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TULSA OPENS SEASON IN PRESEASON NIT Tulsa opens the WAC season tonight hosting Wright State in the Preseason NIT. If the Golden Hurricane win, they would play the winner of the San Diego-Arizona game in the second round on Nov. 18. The winner of that game would advance to the semifinals at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 24. Tulsa is coming off a 9-20 season last year while Wright State, a member of the Horizon League, was 14-14 in 2003-04.
FOUR OTHERS IN TOURNAMENTS Besides Tulsa, four other WAC schools begin their seasons in tournaments this week. Louisiana Tech heads to Baton Rouge for the LSU Tournament on Friday and Sunday. The Bulldogs will take on Louisiana-Lafayette in the first game and will play either LSU or Tulane on Sunday. Boise State will play three games in three days as the Broncos are hosting the Boise State Invitational. The Broncos play future WAC foe and in-state rival Idaho on Friday, Henderson State on Saturday and Southeastern Louisiana on Sunday. Nevada is hosting the Jim Thorpe Classic beginning Saturday. The Wolf Pack faces Colorado-Colorado Springs in the first game and then either Georgia State or Southern Mississippi in the Sunday finale. UTEP hosts the first two games of the Las Vegas Tournament and will play Delaware State on Sunday. The Miners will then play Jackson State next Tuesday before heading to Las Vegas the following weekend for the remainder of the tournament.
OTHER ACTION Four more WAC teams get underway this weekend. On Friday, SMU hosts Texas-Tyler and Maryland-Eastern Shore travels across the country to Fresno State. Saturday will feature Mobile at Rice and San Jose State hosting Pacific. Hawaiis season doesnt tip off until next Tuesday when the Rainbow Warriors host Mississippi Valley State.
WAC TO CHANGE IN 2005-06 Over the last year, the WAC issued invitations to Idaho, New Mexico State and Utah State effective July 1, 2005, the same date that Rice, SMU, UTEP and Tulsa are moving to Conference USA. In mens basketball last year, Idaho was 14-16, New Mexico State was 13-14 and Utah State was 25-4.
NEVADA, SMU, UTEP NAME COACHES The WAC will have three new head coaches this season, and all three were assistant coaches at the schools that hired them. Mark Fox replaced Trent Johnson as Nevadas 16th head coach. Fox served the previous four seasons as the Packs associate head coach. SMU announced that Jimmy Tubbs would return as the Mustangs 15th head coach. Tubbs was a 12-year assistant at SMU before spending the last two seasons as an assistant at Oklahoma. UTEP promoted assistant Doc Sadler, and is the Miners 16th head coach. Sadler was the head coach at Arkansas-Fort Smith for five years (1998-03) before coming to El Paso in 2003.
TOP PLAYERS RETURNING A total of five players from both the all-WAC first and second-teams will return this year: Michael Harris, Sr., F, Rice; Filiberto Rivera, Sr., G, UTEP; Paul Millsap, So., F, Louisiana Tech; Jason McKrieth, Sr., G, Rice; and Omar Thomas, Sr., F, UTEP. Four of the five all-newcomer team honorees will also return from last year and include: Millsap, Rivera, Thomas and Nick Fazekas, So., F, Nevada. Millsap was last years WAC Freshman of the Year after averaging 15.6 points and a nation-best 12.5 rebounds per game.
STAT LEADERS BACK Statistically, five of the top 10 scorers return for the 2004-05 season. SMUs Bryan Hopkins was third in the WAC in scoring last year with a 17.7 point per game average. Others coming back include: Michael Harris, Rice (17.5); Jason McKrieth, Rice (15.8); Paul Millsap, Louisiana Tech (15.6); and Omar Thomas, UTEP (15.5). Millsap is the leading returning rebounder with a 12.5 rpg average last season (1st in the nation), and UTEPs Filiberto Rivera returns after ranking third in the WAC in assists with 4.8 per game.
HARRIS NAMED PRESEASON PLAYER OF THE YEAR In a vote by the WACs head coaches and media, Rice senior forward Michael Harris was picked as the leagues preseason Player of the Year. Last season, Harris averaged 17.5 points and 8.9 rebounds in leading the Owls to a 22-11 record and a berth in the NIT.
1,000-POINT SCORERS The WAC has two players that have scored more than 1,000 points in their collegiate careers returning for their senior seasons and both are from Rice: F Michael Harris (1,375); and G Jason McKrieth (1,075). SMU senior forward Patrick Simpson has 918 points and his teammate, junior guard Bryan Hopkins, has scored 894 in his career.
