United Athletic Conference

Other nominations Other player of the week nominations included:
Bryan Defares, Sr., G/F, Boise State - scored 18 points and grabbed six rebounds in Boise States win over UTEP. He also added two assists, two steals and was 7-of-8 from the free throw line.
Kirk Snyder, Jr., G, Nevada - averaged 21.0 points and 6.5 rebounds in wins over Hawaii and San Jose State. Against the Rainbow Warriors, he scored a game-high 23 points. For the week, he was 15-of-31 from the field (.484) and added six assists, five steals and two blocks.
Bryan Hopkins, So., G, SMU - averaged 23.5 points in two games last week. He had 20 points in the win at Tulsa and added 27 versus Rice on Saturday. In the two games combined, he was 16-of-31 from the field (.516) and 8-of-19 from three-point range (.421).
Guilherme Teichmann, Jr., F, Tulsa - averaged 15.5 points and 7.0 rebounds while shooting .708 from the field in two games last week. Against Louisiana Tech, he scored a career-high 24 points and added 10 rebounds for his second double-double of his career.

NEVADA WINS SHARE OF WAC TITLE AND TOP SEED Nevada beat San Jose State on Saturday night, 74-45, and coupled with Boise States win over UTEP, the Pack earned a share of the WACs regular season title and the number one seed in this weeks McCaffrey WAC Basketball Tournament. Its the first regular season conference title for Nevada since 1985 (Big Sky).

UTEP TIES FOR WAC TITLE The UTEP Miners capped a spectacular turnaround season by earning a share of the WAC title with a 13-5 record. UTEP was 6-24 last season and is 22-6 this year. Its the Miners first regular season championship since the 1991-92 season when it tied Brigham Young with a 12-4 record.

SPORTSWEST AND ESPN2 TO TELEVISE TOURNAMENT SportsWest will produce and distribute the six mens quarterfinal and semifinal games of the 2004 McCaffrey WAC Tournament on March 11 and 12. The games will be distributed on both a local and regional basis as well as to ESPNs Full Court Package. In additionl, ESPN2 will nationally televise the mens championship game on March 13 at 6:00 p.m. (PT).

FIVE TEAMS IN TOP 75 The WAC has five teams ranked in the top 75 in CollegeRPI.coms most recent rankings. Nevada is 37th, followed by UTEP at 46th, Hawaii at 63rd, Rice at 65th and Boise State at 73rd. The Pac-10 has only one in the top 75, while the Mountain West has three.

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.

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 18.1 points per game and has a 3.67 GPA in Business Administration. Parker is averaging 17.0 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.

UTEP TIED FOR BIGGEST IMPROVEMENT After a 6-24 record last year, UTEP is 22-6 this season. The 17-game improvement is currently tied for 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 12.3 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 21 of his 28 contests.

TOP-SHOOTING MINERS UTEP leads the WAC in all three shooting categories this year. The Miners are shooting 48.3 percent from the field, 75.2 percent from the free throw line and 38.8 percent from three-point range. After having this feat happen once prior to the 2001-02 season, this would mark the third straight year a WAC team has led the conference in all three categories as Tulsa accomplished it in 2001-02 and Rice performed the trifecta last year.

SIX NAMED TO 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).

SPORTSWEST TELEVISING WAC GAMES The WAC has 16 games that will be produced by SportsWest and shown in the competing teams local markets while some will also be on ESPNs Full Court package. SportsWest will be televising all four mens quarterfinal and semifinal games this week at the McCaffrey WAC Basketball Tournament.

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 (1,387-12th); Roy Smallwood, Sr., F, UTEP (1,346-6th); Michael Harris, Jr., F, Rice (1,321-11th); Garry Hill-Thomas, Sr., G, Nevada (1,293-7th); Kirk Snyder, Jr., G, Nevada (1,293-7th); Phil Martin, Sr., F, Hawaii (1,210-8th); Bryan Defares, Sr., G, Boise State (1,028-14th); Jason McKrieth, Jr., G, Rice (1,028-25th); and Booker Nabors, Sr., G/F, Boise State (1,002-15th). Hawaiis Michael Kuebler (903) is next on the list.

HOME SWEET HOME The WACs 10 teams are a combined 98-49 (.667) at home so far this season. On the road, the WAC is 50-76 (.397). In conference only games, the home teams are 56-34 (.622). Last week, home teams were 6-3 with SMU, Louisiana Tech and Rice picking up road wins at Tulsa, Rice and SMU, respectively.

ROAD WARRIORS In all games, the WAC has two teams with winning road records this season. Boise State is 9-4 and UTEP is 6-5. In conference games only, Fresno State, Boise State and UTEP and 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. The Pack closed out the regular season with home wins against Hawaii and San Jose State this past week. 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 (15.2 ppg, 5.6 apg)
Paul Millsap, Fr., F/C, Louisiana Tech (15.5 ppg, 12.3 rpg)
Michael Harris, Jr., F, Rice (17.5 ppg, 9.1 rpg)
Eric Walton, Sr., C, San Jose State (12.0 ppg, 6.7 rpg)
Bryan Hopkins, So., G, SMU (17.1 ppg, 3.8 apg)
Jason Parker, Sr., G, Tulsa (17.0 ppg, 2.9 apg)

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).

