United Athletic Conference

UTEP RETURNS TO THE BIG DANCE UTEP received an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, making its first trip since 1992. The 13th seeded Miners will take on No. 4 Maryland in Denver in the first round of the Phoenix Regional. The Miners have made 14 previous appearances (1963-64-66-67-70-75-84-85-86-87-88-89-90-92), the last 10 as members of the WAC. In 1992, UTEP was a ninth seed and beat No. 8 Evansville, 55-50, and No. 1 Kansas, 66-60, before losing to No. 4 Cincinnati, 69-67, in the Midwest Regional Semifinals. Overall, UTEP is 14-13 in NCAA Tournament games and won the 1966 National Championship when the school was known as Texas Western.

NIT TAKES THREE The WAC is represented by three teams in this years NIT. Its the most that the WAC has had since placing five teams into the tournament in 1999. Boise State, Hawaii and Rice all begin play on Wednesday night. In the opening round, the Broncos host UNLV while Rice travels to Wisconsin-Milwaukee. The winners of those games will meet in the first round. Hawaii plays at Utah State in its first round game and would meet one of four teams in the second round: Nebraska, Creighton, Troy State and Niagara

FIVE IN POSTSEASON The five teams making appearances in this years postseason tournaments are 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 has been four teams in 1994, 1996 and 2002.

THE WAC IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT The WAC has a 61-81 record (.430) in its teams 75 previous appearances in the NCAA Tournament. Last year, Tulsa made the leagues only appearance. The 13th-seeded Golden Hurricane beat No. 4 Dayton, 84-71, in the first round before losing to No. 5 Wisconsin, 61-60. In 1998, Utah advanced to the NCAA title game before losing to Kentucky, 78-69, in San Antonio. 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).

MICHIGAN STATE CAPSULE Michigan State is 18-11 and the No. 7 seed in the St. Louis Region. The Spartans have won six of their last eight and were knocked out of the Big Ten Tournament by eventual champion Wisconsin in the semifinals. Head coach Tom Izzo is in his ninth season with the Spartans and is 207-89. This will be the first ever meeting between Nevada and Michigan State.

MARYLAND CAPSULE Maryland is 19-11 and the No. 4 seed in the Phoenix Region. The Terrapins won the ACC Tournament by beating Duke in the finals, 95-87, in overtime on Sunday. Maryland has won five in a row after losing four of its previous five contests. Head coach Gary Williams is in his 15th year with the Terrapins and is 314-164. Overall, he is 521-292 in 26 years as a head coach. Maryland has played two previous games against UTEP and is 0-2 versus the Miners. Both games were played in UTEPs SunClassic Tournament (1967-68 and 1988-89).

THE WAC IN THE NIT The WAC has a 70-58 record (.547) in its teams 58 previous appearances in the NIT. Last year, two teams were invited to the tournament. Hawaii beat UNLV, 85-68 before losing at Minnesota, 84-70. Nevada lost its first game, 66-54, to host Texas Tech. 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.

BOISE STATE IN THE NIT This is Boise States fourth trip to the NIT (1987-89-91-04). The Broncos are 1-3 (.250) in previous tournaments. In its last appearance in 1991, Boise State lost to Southern Illinois, 75-74. If Boise State wins, it would play the winner of the game between Rice and Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

HAWAII IN THE NIT This is Hawaiis eighth trip to the NIT (1971-74-89-90-97-98-03-04). The Rainbow Warriors are 8-7 (.533) in previous tournaments. In last years appearance, Hawaii beat UNLV, 85-68, before losing to Minnesota, 84-70. If Hawaii wins it would play the winner of the game between the winners of Nebraska-Creighton and Troy State-Niagara.

RICE IN THE NIT This is Rices fourth trip to the NIT (1943-91-93). The Owls are 1-3 (.250) in previous tournaments. In its last appearance in 1993, Rice beat Wisconsin in Madison, 77-73 before losing at Boston College, 101-68. If Rice wins it would play the winner of the UNLV-Boise State game.