WAC ON ESPN/SPORTSWEST The WAC has a multi-year contract with both ESPN and SportsWest for coverage of WAC football and basketball. A minimum of 15 basketball games between the two networks are scheduled this season.
BRACKET BUSTER SATURDAY For the third year in a row, the WAC has partnered with ESPN and several other top college basketball conferences for Bracket Buster Saturday, a one-day mens basketball event matching potential NCAA tournament hopefuls against each other. All 10 WAC teams will be involved in this years event to be held on Feb. 19, 2005. ESPN and ESPN2 will present six games while five more games will be produced and distributed in the markets of the competing teams. The match-ups for Bracket Buster Saturday will be determined by ESPN in conjunction with the conferences on Sunday, Jan. 30, 2005.
2005 WAC TOURNAMENT The 2005 WAC Tournament will be held March 8-12 at the Lawlor Events Center in Nevada, Reno. Both the men and women compete during the same week. On the mens side, the seven, eight, nine and 10 seeded teams will play on Tuesday, March 8. The remaining eight teams will all play in the quarterfinals on Thursday, March 10 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.
NEVADA OWNS LONGEST HOME STREAK Nevada has won 15 home games in a row, tied for the eighth longest streak in the nation. In conference games only, the Packs nine-game home winning streak is also the longest in the WAC.
NATIONAL RANKINGS No WAC teams are ranked in the top 25, but both UTEP and Rice are receiving votes in the AP poll and UTEP is also garnering points in the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll.
FIVE IN POSTSEASON Last year, the WAC had five teams that made appearances in the 2004 postseason tournaments. It was the most since the 1999 season when the WAC placed eight teams as a 16-team conference. In its six previous seasons as a 10-team conference (1993-94-95-96-02-03), the most teams placed into the postseason had been four teams in 1994, 1996 and 2002.
FIVE WITH 20 For the first time in seven seasons as a 10-team conference, the WAC had five teams with 20 or more wins last year. Boise State, Hawaii, Nevada, Rice and UTEP all hit that mark. The last time the WAC had five 20-win teams came in 1998-99 when it was a 16-team conference. The WAC did have five with 20 twice as a nine-team league in 1987-88 and 1989-90.
UTEP HAD NATIONS BIGGEST IMPROVEMENT After a 6-24 record in 2002-03, UTEP finished last year with a 24-8 mark. The 17-game improvement ties the NCAA record (that began being kept track of in 1974) set by Mercer in 2002-03 (6-23 to 23-6).
MILLSAP LED NATION IN REBOUNDING Freshman forward Paul Millsap finished last season averaging 12.5 rebounds per game, the best of any player in the nation. It marked the first time in WAC history that a player from the league led the nation in rebounding. Millsap had at least eight rebounds in every game last year and 10 or more in 23 of his 30 contests.
TOP-SHOOTING MINERS UTEP led the WAC in all three shooting categories last year. The Miners shot 47.7 percent from the field, 75.2 percent from the free throw line and 38.4 percent from three-point range. After having this feat happen once prior to the 2001-02 season, this marked the third straight year a WAC team had led the conference in all three categories: Tulsa (2001-02) and Rice (2002-03).
HOME SWEET HOME The WACs 10 teams were a combined 101-50 (.669) at home last season. On the road, the WAC was 52-79 (.397). In conference only games, the home teams were 56-34 (.622).
ROAD WARRIORS In all games, the WAC had two teams with winning road records in 2003-04. Boise State was 10-5 and UTEP was 6-5. In conference games only, Fresno State, Boise State and UTEP all finished with 5-4 records.
NON-CONFERENCE MARK The WAC was 72-42 (.632) in non-conference games last season, including a 61-41 (.598) mark against Division I teams. In 2002-03, WAC teams were 56-45 (.554) in non-conference games with a 47-45 (.511) 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).
HAWAII TOP TEAM OVER LAST FOUR YEARS Over the last four seasons, Hawaii is 84-44 (.656), the best record of any WAC team during that time. In conference games, Fresno State won 45 games, the most in that same time period. The top five teams in wins (both overall and WAC) over the last four seasons:
Overall Record (Pct.) WAC Record (Pct.)
1. Hawaii 84-44 (.656) 1. Fresno State 45-25 (.643)
2. Tulsa 85-48 (.639) 2. Hawaii 43-27 (.614)
3. Fresno State 79-45 (.637) 3. Tulsa 42-28 (.600)
4. Nevada 70-54 (.565) 4. *La. Tech 31-23 (.574)
5. La. Tech 66-52 (.559) 5. Nevada 36-34 (.514)
*Louisiana Tech completed its third season in the WAC.