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Men's Basketball Weekly Notes (March 3)

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PLAYER OF THE WEEK Hawaii guard Carl English, a sophomore from Patricks Cove, Newfoundland (Fatima Academy), averaged 24.5 points, 6.0 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 2.0 steals in a pair of games last week. Coming into the two games, English was averaging 15.4 points per contest. He began the week by scoring 16 points and pulling down seven rebounds against Nevada. Two nights later at Fresno State, English scored a career-high 33 points in an 82-79 win that gave Hawaii a share of the regular season WAC title and the number one seed in this weeks conference tournament. English scored 27 of his 33 points in the first half and tied his career-best with five three-pointers. The Rainbow Warriors were without senior guard Predrag Savovic due to back spasms. For the week, English was 16-of-33 (.485) from the field, 6-of-15 (.400) from three-point range and 11-of-15 (.733) from the free throw line.

Other nominations Other player of the week nominations included:
Booker Nabors, So., G, Boise State - averaged 19.0 points in two games last week and scored a career-high 28 points versus Louisiana Tech.
Melvin Ely, Sr., C, Fresno State - averaged 23.0 points and 9.5 rebounds in a split of two games. He made 18-of-25 field goals (.720) and was 11-of-13 versus Hawaii. Ely also matched his career-high with five assists versus San Jose State.
Michael Wilder, Jr., G, Louisiana Tech - came off the bench and averaged 17.0 points in two road victories over Boise State and UTEP. He shot 80.0 percent from the field (12-15) and 5-of-7 from three point range. Against Boise State, Wilder was perfect making all seven of his shots from the floor and three free throws to notch a career-high 19 points.
Kirk Snyder, Fr., F, Nevada - averaged 17.0 points in a split of two games. He scored a career-high 22 points in a win over Hawaii and had 12 points against San Jose State to reach double figures in six straight games.
Brandon Hawkins, Jr., G, San Jose State - averaged 18.0 points, 5.0 rebounds and 6.0 assists in two games. In a win at Nevada, Hawkins scored 25 points to go along with six rebounds and five assists.
Quinton Ross, Jr., G/F, SMU - scored a total of 38 points and pulled down 17 rebounds in two games on the road.
Kevin Johnson, Jr., F, Tulsa - scored a game-high 21 points to go along with six rebounds and four blocked shots in a win at Rice. He was 9-of-13 from the field (.692).

HAWAII AND TULSA TIE FOR REGULAR SEASON TITLE Hawaii defeated Fresno State on Saturday night, 82-79, to finish in a tie with Tulsa at 15-3 for the WACs regular season crown. Its the second ever WAC title for Hawaii who also tied for the Pacific Division title in 1996-97. Its Tulsas third title as the Golden Hurricane tied for the Mountain Division title in 1998-99 and won the regular season championship in 1999-2000.

WILLIAMS WAC TOURNAMENT The Williams WAC Tournament tips off this Tuesday night at the Reynolds Center in Tulsa, Okla. No. 8 seed Rice takes on No. 9 seed San Jose State at 6:00 p.m. (CT) followed by No. 7 Boise State versus No. 10 UTEP at 8:30 p.m. The Owls swept the Spartans in the regular season while Bosie State and UTEP split their two games. The winner of the first game will face No. 1 seed Hawaii on Thursday at 12:00 p.m while the winner of the second game will take on No. 2 Tulsa at 8:30. The Rainbow Warriors swept Rice and split with San Jose State. Tulsa swept both of its possible opponents. The other quarterfinal games on Thursday will feature No. 4 SMU vs. No. 5 Nevada at 2:30 p.m. and No. 3 Louisiana Tech vs. No. 6 Fresno State at 6:00. SMU swept the Wolf Pack and Louisiana Tech won both against Fresno State.

FINALS ON ESPN2 The championship game on Saturday, March 9 at 8:00 p.m. (CT) will be nationally televised by ESPN2. Terry Ganon will announce the play-by-play and Bob Valvano will provide analysis.

ALL-WAC TEAMS ANNOUNCED The 2002 all-WAC teams as voted upon by the coaches were announced on Sunday. For the second year in a row, Fresno States Melvin Ely was named the Player of the Year. Rice forward Michael Harris earned Freshman of the Year honors and Hawaiis Riley Wallace was chosen the Don Haskins Coach of the Year. The rest of the teams can be found later in this release.