NIT OPPONENTS A quick look at the WACs NIT opponents. UNLV is 18-12 and finished with a 7-7 record in the Mountain West (4th place). The Runnin Rebels advanced to the MWC Tournament before losing to Utah, 73-70. Wisconsin-Milwaukee is 19-10 and was 13-3 in the Horizon League, winning the regular season title. The Panthers lost to Illinois-Chicago in the finals of the Horizon League Tournament, 65-62. Utah State is 25-3 and was the Big Wests regular season co-champion with a 17-1 mark. The Aggies lost to Cal State-Northridge in the semifinals of the Big West Tournament, 63-62. Utah State becomes a member of the WAC on July 1, 2005.

NEVADA WINS MCCAFFREY WAC TOURNAMENT Nevada won its first WAC tournament title beating UTEP in the championship game, 66-60. The Wolf Pack are in their fourth year in the WAC and played in the title game in 2003 coming up short against host Tulsa, 75-64. Nevada opened the tournament by beating SMU in the quarterfinals, 75-60, and Rice in the semifinals, 67-59.

ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM Nevada placed two players on the WACs all-tournament team as selected by the media in attendance. Wolf Pack teammates Kirk Snyder and Todd Okeson were joined by three UTEP players, Omar Thomas, Filiberto Rivera and Jason Williams. Snyder was named the tournament MVP after averaging 17.7 points, 9.0 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 1.0 steals and 1.0 blocks per game in the three contests. He had a double-double in the championship game against UTEP with 14 rebounds and 11 points.

ATTENDANCE The mens tournament was attended by 30,241 fans during the five sessions (6,048/session). The title game drew 6,158 to the Save Mart Center in Fresno, Calif.

FIVE TEAMS IN TOP 75 The WAC has five teams ranked in the top 75 in CollegeRPI.coms most recent rankings. Nevada is 29th, followed by UTEP at 46th, Rice at 63rd, Boise State at 72nd and Hawaii at 73rd. Three conferences ranked above the WAC in overall RPI have less than five teams ranked in the top 75: Big Ten (4), Pac-10 (3) and Mountain West (3).

FIVE WITH 20? Boise State, Nevada, Rice and UTEP have all reached 20 wins while Hawaii has 19. The last time the WAC had five 20-win teams came in 1998-99 when it was a 16-team conference. The WAC has never had five 20-win teams in the six previous seasons as a 10-team conference, but did have five with 20 twice as a nine-team league.

UTEP HAS NATIONS BIGGEST IMPROVEMENT After a 6-24 record last year, UTEP is 24-7 this season. The 17.5-game improvement is the best ever in the nation since the NCAA began keeping track in 1974. Last year, Mercer had a 17-game improvement (6-23 to 23-6), setting the current record.

MILLSAP LEADS NATION IN REBOUNDING Freshman forward Paul Millsap is averaging 12.5 rebounds per game, the best of any player in the nation. No WAC player has ever led the nation in rebounding. Millsap has had at least eight rebounds in every game this year and 10 or more in 23 of his 30 contests.

NEVADA AND UTEP TIE FOR REGULAR SEASON TITLE Both Nevada and UTEP finished the WAC season with identical 13-5 records to earn a share of the regular season title. Its the first regular season conference title for Nevada since 1985 (Big Sky) and the first for the Miners since 1992 when it tied Brigham Young with a 12-4 record. Nevada won the tiebreaker to earn the top seed in the 2004 McCaffrey WAC Basketball Tournament.

ALL-WAC TEAMS ANNOUNCED The 2004 all-WAC teams as voted upon by the coaches were announced on Sunday. Nevada junior guard/forward Kirk Snyder was named the Player of the Year. Louisiana Tech forward Paul Millsap garnered Freshman of the Year honors and UTEP head coach Billy Gillispie was named the Don Haskins Coach of the Year. The complete list of teams can be found later in this release.

KUEBLER, PARKER NAMED ACADEMIC ALL-AMERICANS Hawaii senior guard Michael Kuebler was named a first team Academic All-American by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). Tulsa senior guard Jason Parker earned second team honors. Kuebler is second in the WAC in scoring with 18.0 points per game and has a 3.67 GPA in Business Administration. Parker averaged 16.9 points per contest with a 3.52 GPA in Management Information Systems. It was the second straight year Parker had been named an Academic All-American as he was on the third team last year. Both players were named to the Academic All-District teams earlier in the season along with SMUs Eric Castro.

