United Athletic Conference

TULSA RETURNS TO NCAA TOURNAMENT Tulsa, the WACs tournament champion, is making its eighth appearance in the NCAA Tournament in the last 10 years and is the only WAC representative this season. This marks the first time since 1983 that the WAC has not had at least two teams in the NCAA Tournament.

NIT TAKES TWO Hawaii and Nevada are also making postseason appearances. The two teams are competing in the National Invitation Tournament. Both teams begin play on Wednesday night on the road.

TULSA WINS FIRST TITLE After coming up short in the three previous WAC tournament championship games, Tulsa finally earned its first title. The Golden Hurricane defeated Nevada, 75-64, in the finals after beating UTEP and Hawaii in earlier action. It was just the fourth time in the last 13 years that the home team has won the WAC tournament.

ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM Tulsa placed two players on the Williams WAC All-Tournament team as selected by the media in attendance. Kevin Johnson and Dante Swanson join Nevadas Kirk Snyder, Hawaiis Carl English and SMUs Quinton Ross on the team. Kevin Johnson was named the MVP after averaging 14.7 points, 5.0 rebounds and 3.7 blocks. He broke a tournament record with 11 blocks in the three games.

ATTENDANCE The mens tournament was attended by 22,073 fans during the five sessions (4,415/session). The title game drew 5,326 to the Donald W. Reynolds Center in Tulsa.

THE WAC IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT The WAC has a 60-80 record (.429) in its teams 74 previous appearances in the NCAA Tournament. Last year, two teams made the tournament. Tulsa defeated Marquette, 71-69, in the first round before losing to Kentucky, 87-82, in the second. Hawaii lost to Xavier in the first round, 70-58. In 1998, Utah advanced to the NCAA title game before losing to Kentucky, 78-69. It was the furthest a WAC team had ever advanced. UTEP is the only current WAC team to have won a National Championship, but did so prior to joining the WAC (1966).

TULSA IN THE NCAAS This is Tulsas 14th trip to the NCAA Tournament (1955-82-84-85-86-87-94-95-96-97-99-00-02-03) and fifth as a member of the WAC. Last year, Tulsa entered the tournament as a 12th seed and beat Marquette, 71-69, before losing to No. 4 Kentucky, 87-82. Tulsa is 11-13 (.458) in previous competition.

DAYTON CAPSULE Dayton is 24-5 and the No. 4 seed in the Midwest Region. The Flyers won the Atlantic 10 title, beating Temple, 79-72, for their sixth victory in a row. Head coach Oliver Purnell is in his ninth year with the Flyers and is 155-115. Overall, he is 256-190 in 15 years as a coach. Dayton and Tulsa have played one previous game. The Golden Hurricane won, 63-60 in overtime, in the 1985 preseason NIT.

THE WAC IN THE NIT The WAC has a 69-58 record (.543) in its teams 57 previous appearances in the NIT. Last year, Louisiana Tech won two games before bowing out against Villanova, 67-64. Fresno State lost its first game versus Temple, 81-75. Two WAC teams have won the NIT title as Brigham Young did it in 1966 and Tulsa in 2001. Fresno State (1983) and Tulsa (1981) each wore the NIT crown prior to WAC membership.

HAWAII IN THE NIT This is Hawaiis seventh trip to the NIT (1971-74-89-90-97-98-03). The Rainbow Warriors are 7-6 (.538) in previous tournaments. In its last appearance in 1997, Hawaii beat Oregon in Honolulu, 71-61, before losing to UNLV, 89-80, in Las Vegas. If Hawaii wins, it would play the winner of the Minnesota-Saint Louis game.

NEVADA IN THE NIT This is Nevadas third trip to the NIT (1979-97-03). The Wolf Pack are 1-2 in previous tournaments. In 1997, Nevada beat Fresno State on the road, 97-86, before losing to Nebraska in Reno, 78-68. If Nevada wins, it would play the winner of the UC Santa Barbara-San Diego State game.

NIT OPPONENTS A quick look at the WACs NIT first-round foes: UNLV is 21-10 and finished with an 8-6 record in the Mountain West (tied for 3rd). The Runnin Rebels advanced to the MWC tournament finals before losing on their home court to Colorado State, 62-61. Texas Tech is 18-12 and was 6-10 in the Big 12 (tied for 7th). The Red Raiders beat Baylor and Texas to advance to the Big 12 semifinals where they lost, 67-60 in overtime, to Oklahoma.

ALL-WAC TEAMS ANNOUNCED The 2003 all-WAC teams were announced at the end of the regular season. SMU senior guard/forward Quinton Ross was named the Player of the Year. His teammate, Bryan Hopkins, was the Freshman of the Year and Fresno State first-year head coach Ray Lopes was named the Don Haskins Coach of the Year. The complete list of teams can be found later in this release.

FRESNO STATE WINS REGULAR SEASON TITLE Fresno State defeated Nevada in the Bulldogs final game at Selland Arena on Saturday, March 1, 107-99, in double overtime to clinch the WACs regular season title. It is the Bulldogs third regular season WAC championship as they tied for the 1996-97 Pacific Division title and won the 2000-01 conference title outright.

