In 2004, the tournament will be played in the brand new Save Mart Center on the Fresno State campus. The following year, it will be held in Nevadas Lawlor Events Center.
ESPN/FOX SPORTS SOUTHWEST SCHEDULE The WAC has a multi-year contract with ESPN for coverage of football and basketball. Four games were scheduled for ESPN/ESPN2 (including the mens tournament championship game) while Fox Sports Net will telecast seven mens games and four womens games including the womens WAC tournament final.
BRACKET BUSTER SATURDAY The WAC and four of its teams have partnered with ESPN and several other top college basketball conferences for Bracket Buster Saturday, a new one-day, nine-game mens basketball event matching potential NCAA tournament hopefuls against each other. Bracket Buster Saturday will be played annually beginning with the inaugural event February 22, 2003. ESPN and ESPN2 will present five live games highlighted by the only predetermined game for 2003 featuring two teams that have reached the Elite Eight in recent years: Tulsa (2000) at Gonzaga (1999). In addition to those five, there will be four games produced and distributed in the markets of the competing teams. The 18-team field will feature four teams from the WAC (Fresno State, Hawaii, Louisiana Tech and Tulsa), Mid-American Conference and Missouri Valley Conference and three from the Horizon League, plus UC Santa Barbara from the Big West Conference, Western Kentucky from the Sun Belt Conference and Gonzaga from the West Coast Conference. The match-ups for Bracket Buster Saturday will be determined by ESPN in conjunction with the conferences on Monday, Feb. 3, 2003.
TEAM NOTES
Information on the mens basketball teams in the WAC:
Boise State - ended last season winning five of its last eight games after losing seven in a row ... BSU was second in the WAC in scoring defense (65.8 points per game) last year and held four opponents to under 50 points ... the Broncos won three games on last second shots last year.
Fresno State - the Bulldogs return three players that played in all 34 games last year (Damon Jackson, Noel Felix and Travis DeManby) ... Fresno State led the WAC in attendance with an average of 9,721 in 17 home dates ... the Bulldogs sold out (10,220) 14 of its 17 games ... Fresno State was 3-0 versus ranked teams last year (Southern California, Michigan State and Oklahoma State) ... the Bulldogs lost seven of their last 10 WAC games ... after a 25-game home winning streak, the Bulldogs lost five of their last seven home games.
Hawaii - UH has won 21 of its last 25 games ... the Rainbow Warriors finished last season ranked 25th, the first time they have been ranked since the 1997-98 season ... Hawaii was 6-3 in conference road games (7-3 overall), the most wins in school history ... UH has won 15 of its last 22 games away from home ... UHs 15-3 record in WAC play was its best ever ... Hawaiis 27 wins set a school record breaking the old mark of 25 set during the 1989-90 season ... the Rainbow Warriors held 14 of its opponents to 60 points or less last year ... Hawaii led the WAC in scoring defense (63.1 points per game) ... Hawaii has won 12 straight home games and 23 of its last 24 in Honolulu ... the 12-game home winning streak is the 15th longest in the nation ... in addition, UH has won 16 straight WAC home games dating back to 2000-01, the longest current streak in the conference.
Louisiana Tech - the Bulldogs competed in the postseason (NIT) for the first time since the 1991-92 NIT ... Lousiana Tech had 20 wins for the second time under head coach Keith Richard and the 17th time in school history ... Tech won 13 of its last 17 games and won 11 of its last 12 conference games ... Tech was 8-0 when scoring 80 or more points last year ... Tech has recorded four consecutive winning seasons ... Louisiana Tech led the WAC in rebounding margin (+8.8), more than double the second place team (Nevada, +4.0).
Nevada - Nevada is 11-0 in home non-conference games over the last two seasons ... the Wolf Pack won six road games last season, one more than they did over the previous three years combined ... Nevada won 17 games last season, the most since the 1996-97 season when it went 21-10 ... the Pack had a winning season for the first time since 1997-98 ... Nevada was 8-1 against schools from California.
Rice - the Owls return their top three scorers (Michael Harris, Omar-Seli Mance and Jason McKreith) and top two rebounders (Harris and Brandon Evans) from a year ago ... Harris was the WACs Freshman of the Year and Rices top scorer (12.8 ppg) last season ... Harris had 12 double-doubles on the season, tied for the most in the WAC ... last year, head coach Willis Wilson was named the best dressed college basketball coach in the nation by Collegeinsider.com.
San Jose State - in his first coaching stint with the Spartans, Phil Johnsons squad improved from three wins to 12 during the 1998-99 season ... senior guard Brandon Hawkins posted the 10th triple-double in conference history last year with ... the Spartans lost seven of their final nine games last year.
SMU - the Mustangs have won 15 or more games in six straight seasons, tying the mark for the longest streak in school history ... junior Quinton Ross has scored in double figures in the last 22 games and has the WACs longest such streak entering this season.
UTEP - last year, the Miners lost 22 games, the most in school history ... UTEP lost seven games by five points or less, the most in the WAC ... the Miners were 0-12 on the road last year and have lost 15 in a row dating back to the 2000-01 season ... UTEP was the only WAC team to not win a road game last year.
Tulsa - its 27 victories last year marked the third straight season that the Hurricane has had at least 25 wins ... had 20 wins for the fourth straight year and eighth out of the last nine seasons ... the 27 wins tied for the second most in school history ... every season that Tulsa has won 20 games, it has either played in the NCAA Tournament or won the NIT Championship ... Tulsa has won 12 of its last 15 games ... Tulsa was 10-3 on the road last year which tied the school record for road victories set three other times (1919-20, 1993-94 and 1999-2000) ... including neutral site games, Tulsa was 14-4 away from home last season .... senior Kevin Johnson scored in double figures in all 18 conference games last year ... last year, senior guard Dante Swanson led the WAC and the nation in three-point field goal percentage (.490) Swanson needs 51 points to reach 1,000 for his career ... the current five-member senior class has a record of 85-23 (.787) ... Tulsa has sold out 28 of its 58 games at the Reynolds Center where it has gone 50-8 (.862), the best winning percentage at home of any WAC team at its current arena.