USBWA ALL-DISTRICT TEAMS Rice juniors Michael Harris and Jason McKrieth and UTEP junior Filiberto Rivera were named all-District 7 by the United State Basketball Writers of America (USBWA). UTEPs Billy Gillispie was named the Coach of the Year in that district as well. In District 8, Nevada junior Kirk Snyder was named the Player of the Year. Hawaii senior Michael Kuebler earned all-District 9 honors.

NABC ALL-DISTRICT TEAMS The National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) announced its All-District teams and six WAC players received recognition, including four on first teams: Paul Millsap, Fr., F, Louisiana Tech; Michael Harris, Jr., F, Rice; Bryan Hopkins, So., G, SMU; and Kirk Snyder, Jr., F, Nevada. The WAC had two second team all-district selections in Jason McKrieth (Rice) and Michael Kuebler (Hawaii). Rice head coach Willis Wilson was named the District 9 Coach of the Year.

1,000-POINT SCORERS The WAC has nine players that have scored at least 1,000 points in their collegiate careers. The following list contains those players, their totals and where they rank in school history: Jason Parker, Sr., G, Tulsa (1,401-10th); Roy Smallwood, Sr., F, UTEP (1,372-6th); Michael Harris, Jr., F, Rice (1,364-8th); Kirk Snyder, Jr., G, Nevada (1,346-7th); Garry Hill-Thomas, Sr., G, Nevada (1,312-8th); Phil Martin, Sr., F, Hawaii (1,214-8th); Bryan Defares, Sr., G, Boise State (1,054-13th); Jason McKrieth, Jr., G, Rice (1,067-23rd); and Booker Nabors, Sr., G/F, Boise State (1,016-15th). Hawaiis Michael Kuebler (918) and SMUs Patrick Simpson (918) are next on the list.

HOME SWEET HOME The WACs 10 teams are a combined 98-50 (.662) at home so far this season. On the road, the WAC is 51-76 (.402). In conference only games, the home teams were 56-34 (.622).

ROAD WARRIORS In all games, the WAC has two teams with winning road records this season. Boise State is 10-4 and UTEP is 6-5. In conference games only, Fresno State, Boise State and UTEP all finished with 5-4 records.

PACK, OWLS OWN LONGEST HOME WINNING STREAKS The longest current home winning streak in the WAC is 15 by Nevada, the only team in the conference with an unblemished home record this season. The streak is tied for the ninth longest in the nation. UTEPs eight-game home winning streak is the second longest in the WAC. In conference home games only, Nevada has the WACs longest winning streak at nine straight.

DOUBLE LEADERS Six of the WAC schools feature players that lead their teams in two of three categories (points, rebounds and assists):

Shantay Legans, Sr., G, Fresno State (15.0 ppg, 5.6 apg)
Paul Millsap, Fr., F/C, Louisiana Tech (15.6 ppg, 12.5 rpg)
Michael Harris, Jr., F, Rice (17.7 ppg, 8.9 rpg)
Eric Walton, Sr., C, San Jose State (11.8 ppg, 6.5 rpg)
Bryan Hopkins, So., G, SMU (17.7 ppg, 3.8 apg)
Jason Parker, Sr., G, Tulsa (16.9 ppg, 2.9 apg)

HAWAII TOP TEAM OVER FOUR YEARS Over the last four seasons, Hawaii is 82-43 (.656), the best record of any WAC team since 2000-01. In conference games, Fresno State won 45 games, the most in that same time period. The top five teams in winning percentage over the last four seasons:

Overall Record (Pct.) WAC Record (Pct.)
1. Hawaii 82-43 (.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 68-53 (.562) 4. *Louisiana Tech 31-23 (.574)
5. Louisiana Tech 66-52 (.559) 5. Nevada 36-34 (.514)

*Louisiana Tech is in its third season in the WAC

NON-CONFERENCE MARK The WAC is 66-37 (.641) in non-conference games this season, including a 55-36 (.604) mark against Division I teams. Last year, 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).