BULLDOGS INELIGIBLE FOR POSTSEASON Fresno State self-imposed a postseason ban on its team this year as the result of finding instances of academic fraud involving former basketball players. Instances of academic fraud were found as part of the joint investigation by the university and the NCAA. Allegations were made that some players had assistance in completing writing assignments by an individual who was paid to complete those assignments. Those allegations were reported in theFresno Bee newspaper. The investigation by the university and the NCAA substantiated most of those allegations. As a result, Fresno State will be ineligible for this weeks WAC tournament in Tulsa as well as the NCAA tournament and NIT.

PARKER, ENGLISH NAMED ACADEMIC ALL-AMERICANS Tulsa junior guard Jason Parker and Hawaii junior guard Carl English were both named to the 2003 Verizon Academic All-America third-team. Parker has maintained a 3.57 grade point average in management information systems while English has a 3.28 GPA in business administration. To be eligible for the team, players must possess at least a 3.20 overall grade point average and be a starter or top reserve.

FOUR NAMED TO ACADEMIC ALL-DISTRICT HONORS The WAC had four players make the Verizon Academic All-District Men's Basketball Teams as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). Rices Omar-Seli Mance is a repeat selection and joins SMUs Eric Castro and Tulsas Jason Parker on the District VI team. Hawaiis Carl English was selected to the District VII team.

FOUR NAMED TO NABC ALL-DISTRICT TEAMS The National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) announced its Division I All-District Teams recognizing the countrys best mens collegiate basketball student-athletes. The WAC had four players named to the teams. Louisiana Tech senior forward Antonio Meeking was the WACs only first-team selection (District 8). SMUs Quinton Ross was selected to the District 9 second team while Hawaiis Carl English and Nevadas Kirk Snyder were named second-teamers in District 13.

TWO NAMED TO USBWA ALL-DISTRICT TEAMS Hawaii junior guard Carl English (District IX) and Nevada sophomore guard Kirk Snyder (District VIII) were named to the United States Basketball Writers of America all-district teams.

DOUBLE LEADERS The WAC features four players that lead their teams in at least two of three categories (points, rebounds and assists):

Antonio Meeking, Sr., F, Louisiana Tech (17.9 ppg, 7.3 rpg)
Kirk Snyder, So., G, Nevada (16.4 ppg, 8.2 rpg)
Michael Harris, So., F, Rice (15.2 ppg, 7.3 rpg)
Brandon Hawkins, Sr., G, San Jose State (13.0 ppg, 2.8 apg)

TULSA OVER 100 Over the last four seasons, Tulsa is 107-32 (.770), the best record of any WAC team since 1999-2000. Tulsa has also won 49 conference games during that period, also the most in the WAC. The top five teams in wins (both overall and WAC) over the last four seasons:

OverallWAC
1. Tulsa 107 1. Tulsa 49
2. Fresno State 89 2. Fresno State 46
3. Hawaii 79 3. SMU 38
4. Louisiana Tech 72 4. Hawaii 37
5. SMU 71 5. *Louisiana Tech 23
Nevada 23

*Louisiana Tech is in its second season in the WAC.

TOP-SHOOTING OWLS Rice leads the WAC in all three shooting categories. The Owls are shooting 46.9 percent from the field, 73.7 percent from the free throw line and 38.6 percent from three-point range. Last season, Tulsa finished the season leading the WAC in all three shooting categories to become just the second team in WAC history to perform the trifecta.

HOME SWEET HOME The WACs 10 teams are a combined 105-44 (.705) at home so far this season. On the road, the WAC is 41-91 (.311). In conference only games, the home teams were 61-29 (.671).

TULSA OWNS LONGEST HOME STREAK With its three wins in the WAC tournament last week, Tulsa improved its home winning streak to nine in a row, currently the longest streak in the WAC.

ROAD WARRIORS With 5-4 records, Fresno State and SMU were the only WAC teams to have winning road conference marks. In all road games, only Tulsa has a winning record away from home (8-6) as the Golden Hurricane are 6-6 on the road and 2-0 in neutral site games.

1,000-POINT SCORERS The WAC has eight players that have scored more than 1,000 points in their collegiate careers. The following list contains those players, their totals and where they rank in school history: Quinton Ross, G, SMU (1,761-4th); Terrance Green, G, Nevada (1,1638-4th); Antonio Meeking, F, Louisiana Tech (1,541-11th); Kevin Johnson, F, Tulsa (1,538-5th); Dante Swanson, G, Tulsa (1,403-9th); Carl English, G, Hawaii (1,220-7th); Roy Smallwood, F, UTEP (1,119-18th); and Garry Hill-Thomas, G, Nevada (1,007-15th).

NON-CONFERENCE MARK The WAC is 54-42 (.563) in non-conference games this season, including a 43-42 (.506) mark against Division I teams. Last year, WAC teams were 71-46 (.607) in non-conference games with 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).

FRESNO STATE, NEVADA TO HOST FUTURE WAC TOURNAMENTS Last 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 NET 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 six mens games and four womens games including the womens WAC tournament final.

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

Boise State - Boise State has beaten every team in the WAC except Nevada since joining the league last year ... the Broncos had one more win this year than last year ... the Broncos opponents shot 74.1 percent from the free throw line, by far the best percentage against a WAC team this season ... Boise State has not scored 100 points since beating U.S. International, 106-82, during the 1985-86 season (498 games).