TWO NAMED TO ACADEMIC ALL-DISTRICT TEAMS Rices Omar-Seli Mance and Hawaiis Predrag Savovic were named to the 2002 Verizon Academic All-District teams last month. Mance was named to the District VI team while Savovic made the District VIII team for the second time. Mance, a junior guard majoring in Mathematics, maintained a 3.3 grade point average while starting all 27 games for the Owls this year. He is currently averaging 11.8 points per game. Savovic, a senior from Herceg Novi, Yugoslavia, has a 3.25 gpa and is majoring in International Business & Finance. He is averaging 20.1 points per game and has helped lead Hawaii to a 23-4 record on the season. The teams were voted on by members of the College Sports Information Directors Association of America (CoSIDA) and those selected advance to the national ballot. The 2002 Verizon Academic All-America team will be announced March 7.

SIX NAMED TO NABC ALL-DISTRICT TEAMS Last month, six WAC players were named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) all-district teams. Louisiana Techs Gerrod Henderson (District 8), SMUs Damon Hancock (District 9), Fresno States Melvin Ely (District 13) and Hawaiis Predrag Savovic (District 13) were first team members. Boise States Abe Jackson and Fresno States Chris Jefferies were named to the second team in District 13. The players are now eligible for the NABC/Pontiac Division I All-American Team to be announced at the end of the season.

TULSA SECOND BEST OVER LAST THREE YEARS Over the last three seasons, Tulsa has won 82 games, second in the nation only to Dukes 90 victories. Cincinnati is next with 79 wins during the past three years.

NATIONAL RANKINGS No teams in the WAC are ranked in the top 25 of the AP and USA Today-ESPN polls, but Hawaii and Tulsa are receiving votes in both. Below are three other rankings and the WAC teams ranked in the top 100 as well as the WACs overall ranking among the other 32 conferences.

Sagarin CollegeRPI.com Collegiate Basketball News
WAC 10 10 10
Tulsa 26 33 34
Hawaii 49 34 33
Louisiana Tech 59 66 70
Fresno State 76 70 68
Nevada 97

TOP SCORERS The WAC has four players that have scored 20 or more points in at least 12 games this year. Fresno States Melvin Ely has reached that mark 20 times while SMUs Damon Hancock has hit it in 18 games. Boise States Abe Jackson has scored 20 or more in 16 contests this season and Hawaiis Predrag Savovic has 12 games with 20 or more points. Hawaii is 11-1 when Savovic scores 20, Fresno State is 12-8 when Ely scores 20 or more, Boise State is 9-7 when Jackson hits the mark and SMU is 10-8 when Hancock reaches 20.

SWANSON IS NATIONS TOP LONG-RANGE SHOOTER Tulsas Dante Swanson leads the nation in three-point shooting. The junior guard has made 55.1 percent (70-127) of his three-pointers. The percentage is currently the second highest in WAC history. The record is 56.3 percent set by Colorado States Joel Tribelhorn during the 1988-89 season.

HOME RECORDS As a league, all 10 WAC teams have a combined home record of 100-47 (.680). In conference games only, home teams are 52-38 (.578). Last week, home teams were just 3-6. The only teams that won at home were Fresno State over San Jose State, Nevada versus Hawaii and Boise State against SMU.

TULSA TOPS IN SHOOTING Tulsa continues to lead the WAC in all three shooting categories. The Golden Hurricane is shooting 48.6 percent from the field, 75.4 percent from the free throw line and 41.9 percent from three-point range. Only once before has a team led the WAC in all three shooting categories. Brigham Young performed the trifecta during the 1987-88 season.

NON-CONFERENCE MARK The WAC is 68-42 (.618) in non-conference games this season, including a 58-40 (.592) mark against Division I teams. Last year, WAC teams were 88-32 (.733) in non-conference games with a 77-32 (.706) record 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).

WAC LEGEND Fresno States Jerry Tarkanian is in his 31st season as a head coach and has a record of 777-200 (.795), the third best winning percentage of any active coach and sixth best of all time. The 777 wins are fourth most among active coaches and sixth 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. Tarkanian is a 1955 graduate of Fresno State.

