NATIONAL RANKINGS ? Nevada is ranked 24th in the AP poll and 25th in the ESPN/USA Today coaches’ poll. It’s the second straight year that Nevada has begun the season ranked in the top 25. New Mexico State also recieved a vote in the coaches’ poll.
FAZEKAS NAMED TO WOODEN AWARD WATCH LIST ? For the second straight year, Nevada forward Nick Fazekas has been named as one of the top 50 preseason candidates for the men’s Wooden Award. The Wooden Watch List is comprised of 50 student athletes who, based on last year’s individual performance and team records, are the early frontrunners for college basketball’s most coveted trophy.
IDAHO NAMES NEW COACH ? Of the nine WAC schools, only Idaho begins this season with a new coach. George Pfeifer was promoted to the head position after serving one year as an assistant with the Vandals. He previously was the head coach at Lewis-Clark State College where he compiled a 296-208 record over 16 seasons.
TOP PLAYERS RETURNING ? The WAC returns seven of the 10 players that were named to last year’s all-WAC first and second-teams. Senior forward Nick Fazekas (Nevada) and junior forward Tyrone Nelson (New Mexico State) were both first-team selections. All five second-teamers return: Coby Karl, Sr., G, Boise State; Ja’Vance Coleman, Sr., G, Fresno State; Quinton Hosley, Sr., F, Fresno State; Elijah Ingram, Sr., G, New Mexico State; and Jaycee Carroll, Jr., G, Utah State. All five members of the all-newcomer team also return from last year: Hosley; Ingram; Nelson; Ahmet Gueye, Sr., F, Hawai?i; and Matt Lojeski, Sr., G, Hawai?i. Gueye is the only returning member from last year’s all-defensive team. Hawai?i’s Dominic Waters was last year’s WAC Freshman of the Year.
STAT LEADERS BACK ? Statistically, six of the top 10 scorers return for the 2006-07 season. Nevada’s Nick Fazekas was first in the WAC in scoring last year (for the second straight season) with a 21.8 point per game average. Others in the top 10 coming back are Quinton Hosley, Fresno State (18.6-3rd); Tyrone Nelson, New Mexico State (17.8-4th); Ja’Vance Coleman, Fresno State (17.5-6th); Coby Karl, Boise State (17.2-8th); and Jaycee Carroll, Utah State (16.3-9th). Fazekas is the leading returning rebounder with a 10.4 rpg average last season (2nd in the WAC) and Fresno State’s Kevin Bell returns after leading the WAC in assists with 5.9 per game.
1,000-POINT SCORERS ? The WAC has two players that have scored more than 1,000 points in their collegiate careers returning this season: Nevada forward Nick Fazekas (1,812); and Boise State guard Coby Karl (1,240). Fresno State’s Ja’Vance Coleman enters the season with 997 career points while Utah State’s Jaycee Carroll has 991.
NEVADA OWNS WAC’S LONGEST HOME WINNING STREAK ? Nevada extended its home winning streak to nine in a row following the 2006 WAC Tournament. The Wolf Pack also have the longest home winning streak in WAC games only at five straight.
FAZEKAS NAMED PRESEASON PLAYER OF THE YEAR ? In a vote by the WAC’s head coaches and media, Nevada senior forward Nick Fazekas was picked as the league’s preseason Player of the Year. Last season, Fazekas led the WAC in scoring with 21.8 points per game and also pulled down 10.4 rebounds per contest. He helped lead the Wolf Pack to a 27-6 record and a spot in the NCAA Tournament.
UTAH STATE/NEVADA TOP TEAM OVER LAST FOUR YEARS ? Over the last four seasons, Utah State was 96-30 (.762), the best record of any WAC team during that time. In conference games, Nevada won 53 games, the most in that same time period.
NEW MEXICO STATE TO HOST 2007 AND 2008 WAC TOURNAMENTS ? Las Cruces and New Mexico State University will be the host for both the 2007 and 2008 WAC Tournaments. The 2007 tournament will be held March 6-10 and will feature all nine men’s and women’s teams.
NEVADA WINS 2006 WAC TOURNAMENT ? For the second time in three years, Nevada won the WAC Tournament after beating Utah State, 70-63, in overtime in the title game. It was the third time that the WAC championship game had ever gone into overtime. Nevada opened the 2006 tournament by beating Idaho in the quarterfinals, 68-55, and New Mexico State in the semifinals, 70-59. The Wolf Pack also won the 2004 tournament.
WAC ON ESPN ? The WAC has a multi-year contract with ESPN for coverage of WAC football and basketball. Four games have been scheduled so far while others could be added during the season.
