United Athletic Conference

PLAYER OF THE WEEK Rice forward Michael Harris, a sophomore from Hillsboro, Texas (Hillsboro HS), averaged 25.0 points, 9.5 rebounds and shot 76.9 percent from the field in two games last week. Against Nevada, he scored a career-high 25 points and then followed that up with another 25 points and 14 rebounds against Fresno State on Saturday night. For the week, he was 20-of-26 from the field and 9-of-11 from the free throw line. He also added three steals, two blocks and two assists. It was Harris first ever WAC player of the week award and second for an Owl this season.

Other nominations Other player of the week nominations included:
Renaldo Major, Jr., F, Fresno State - averaged 16.0 points and had a career-high 22 points at Tulsa last Wednesday.
Phil Martin, Jr., F, Hawaii - averaged 15.5 points and 5.0 rebounds in a pair of victories last week. He scored a game-high 18 points against Boise State and for the week, he was 14-of-21 from the field.
Kirk Snyder, So., G, Nevada - averaged 18.5 points and 9.5 rebounds in two games. Against Rice, he recorded his WAC-best 11th double-double of the season with 16 points and 10 rebounds. He then added a team-high 21 points versus Tulsa.
Quinton Ross, Sr., G/F, SMU - had 29 points and 10 rebounds in a win over Louisiana Tech. He was 9-of-16 from the floor, including 5-of-9 from three-point range, and 6-of-6 from the free throw line.
Dante Swanson, Sr., G, Tulsa - averaged 19.0 points and 7.5 rebounds in a pair of wins last week. He scored 12 points including the game-winning three-point shot against Fresno State and then added a career-high 26 points at Nevada. For the week, he was 9-of-18 from three-point range.

TULSA EARNS NUMBER ONE SEED Tulsa earned the number one seed in this weeks Williams WAC Basketball Tournament after winning at Nevada on Saturday night, 79-73. The tournament begins on Tuesday night at the Reynolds Center in Tulsa, Okla. with No. 8 seed San Jose State taking on No. 9 UTEP at 6:00 p.m. (CT). The teams split their games this season, with the home team winning each contest. The winner of that game will take on No. 1 seed Tulsa on Thursday at 8:30 p.m. Earlier quarterfinal action on Thursday includes No. 7 Boise State vs. No. 2 SMU at 12:00 p.m., No. 6 Louisiana Tech vs. No. 3 Nevada at 2:30 p.m. and No. 5 Hawaii vs. No. 4 Rice at 6:00 p.m. SMU and Boise State split their two games with the road team winning, Louisiana Tech and Nevada did the same and Hawaii and Rice also split, but the home team won each game.

ESPN FULL COURT AND ESPN2 TO TELEVISE TOURNAMENT All four mens games on Thursday and the two semifinal games on Friday will be shown on ESPNs Full Court package. ESPN2 will televise the championship game on Saturday night at 8:00 p.m. (CT).

ALL-WAC TEAMS ANNOUNCED The 2003 all-WAC teams as voted upon by the coaches were announced on Sunday. 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 last week. 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.

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

Antonio Meeking, Sr., F, Louisiana Tech (18.2 ppg, 7.2 rpg)
Kirk Snyder, So., G, Nevada (16.1 ppg, 8.3 rpg)
Michael Harris, So., F, Rice (15.3 ppg, 7.2 rpg)
Brandon Hawkins, Sr., G, San Jose State (12.8 ppg, 2.8 apg)
Jason Parker, Jr., G, Tulsa (15.5 ppg, 4.0 apg)

TULSA OVER 100 Over the last four seasons, Tulsa is 104-32 (.765), 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 104 1. Tulsa 49
2. Fresno State 89 2. Fresno State 46
3. Hawaii 78 3. SMU 38
4. Louisiana Tech 72 4. Hawaii 37
5. SMU 70 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 47.1 percent from the field, 74.3 percent from the free throw line and 38.9 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 102-44 (.699) at home so far this season. On the road, the WAC is 41-88 (.318). In conference only games, the home teams are 61-29 (.671). Last week, visiting teams were 2-7 in WAC play as Boise State won at San Jose State and Tulsa won at Nevada.

RICE AND TULSA OWN LONGEST HOME STREAK Both Rice and Tulsa won their one home game last week and now have six-game home winning streaks, the longest current streaks in the WAC.

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

1,000-POINT SCORERS The WAC has seven 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 (1,711-6th); Terrance Green, G, Nevada (1,596-4th); Antonio Meeking, F, Louisiana Tech (1,529-11th); Kevin Johnson, F, Tulsa (1,494-6th); Dante Swanson, G, Tulsa (1,356-13th); Carl English, G, Hawaii (1,172-7th); and Roy Smallwood, F, UTEP (1,119-18th). Nevada junior Garry Hill-Thomas is 16 points shy of 1,000 for his career.

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).

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 (ESPN2).

WILLIAMS IS TOURNAMENT SPONSOR For the third year in a row, Williams will be the WACs tournament sponsor. Williams moves, manages and markets a variety of energy products, including natural gas, liquid hydrocarbons, petroleum and electricity. Based in Tulsa, Okla., Williams operations span the energy value chain from wellhead to burner tip. Company information is available at www.williams.com.

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 - the Broncos have been the WACs seventh seed both years they have been in the league ... Boise State has beaten every team in the WAC except Nevada since joining the league last year ... the Broncos have one more win this year than last year ... Boise State has won three of its last five games after losing six of its previous seven ... the Broncos opponents are shooting 74.3 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 (497 games).