TEAM NOTES Information on the mens basketball teams in the WAC:

Boise State - BSU has won four of its last six games ... senior forward Abe Jackson (Boise, Idaho) is first in the WAC in three-point field goals made with 3.21 per game and is third in the conference in scoring with 19.2 points per game ... Jackson has 90 three-point field goals, breaking his own school record of 83 set last year ... Jackson is the second Bronco to have 1,500 points and 500 rebounds in his career (Tanoka Beard: 1989-93) ... BSU is second in the WAC in scoring defense (65.3 points per game) and has held four opponents to under 50 points this season.

Fresno State - the Bulldogs have lost seven of its last 10 WAC games ... the Bulldogs were 3-3 without Melvin Ely in the lineup earlier in the season and are 4-6 without forward Chris Jefferies ... Jefferies is out due to a cartilage tear in his right knee ... the 13 losses match head coach Jerry Tarkanians most in a season ... when Fresno State lost at Louisiana Tech on Feb. 21, Fresno State was 7-8 in the conference, marking the first time in Tarkanians career he has been under .500 in conference play ... starting point guard Chris Sandy was ruled ineligible by the school on Feb. 14 and has missed the past six games when it was determined he received an improper benefit ... Matt Mitchell has started the last four games in place of Sandy and has averaged 7.8 points, 4.2 rebounds and 6.0 assists in those contests ... Ely has scored 20 or more points in 19 of the last 21 games ... in conference games only, Melvin Ely leads the WAC in scoring (25.6 ppg), field goal percentage (.591) and blocks (3.12 bpg) ... after a 25-game home winning streak, the Bulldogs have lost four of their last six home games.

Hawaii - Hawaii tied a school record set earlier this year with 14 three-pointers against Fresno State ... UH has won 18 of its last 21 games ... Hawaii was 6-3 in WAC road games, the most wins in school history ... Hawaii is 44-136 (.244) all-time in WAC road games ... UH has won 12 of its last 18 games away from home ... UHs 15-3 record in WAC play is its best ever ... Hawaiis 24 wins are one shy of the school record of 25 set during the 1989-90 season ... UHs five losses are by a combined 23 points ... the loss against Nevada last week marked the first time Hawaii had scored at least 60 points in a loss ... Hawaii is second in the WAC in three-pointers made with 211 and broke last years school record of 177 treys ... UH has made at least seven three-pointers in each of its 15 WAC wins ... the Rainbow Warriors have held 12 of its opponents to 60 points or less this year ... Hawaii leads the WAC and in scoring defense (63.0 points per game) ... Hawaii has won 12 straight home games and 23 of its last 24 in Honolulu ... in addition, UH has won 16 straight WAC home games dating back to last year, the longest current streak in the conference.

Louisiana Tech - Lousiana Tech has 20 wins for the second time under head coach Keith Richard and the 17th time in school history ... Tech has won 11 of its last 13 games and has won 11 of its last 12 conference games ... Louisiana Tech is now 190-48 (.798) in the Thomas Assembly Center ... Tech has assured itself of its fourth consecutive winning season ... the Bulldogs are 17-0 when holding opponents to under 70 points ... Louisiana Tech was 7-2 on the road in WAC games, tying Tulsa for the best mark in the WAC ... Tech is 6-3 in games decided by five or fewer points this season ... the six wins are tied with Hawaii for the most by a WAC team ... Gerrod Henderson passed Karl Malone for fifth on the schools all-time scoring list last week ... Antonio Meeking is 35 points shy of 1,000 for his career ... Louisiana Tech leads the WAC in rebounding margin (+8.4).

Nevada - Nevada broke the school record of 537 free throws and currently has 613 on the season, 110 more than second place UTEP ... the Wolf Pack have won six road games this season, one more than they did over the last three years combined ... Nevada has won 16 games this season, the most since the 1997-98 season when it went 16-12 and has assured itself of a winning season for the first time since 1997-98 ... the Wolf Pack is 10-3 at home and 25-16 (.610) since Trent Johnson took over as head coach three years ago ... senior F Corey Jackson leads the WAC in rebounds with 11.2 ... he is the only player in the WAC to average a double-double in conference games with 10.4 ppg and 11.3 rpg ... Jackson has 10 double-doubles on the season, the third most in the WAC ... Nevada is 8-1 against schools from California after losing to San Jose State on Saturday night.

