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Final 2002-03 Men's Basketball Notes

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TULSA ADVANCES TO SECOND ROUND - For the second year in a row, Tulsa advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament. In the first round, 13th-seeded Tulsa defeated fourth-seed Dayton, 84-71, in Spokane, Wash. Dante Swanson and Jason Parker tied for game-high honors with 24 points apiece. Swanson also led the Golden Hurricane with seven rebounds and six assists. Tulsa then lost to fifth-seed Wisconsin in the second round, 61-60. The Golden Hurricane led the Badgers, 58-45, with 4:08 to play, but were outscored 16-2 in the final minutes. Kevin Johnson scored a game-high 23 points and pulled down nine rebounds in his last game for Tulsa. This was Tulsa's 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 now 12-14 (.462) in the tournament.

THE WAC IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT - The WAC has a 61-81 record (.430) in its teams' 75 appearances in the NCAA Tournament. The second round appearance for Tulsa marked the ninth straight year that a WAC team had avanced past the first round. 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, while Hawai`i 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).

HAWAI`I WINS ONE - Hawai`i advanced to the second round of the National Invitation Tournament after winning at UNLV, 85-68, in the first round. Michael Kuebler led the Rainbow Warriors with 21 points while Carl English added 20. The Rainbow Warriors then traveled to Minnesota where they lost, 84-70. Hawai`i had four players score in double figures led by Michael Kuebler's 20 points. Carl English added 19. This was Hawai`i's seventh trip to the NIT (1971-74-89-90-97-98-03). The Rainbow Warriors are 8-7 (.533) in the tournament.

NEVADA'S SEASON ENDS IN LUBBOCK - Nevada made its first postseason appearance in six years when it received a spot in the NIT. The Wolf Pack traveled to Lubbock, Texas where it lost against Texas Tech, 66-54. Nevada had four players score in double figures led by Todd Okeson's 13 points. Kirk Snyder had 12 while Sean Paul and Jerry Petty each scored 10. Nevada finished the season with an 18-14 record, its most wins since a 21-10 record during the 1996-97 season.This was Nevada's third trip to the NIT (1979-97-03). The Wolf Pack are 2-3 (.400) in the tournament.

THE WAC IN THE NIT - The WAC has a 70-60 record (.538) in its teams' 59 appearances in the NIT. Last year, Louisiana Tech won two games before bowing out against Villanova, 67-64, while 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.

ROSS NAMED AP ALL-AMERICAN - SMU's Quinton Ross was named an Associated Press Honorable Mention All-American. The senior guard from Dallas led SMU to a 17-13 record, including 11 conference wins on the year, the most for a Mustang squad since 1992-93 when the Ponies won 12 Southwest Conference games to win the SWC and advance to the NCAA Tournament. Ross finished his career with 1,761 points to rank fourth on the SMU scoring list, averaging a WAC-best 20.3 points and 6.4 rebounds en route to WAC Player of the Year and All-WAC Tournament honors as a senior. SMU's last consensus All-American was Jon Koncak, who earned second-team honors in 1984-85.

ENGLISH DECLARES FOR DRAFT - Hawai`i guard Carl English will declare for this year's NBA Draft, held June 26 in New York, N.Y. In addition, English, a junior, has requested his potential draft status from the NBA's Undergraduate Advisory Committee. The Undergraduate Advisory Committee is made up of general managers and player personnel employees of various NBA teams. They review each early entry participant and presents them with a non-binding draft status. English will graduate with a degree in Liberal Studies in May but has one year left of eligibility. If English decides to return for his senior season at Hawai`i, the deadline to remove his name from the Draft is June 19.

TULSA WINS FIRST WAC TOURNAMENT 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 Hawai`i 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 joined Nevada's Kirk Snyder, Hawai`i's Carl English and SMU's 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 men's 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.

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 WAC's regular season title. It was 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 was ineligible for the WAC tournament, the NCAA tournament and NIT.

PARKER, ENGLISH NAMED ACADEMIC ALL-AMERICANS - Tulsa junior guard Jason Parker and Hawai`i 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). Rice's Omar-Seli Mance was a repeat selection and joined SMU's Eric Castro and Tulsa's Jason Parker on the District VI team. Hawai`i's 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 country's best men's collegiate basketball student-athletes. The WAC had four players named to the teams. Louisiana Tech senior forward Antonio Meeking was the WAC's only first-team selection (District 8). SMU's Quinton Ross was selected to the District 9 second team while Hawai`i's Carl English and Nevada's Kirk Snyder were named second-teamers in District 13.

TWO NAMED TO USBWA ALL-DISTRICT TEAMS - Hawai`i 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.