2005 WAC BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT The 2005 WAC Tournament will be played at Nevadas Lawlor Events Center, March 8-12.

WAC ON ESPN/SPORTSWEST The WAC has a multi-year contract with both ESPN and SportsWest for coverage of WAC football and basketball. SportsWest produced 16 WAC mens basketball games including the 2004 McCaffrey WAC Tournament quarterfinals and semifinals. These games were available in the markets of the competing teams and on ESPNs Full Court package. ESPN and ESPN2 televised nine WAC games including the title game of the 2004 McCaffrey WAC Tournament.

WAC ADDS NEW MEXICO STATE, UTAH STATE On Oct. 23, 2003, the WAC issued invitations to New Mexico State and Utah State effective July 1, 2005, the same date that Rice, SMU and Tulsa are moving to Conference USA. In mens basketball, Utah State is 25-3 and is ranked 25th and 22nd in this weeks AP and coaches polls, respectively. Utah State is hosting Hawaii in the opening round of this years NIT. New Mexico State was 13-14 on the season.

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

Boise State - has its first 20-win season since it went 21-8 in 1998-99 ... has won 10 of its last 12 games ... won 12 WAC games, one shy of its combined total in its first two years in the league ... after missing seven games, junior Jermaine Blackburn, the Broncos leading scorer, returned for the WAC Tournament and averaged 7.0 points in an average of 14.5 minutes of playing time ... is 5-3 in games decided by five points or less ... has won a WAC-high 10 road games this season, setting a new school record.

Fresno State - finished the regular season with an 8-8 home record and a 6-6 road mark before losing at home in the quarterfinals of the WAC Tournament ... was 3-8 in games decided by five points or less ... lost nine games at home for the first time since the 1989-90 season when it lost 10 contests ... leads the WAC in scoring defense allowing 61.8 points per game ... senior Shantay Legans leads the WAC in assists with 5.6 per game ... Legans came out with two minutes left in the Bulldogs final game, snapping a streak of 441 consecutive minutes played ... Fresno State allowed 53.9 points per game in its 14 victories and 68.9 points per game in its 15 losses.

Hawaii - is one win shy of its second 20-win season in three years ... has won 32 straight games when scoring 80 or more points ... lost more home games (3) this year than it did in the previous two seasons combined (2) ... senior Michael Kuebler has scored 20 or more points in 14 games this season ... senior Haim Shimonovich has 140 blocked shots in his career, the most in the WAC by any active player, but has not blocked a shot in seven games ... Phil Martin has started 100 consecutive games, the longest current streak in the WAC ... Martin has played 124 games, breaking the old school record of 120 set by Phil Lott (1988-92) ... Hawaii has won 51 of its last 56 games in Honolulu (91.1 percent) ... head coach Riley Wallace is in his 17th year with UH, the second longest stint in WAC history behind UTEPs Don Haskins (30 years) ... his 151 conference wins trails only Haskins 262 victories.

Louisiana Tech - freshman Paul Millsap led the WAC in double-doubles with 20 this season and also leads the WAC in rebounding (12.5 rpg) and blocked shots (1.7 bpg) ... he had 18 rebounds in a first round game against San Jose State in the WAC Tournament, one shy of tying the tournament record ... he is first in the nation in rebounding ... no WAC player has ever led the nation in rebounding and only one freshman has ever done it as Kenny Miller of Loyola (Ill.) performed the feat during the 1987-88 season ... Millsap is on pace to become the first WAC player to average 12 rebounds per game since San Diego States Michael Cage pulled down 12.6 boards per contest during the 1983-84 season ... Millsap was named a second team selection to Rivals.com All-Freshman team ... Louisiana Tech leads the WAC in rebounding margin at +7.0 per game ... Tech has not allowed its opponents to score 100 points in a game for 309 contests, the longest such streak in the WAC ... the Bulldogs are 19-2 in non-conference home games under head coach Keith Richard.