BRACKETBUSTERS ? For the fifth year in a row, the WAC has partnered with ESPN and several other top college basketball conferences for BracketBusters, a weekend men’s basketball event matching potential NCAA tournament hopefuls against each other. All nine WAC teams will be involved in this year’s pool of teams. The event will be held February 16-17, and ESPN2 and ESPNU will present 11 games. The match-ups for BracketBusters will be determined by ESPN in conjunction with the conferences about three weeks before the event.
NEVADA, UTAH STATE FALL IN FIRST ROUND NCAA TOURNAMENT GAMES ? Nevada took the nation’s second longest winning streak at 14 games into the NCAA Tournament but fell in the first round, 87-79, to Montana. The Wolf Pack were the No. 5 seed in their region, it’s highest in school history and the highest for a WAC team since Utah was a No. 2 seed in 1999. Sophomore Marcelus Kemp scored a career-high 34 points while Nick Fazekas added 24 and pulled down 12 rebounds. Nevada made just 10 trips to the free throw line (making eight), while Montana was 23-of-27 from the charity stripe. It was the Wolf Pack’s third consecutive trip to the tournament. Utah State made its second straight appearance, but the No. 12 Aggies lost to No. 5 Washington, 75-61. Jaycee Carroll scored 21 points while Nate Harris added 19 and pulled down 14 rebounds. Utah State scored just 20 points in the first half, making 7-of-21 shots from the field. The Aggies also committted 21 turnovers in the game, a season-most.
NEVADA ONE SHY OF SCHOOL RECORD ? Nevada finished last season with a 27-6 record, one win shy of tying the school record for wins set in 1945-46 (28-5). The Wolf Pack have improved their number of wins in six of the last seven years. The only year they did not increase their number of wins was the 2004-05 season when it matched its total of 25 from the year before. Nevada has posted three straight seasons of 25 or more victories.
NEW MEXICO STATE IMPROVES ? New Mexico State finished last season with a 16-14 record, 10 wins more than what the Aggies had the previous year (6-24). The 10-win improvement was tied for the fifth best in the nation. South Alabama led the nation with a 12.5-game improvement, while Brigham Young and Memphis tied for second with an 11.5-game improvement followed by San Diego State (11.0).
UTAH STATE THIRD IN THE NATION IN FIELD GOAL PERCENTAGE ? Utah State finished the season ranked third nationally in field goal percentage at .498. The Aggies led the nation in field goal percentage during the 2004-05 season at .525.
SHARP-SHOOTING AGGIES ? Utah State led the WAC in all three shooting categories last year. The Aggies shot 49.8 percent from the field, 72.2 percent from the free throw line and 40.1 percent from three-point range. After having this feat happen once in the history of the WAC prior to the 2001-02 season, this marked the fourth time in five seasons that a WAC team has performed the trifecta.
HOME SWEET HOME ? The WAC’s nine teams were a combined 93-40 (.699) at home last season. On the road and in neutral site games, the WAC was 49-91 (.350).
NON-CONFERENCE MARK ? The WAC was 63-52 (.548) in non-conference games, including a 57-52 (.523) 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).
TEAM-BY-TEAM NOTES
Boise State Broncos (0-0, 0-0 WAC)
The Broncos were the only WAC team to reach 100 points in the exhibition season and did so twice with 103 points in both games ... in its 103-62 exhibition win over Western Oregon, the Broncos had 14 players score at least six points led by junior G/F Tyler Tiedeman’s game-high 17 ... F Matt Nelson led the Broncos with 19 points and 11 rebounds in the 103-51 win over Cascade College ... Nelson, a junior, is a transfer from Eastern Washington ... is one of three teams in the WAC that return all five starters from last season ... senior guard Coby Karl has started 68 consecutive games, the second longest current streak in the WAC ... is 21-1 when scoring 80 or more points under head coach Greg Graham.
Fresno State Bulldogs (0-0, 0-0 WAC)
In its 91-59 exhibition win over Cal State Los Angeles, all five starters scored in double figures led by senior G Ja’Vance Coleman’s 21 points ... trailed 39-35 after shooting 19 percent from the floor against Fresno Pacific before going on to win 63-54 in the second exhibition game ... Coleman again led the team with 17 points ... the Bulldogs are one of three teams in the WAC that return all five starters from last season ... will host South Alabama on Saturday in the Fresno State Tournament ... the Jaguars were the most improved team in the nation last year after posting a 24-7 record ... senior G/F Quinton Hosley and Coleman have scored 20 or more points in the same game seven times ... Coleman needs three points to reach 1,000 for his career.