SINGLE-GAME RECORDS - Three single-game records were broken or tied this year. Nevada broke the record for most free throw attempts in a conference game with 56 against Louisiana Tech on Feb. 15, while Tech broke the record for most fouls in any game with 39 in that Nevada game. Tulsa tied a conference game record with 36 three-point field goal attempts against SMU on Jan. 25. There were no season team records or individual records broken this year.

TOP-SHOOTING OWLS - For the third time in WAC history, a team led the WAC in all three shooting categories. Rice shot 46.9 percent from the field, 73.7 percent from the free throw line and 38.6 percent from three-point range. It was the second year in a row a team led the WAC in all three as Tulsa performed the trifecta during the 2001-02 season.

TULSA OVER 100 - Over the last four seasons, Tulsa is 108-33 (.766), 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 108 1. Tulsa 49
2. Fresno State 89 2. Fresno State 46
3. Hawai`i 80 3. SMU 38
4. Louisiana Tech 72 4. Hawai`i 37
5. SMU 71 5. *Louisiana Tech 23
Nevada 23

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

DOUBLE LEADERS - The WAC featured four players that led 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 (16.2 ppg, 8.1 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)

INDIVIDUAL SUPERLATIVES - The WAC had several players rank nationally in single-game highs. Rice's Michael Harris tied for first with a field goal percentage of 100 (10-for-10) in a game against Louisiana College. Nevada's Kevinn Pinkney tied for 11th with a field goal percentage of 91.7 (11-for-12) in a game against Weber State. SMU's Bryan Hopkins (14-for-14), SMU's Quinton Ross (12-for-12) and UTEP's Giovanni St. Amant (11-for-11) tied for first in free throw percentage in games against Boise State, Rice and San Jose State, respectively. Fresno State's Hiram Fuller tied for 12th in blocked shots with eight against San Jose State.

HOME SWEET HOME - The WAC's 10 teams were a combined 105-44 (.705) at home this season. On the road, the WAC was 41-94 (.304). In conference-only games, the home teams were 61-29 (.671).

TULSA OWNS LONGEST HOME STREAK - With its three wins in the WAC tournament in March, 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 had a winning record away from home (9-7) as the Golden Hurricane were 6-6 on the road and 3-1 in neutral site games.

1,000-POINT SCORERS - The WAC has eight active 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 (1,646-3rd); Antonio Meeking, F, Louisiana Tech (1,541-11th); Kevin Johnson, F, Tulsa (1,577-5th); Dante Swanson, G, Tulsa (1,433-9th); Carl English, G, Hawai`i (1,259-7th); Roy Smallwood, F, UTEP (1,119-18th); and Garry Hill-Thomas, G, Nevada (1,008-15th).

NON-CONFERENCE MARK - The WAC was 56-45 (.554) in non-conference games this season, including a 47-45 (.511) 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 WAC's 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 Nevada's Lawlor Events Center.

ESPN/FOX SPORTS NET SCHEDULE - The WAC has a multi-year contract with ESPN for coverage of football and basketball. Seven games were scheduled for ESPN/ESPN2 (including the men's tournament championship game) while Fox Sports Net telecast nine men's games and four women's games including the women's WAC tournament final.

TEAM NOTES - Information on the men's 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).

Fresno State - the Bulldogs ended their season losing three of their last four games ... Fresno State gave up 82.6 points per game in its five WAC losess and only 63.3 points per game in its 13 wins ... Fresno State was 15-0 when leading at halftime, the only WAC team to not lose a game when leading at the break ... Fresno State was 8-4 in games decided by five points or less ... the Bulldogs won three straight games over SMU, Louisiana Tech and Hawai`i (Jan. 16-23) by a combined total of four points ... head coach Ray Lopes was named CBSSportsline.com's national rookie coach of the year ... senior guard Damon Jackson made four game-winning shots this year and had two game-tying three-pointers in a game against Nevada, one near the end of regulation and the other at the end of the first overtime ... the Bulldogs led the WAC in rebounding margin (+5.7) ... 84.1 percent (122-of-145) of Travis DeManby's field goal attempts came from behind the three-point line ... Fresno State was 116-21 (.847) at Selland Arena since the 1995-96 season ... this was the final season at Selland Arena for Fresno State as the Bulldogs will play in the Save Mart Center next year.

Hawai`i - had its seven-game WAC Tournament winning streak snapped by Tulsa in the semifinals ... the streak was tied for the longest in WAC history ... junior Carl English broke the school's single-season record of 86 three-point field goals made set by Trevor Ruffin during the 1993-94 season with 89 ... Hawai`i finished its home schedule with a record of 15-1, the fourth best home record in school history ... of its 12 losses, four came by two points or less ... the Rainbow Warriors lost eight WAC road games, five more than all of last season ... senior Mark Campbell led the WAC in assists with 6.19 per game and was the only WAC player to average more than 4.5 assists per game ... UH led the WAC in assists (16.35) ... Hawai`i has won 38 of its last 40 in Honolulu.