Nevada - has 20 wins for the first time since the 1996-97 season when it was 21-10 ... has won 14 of its last 16 games ... its 23 wins are the most since a 25-8 season in 1945-46 ... junior forward Kirk Snyder leads the WAC in scoring with 18.7 points per game ... he has scored 20 or more points in 15 games this season ... Snyder has scored in double figures in 30-of-31 games this season (including a current 24-game streak, the longest active run in the WAC) and 75-of-81 in his career ... freshman Nick Fazekas leads the team in three-point field goal percentage (.367) ... senior Todd Okeson leads the WAC in free throw shooting (.857) ... is 22-0 when leading at the half ... won its first game when trailing at halftime in the championship game of the WAC Tournament and is now 1-8 in that situation ... outscored its opponents by 16.6 points per game at home and was the only team in the WAC to win all of its home games this season (15) ... its 15-game home winning streak is a Division I school record.

Rice - has recorded its first 20-win season under head coach Willis Wilson and first since the 1991-92 season (20-11) ... its the sixth 20-win season in school history ... has back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since recording five straight from 1990-91 to 1994-95 ... Jason McKrieth had a school-record 38 consecutive free throws made at one point during the month of January ... in WAC games only, he led the league, making 90.2 percent of his tries (83-of-92) ... senior Rashid Smith leads the WAC in steals with 1.9 per game ... Smith is the WACs active career leader in assists with 338 ... junior Michael Harris has scored 20 or more points in 13 games this season ... Harris leads the WAC in field goal percentage (.606).

San Jose State - lost 20 of its last 21 games, including seven in a row ... Marquin Chandler scored 21 points against Louisiana Tech in the first round loss of the WAC Tournament, his second 20-point game in his last three contests ... Chandler averaged 14.8 points per game over his last 15 contests ... Eric Walton averaged 11.8 points per game, the only Spartan to average double figures in scoring for the whole season ... was the only team in the WAC to not win a road game this year (0-12) and has lost 14 straight on the road dating back to last year ... leads the WAC in field goal percentage defense in non-conference games (.375), but was last in the WAC in that stat in conference games (.484) ... SJSU has not scored 100 points in a game since beating Utah State, 101-85, on Jan. 25, 1979 (715 games).

SMU - sophomore Bryan Hopkins scored 30 points in a first round game of the WAC Tournament, the most by any player in a WAC tournament game this season ... played a WAC-high 13 games decided by five points or less and was 4-9 in those contests (1-7 in conference games) ... has won 33 of its last 34 games when holding an opponent to less than 60 points ... has lost six games in which it led at the half, tied for the most in the WAC this season.

UTEP - has won 12 of its last 15 games ... won 13 conference games, seven more than the combined total of the last two seasons ... had its 22-game winning streak when leading at the half snapped in the WAC Tournament championship game against Nevada ... had eight sellouts (12,000) this season ... is the only team in the WAC that has made more free throws (594) than its opponents have attempted (539) ... the Miners have attempted 222 more free throws than its opponents ... is the only school in the WAC to not lose back-to-back games this year ... is averaging a WAC-best 77.3 points per game ... has scored at least 100 points in three games this season, tying a school record set in 2000-01 ... senior Chris Craig leads the WAC in three-point field goal percentage (.429) ... Craig has made a three-point field goal in 27 straight games, breaking the record of 20 set by Eddie Rivera during the 1992-93 season and tied by Carl Davis the following year ... senior Roy Smallwood is the WACs active career leader in rebounds (754) ... of the 71 Division I teams which won 10 or less games a year ago, none have a better winning percentage this season than the Miners (.774) ... has won 18 more games than last year, setting a new school record ... the old record of 12 was set when the 1964-65 Miners were 16-9 and the following year, UTEP was 28-1 and the national champions.

Tulsa - lost six games in which it led at the half, tied for the most in the WAC this season ... senior guard Jason Parker finished his career as the WACs active career leader in points (1,401), field goal attempts (1,162), three-point field goals made (163), three-point field goals attempted (439), steals (166) and games played (133) ... Parker scored 20 or more points in 10 games this season ... Tulsa is 71-18 (.798) at the Reynolds Center, the best winning percentage at home of any WAC team in its current arena ... had its five-year streak of winning at least 20 games snapped this season ... every season that Tulsa has won 20 games, it has either played in the NCAA Tournament or won the NIT Championship.