Rice - WAC Freshman of the Year Michael Harris is Rices top scorer (12.6 ppg) ... Harris has eight double-doubles in his last 16 games and has 12 on the season, tied with Fresno States Melvin Ely for the most in the WAC ... Harris is third in the WAC in rebounding (8.6) ... he leads all WAC freshmen in scoring and rebounding ... his 240 rebounds are the most by any Rice freshman.

San Jose State - SJSU snapped its six-game losing streak at Nevada on Saturday ... it was the first conference road win for the Spartans this season ... San Jose States only other road win of the year came at Iowa State where it snapped the Cyclones 39-game homecourt winning streak.

SMU - senior guard Damon Hancock is second in the WAC in scoring with 21.8 points per game ... if he ends the season with more than a 20-point average, he will be the first Mustang to do so since the 1975-76 season (Ira Terrell-22.1) ... Hancock has scored in double figures in the last 28 games he has played in, the longest such streak in the WAC and has scored 20 or more points in 12 of the last 13 games ... Hancock and Quinton Ross average 39.3 points per game, 54.1 percent of the Mustangs offense ... the last time an SMU duo scored more than Hancock and Ross was during the 1972-73 season when Sammy Hervey (21.5) and Ira Terrell (19.4) combined for 40.9 ppg.

UTEP - the Miners have lost 21 games, tied for most in school history (1952-53) ... UTEP has shot 75.0 percent from the line over the last two games after shooting just 59.1 percent the previous six games ... UTEP has lost five of its last eight home games ... UTEP has lost six games by five points or less, the most in the WAC ... the Miners are 0-12 on the road this year and have lost 15 in a row dating back to last season ... UTEP is the only WAC team to not win a road game this year ... the Miners are averaging 69.1 points per game this season after a school-record 80.3 last year ... after registering eight wins when trailing at the half last year, the Miners are 3-19 when behind at the break this season.

Tulsa - Tulsa is 10-3 on the road which ties the school record for road victories set three other times (1919-20, 1993-94 and 1999-2000) ... both of Tulsas two WAC road losses have been by the same score, 86-85 ... has 20 wins for the fourth straight year and eighth out of the last nine seasons ... the 24 wins tie for the fifth-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 finished 7-2 in WAC road games, tied for the best mark in the conference with Louisiana Tech ... Kevin Johnson has scored in double figures in all 18 conference games this year ... the Golden Hurricane lead the WAC in scoring (81.4), scoring margin (+11.9), three-point field goals made (7.7), assists (17.6) and steals (8.3) ... guard Greg Harrington is the teams lone senior and has 531 assists, the most in school history ... Harrington leads the WAC in free throw percentage (.868) and assists (5.4) ... guard Dante Swanson leads the WAC and the nation in three-point field goal percentage (.551) ... the WAC record for three-point field goal percentage in a season is .563 (76-135) set by Colorado States Joel Tribelhorn during the 1988-89 season ... Harrington is Tulsas all-time winningest player with a 105-31 (.772) record in his four seasons ... Tulsa has sold out 26 of its 55 games at the Reynolds Center where it has gone 48-7 (.873).

TULSA TO HOST 2003 TOURNAMENT On Jan. 17, the WAC announced that the 2003 Williams WAC Mens and Womens Basketball Tournament will be returning to Tulsa for a third consecutive year. It will be held in the Donald W. Reynolds Center on The University of Tulsa campus, March 12-15.

WILLIAMS IS TOURNAMENT SPONSOR For the second year in a row, Williams is 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.

ESPN/FOX SPORTS SOUTHWEST SCHEDULE The WAC has a multi-year contract with ESPN for coverage of football and basketball. Five games were scheduled for ESPN2 (including the mens tournament championship game) and ABC while Fox Sports Southwest telecast five mens games and four womens games including the womens WAC tournament final on March 9. Fox Sports Net Southwest reaches over 6.8 million cable and satellite subscribers in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana and parts of New Mexico.