HAWAII TOP TEAM OVER FOUR YEARS Over the last four seasons, Hawaii is 82-42 (.661), the best record of any WAC team since 2000-01. In conference games, Fresno State has 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 82-42 (.661) 1. Fresno State 45-25 (.643)
2. Tulsa 85-47 (.644) 2. Hawaii 43-27 (.614)
3. Fresno State 79-44 (.642) 3. Tulsa 42-28 (.600)
4. Louisiana Tech 65-51 (.560) 4. *Louisiana Tech 31-23 (.574)
5. Nevada 65-53 (.551) 5. Nevada 36-34 (.514)

*Louisiana Tech is in its third season in the WAC

2004 McCAFFREY WAC BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT The 2004 WAC McCaffrey WAC Basketball Tournament will be held March 9-13 at the Save Mart Center in Fresno, Calif. 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 9. The remaining eight teams will all play in the quarterfinals on Thursday, March 11 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. 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. A minimum of 14 games between the two networks are scheduled this season.

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 25-2 and was ranked 21st and 23rd last week in the AP and coaches polls, respectively. New Mexico State is 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 nine of its last 10 games ... has a six-game winning streak, currently the longest in the WAC ... is 7-0 all-time in home afternoon WAC games after beating UTEP last week ... won 12 WAC games, one shy of its combined total in its first two years in the league ... junior Jermaine Blackburn played one minute of the UTEP game after being sidelined since Feb. 7 ... is 5-3 in games decided by five points or less ... has won a WAC-high nine road games this season, tying the school record set in 1987-88 and matched in 1998-99.

Fresno State - finished the regular season with an 8-8 home record and a 6-6 road mark ... has won two games in a row after losing five of its previous six ... the two-game winning streak is its first since a seven-game streak that was snapped in mid-January ... is 3-8 in games decided by five points or less ... has lost eight games at home for the first time since the 1989-90 season when it lost 10 contests ... scored a season-high 81 points in the win over San Jose State ... leads the WAC in scoring defense allowing 61.4 points per game ... Mustafa Al-Sayyad scored a career-high 24 points in the win over Hawaii ... Al-Sayyad is averaging 15.2 points and 8.4 rebounds over the last five games ... senior Shantay Legans leads the WAC in assists with 5.6 per game ... Legans could become the first person in WAC history to lead the conference in assists while playing for the lowest scoring team in the league since assist records began being kept during the 1976-77 season ... Legans has played 403 consecutive minutes for the Bulldogs ... Fresno State is allowing 53.9 points per game in its 14 victories and 68.8 points per game in its 14 losses ... plays in the brand new Save Mart Center (home of this years 2004 McCaffrey WAC Basketball Tournament) after posting a 406-136 (.749) in 37 seasons at Selland Arena.

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 ... had his 22-game double figure scoring streak snapped against Fresno State on Saturday when he scored just nine points ... the streak had been the longest active run in the WAC ... 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 six games ... Phil Martin has started 99 consecutive games, the longest current streak in the WAC ... Martin has played 123 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 - has lost three of its last four games ... freshman Paul Millsap leads the WAC in double-doubles with 18 this season and also leads the WAC in rebounding (12.3 rpg) and blocked shots (1.7 bpg) ... 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 ... Tech leads the WAC in rebounding margin at +7.2 per game ... Tech has not allowed its opponents to score 100 points in a game for 307 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 11 of its last 13 games ... its 20 wins are the most under head coach Trent Johnson ... junior forward Kirk Snyder leads the WAC in scoring with 18.8 points per game ... he has scored 20 or more points in 13 games this season ... Snyder has scored in double figures in 27-of-28 games this season (including a current 21-game streak, the longest active run in the WAC) and 72-of-78 in his career ... freshman Nick Fazekas leads the team in three-point field goal percentage (.386) ... is 20-0 when leading at the half and 0-8 when trailing ... has outscored its opponents by 16.6 points per game at home and is 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 ... head coach Trent Johnson has a record of 74-73, the first time he has been over the .500 mark since winning the first game of his career.

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 leads the WAC in free throw percentage (.862) ... he had a school-record 38 consecutive free throws made at one point during the month of January ... in WAC games only, he leads the league, making 90.2 percent of his tries (83-of-92) ... Rashid Smith is the WACs active career leader in assists with 327 ... junior Michael Harris has scored 20 or more points in 12 games this season ... Harris leads the WAC in field goal percentage (.604).

San Jose State - has lost 19 of its last 20 games, including six in a row ... Eric Walton is averaging 12.0 points per game, the only Spartan to average double figures in scoring ... is 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 is 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 (714 games).

SMU - has lost five of its last six games ... has played a WAC-high 13 games decided by five points or less and is 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 after beating Tulsa last Thursday, 64-56 ... has lost six games in which it led at the half, tied for the most in the WAC this season.

UTEP - has won 10 of its last 12 games ... won 13 conference games, seven more than the combined total of the last two seasons ... is 19-0 when leading at the half ... had eight sellouts (12,000) this season ... is the only team in the WAC that has made more free throws (542) than its opponents have attempted (476) ... the Miners have attempted 217 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 78.2 points per game ... has scored at least 100 points in three games this season, tying a school record set in 2000-01 ... junior Filiberto Rivera leads the WAC in steals with 1.93 per game ... senior Chris Craig leads the WAC in three-point field goal percentage (.424) ... Craig has made a three-point field goal in 24 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 (741) ... 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 (.786) ... has won 16 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 - after losing its first 12 games when trailing at the half, Tulsa has won two straight ... has lost six games in which it led at the half, tied for the most in the WAC this season ... senior guard Jason Parker is the WACs active career leader in points (1,387), field goal attempts (1,154), three-point field goals made (162), three-point field goals attempted (436), steals (165) and games played (132) ... Parker has 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.