Louisiana Tech - Tech finished the season losing six games in a row, the longest current streak in the WAC ... the Bulldogs have not allowed its opponent to score 100 points in a game for 279 contests, the longest streak in the WAC ... the Bulldogs are 17-1 in non-conference home games under head coach Keith Richard.

Nevada - the Pack's 18 wins were the most under head coach Trent Johnson and the most since winning 21 during the 1996-97 season ... its 11 conference wins were the most since joining the WAC ... the Pack led the WAC in scoring with 76.0 points per game ... sophomore Kirk Snyder had a WAC-best 12 double-doubles on the season ... Snyder led the team in rebounding in 14 of the last 16 games ... eight of the Pack's 14 losses came by five or less points ... Nevada was 2-8 in games decided by five points or less ... the Pack was 0-3 in overtime games this season.

Rice - the Owls were the only team in the WAC to not lose back-to-back games this season ... senior Omar-Seli Mance had more three-point field goals this year (82) than he did in his previous two years (62) ... Mance led the WAC in three-point field goals made per game with 2.93 ... Mance was one of three finalists for the Creamland Dairies Collegiate Basketball Student-Athlete of the Year award ... the Owls' 19 wins were a nine-game improvement from last season ... the 11 conference wins were the most since joining the WAC ... Rice had 244 steals this season, breaking the school record of 215 set in 1982 ... Rice had a winning record for the first time since the 1998-99 season ... the Owls' six road wins are the most since winning six in 1994-95 ... Rice's three-point field goal percentage of 71.4 (10-for-14) against Navy on Dec. 23, tied for the sixth best performance in the nation this year ... sophomore Michael Harris led the WAC in field goal percentage (.623) ... junior Yamar Diene broke both school records for blocked shots in a season (45) and career (94) ... sophomore Jason McKrieth led the WAC in free throw percentage (.851) ... Rice led the WAC in field goal percentage (.469), three-point field goal percentage (.386), free throw percentage (.737) and steals (8.41 spg) ... the free throw percentage was the best by an Owl team since shooting 73.9 percent in the 1979-80 season.

San Jose State - for the second year in a row, the Spartans ended a team's long home winning streak as last year, SJSU stopped Iowa State's streak at 39 games, and this year it broke Hawai`i's streak at 24 games ... San Jose State led the WAC in turnover margin (+3.57) ... San Jose State was last in the WAC in free throw percentage (.621) ... SJSU has not scored 100 points in a game since beating Utah State, 101-85, on Jan. 25, 1979 (686 games).

SMU - freshman Bryan Hopkins led the WAC in steals with 2.10 per game ... senior Quinton Ross started 89 straight games, the longest current streak in the WAC ... Ross led the WAC in scoring with 20.3 points per game ... Ross scored in double figures in 23 straight games, currently the longest streak in the WAC ... Ross's 988 career points scored in a WAC games only are the 18th most in league history ... the Mustangs average scores were 72.8-72.8, the most competitive scoring margin in the WAC ... SMU played in a school record five overtime games and won four, also a school record.

UTEP - the Miners' neutral site win against San Jose State in the WAC Tournament was their first away from El Paso since the 2001 WAC tournament ... Justino Victoriano led the WAC in rebounding with 8.5 per game ... the Miners have lost 26 road games in a row ... UTEP was the only WAC team to not win a road game this year (0-11) ... the Miners were also the only WAC team to not win a road game last year (0-12).

Tulsa - has won at least 20 games in each of the last five seasons and ninth time in the last 10 years ... Tulsa is 10-3 in the postseason the last four years: 3-1 in 2000 NCAA, 5-0 in 2001 NIT, 1-1 in 2002 NCAA and 1-1 in 2003 NCAA ... the Golden Hurricane won 11 of their last 13 games ... senior Kevin Johnson led the WAC in blocks with 2.30 per game ... senior guard Dante Swanson made 50 percent (39-78) of his three-point field goal attempts in the last 12 games ... the Hurricane have won by an average of 18.4 points in their last nine home games ... Tulsa led the WAC in scoring margin (+8.1), scoring defense (65.3 ppg), field goal percentage defense (.399) and three-point field goals made per game (6.58) ... the current five-member senior class had a record of 108-33 (.766) ... Tulsa is 64-11 (.853) at the Reynolds Center, the best winning percentage at home of any WAC team in its current arena ... every season that Tulsa has won 20 games, it has either played in the NCAA Tournament or won the NIT Championship.