Hawai?i Warriors (0-0, 0-0 WAC)
Opens its season at UNLV tonight, its first season-opening road game since 1993 ... the game is a home-and-home series with the Runnin’ Rebels coming to Hawai?i on Dec. 5 ... UH took a 17-2 lead en route to an 83-50 win over Hawai?i-Hilo in the Warriors’ only exhibition game this season ... senior G Matt Lojeski scored a game-high 16 points ... senior F Ahmet Gueye missed the last two games last year due to an injury ... he led the WAC in blocks (2.5/game) and the team in rebounds last year ... in his first game back against Hawai?i-Hilo, he scored four points, pulled down eight rebounds and blocked two shots in 19 minutes ... UH has posted seven consecutive winning seasons ... has won seven straight OT games dating back to the 2002-03 season.
Idaho Vandals (0-0, 0-0 WAC)
Has 11 newcomers on its team this season ... faces North Dakota State on Friday, one of the four teams it beat last year ... defeated Cascade College 82-36 in its only exhibtion game of the year ... newcomer Michael Crowell, and junior forward, scored a game-high 21 points, making 5-of-8 three-point shots ... sophomore F Mitchell Johnson added 18 points, nine rebounds and four blocks ... lost 18 of its last 19 games last year ... has lost 18 straight road games ... is the only school in the WAC that has a new coach this year (George Pfeifer) ... has not allowed its opponents to score 100 points in a game for 431 contests, the longest such streak in the WAC ... has made a three-point field goal in 253 consecutive games (since Feb. 27, 1997).
Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (0-0, 0-0 WAC)
Is the only WAC team to not start this weekend ... the Bulldogs open the season next week at the Texas A&M Tournament against Saint Louis ... defeated Arkansas Tech, 89-47, in its only exhibition game this season ... freshman guard Kyle Gibson led the team with 17 points on 6-of-7 shooting ... sophomore F Adrian Rogers grabbed a team-high seven rebounds ... the Bulldogs will try to replace Paul Millsap who led the nation in rebounding in each of his first three seasons ... Millsap declared early for the NBA draft and was taken in the second round by the Utah Jazz ... he had nine rebounds on Wednesday against the New Jersey Nets.
Nevada Wolf Pack (0-0, 0-0 WAC)
Has won three straight WAC regular season titles ... in its only exhibition game of the season, Nevada beat Chico State, 93-77 ... junior G Marcelus Kemp scored 18 points while senior F Nick Fazekas added 11 points and 10 rebounds ... junior G Ramon Sessions dished out nine assists ... Fazekas was named the top senior in the nation by SI.com ... he has scored 20 or more points 47 times in his career and has scored in double figures in 30 straight games ... with 1,812 points, he is 65 shy of tying Edgar Jones for first on the school’s all-time scoring list ... has started 71 straight games, the longest such current streak in the WAC ... is one of three teams in the WAC that returns all five starters though senior F Demarshay Johnson is ineligible for the fall semester.
New Mexico State Aggies (0-0, 0-0 WAC)
Junior G/F Justin Hawkins scored 21 points in the Aggies’ 84-58 exhibition win over St. Mary’s (Texas) ... in the first exhibition game, Hawkins scored 24 points and pulled down 12 rebounds in the 87-65 win over Eastern New Mexico ... junior F Tyrone Nelson did not play in either game ... Nelson was a first-team all-WAC selection last year ... junior G Fred Peete was voted the WAC’s preseason Newcomer of the Year by the WAC media ... Peete is a transfer from Kansas State and scored 20 points in the first exhibition game against Eastern New Mexico ... the Aggies had 10 more wins in 2005-06 than all of the previous season (6-24), tied for the fifth biggest improvement by any team in the nation.
San Jose State Spartans (1-1, 0-0 WAC)
Had three players score in double figures in its 59-44 exhibition win over San Francisco State on Nov. 2 ... junior G Jamon Hill led the team with 14 points, junior F Harry Brown had 13 and sophomore F Tim Pierce added 10 points ... Pierce and junior F Lance Holloway each pulled down nine rebounds ... the Spartans led 37-22 at the half, but were played evenly in the second half (22-22) as they shot just 5-of-20 from the field ... has 10 newcomers on its roster this season ... lost 13 of its last 14 games, including nine in a row, to end the season last year ... has posted six victories in each of the past three seasons ... has not scored 100 points in a game since beating Utah State, 101-85, on Jan. 25, 1979 (775 games).
Utah State Aggies (0-0, 0-0 WAC)
Has won its last 12 season-openers ... ... is 33-7 in its first five games over the past eight years ... junior G Jaycee Carroll needs just nine points to reach 1,000 for his career ... was the only WAC school to lose an exhibition game this year when it lost to EA Sports, 67-60, on Nov. 1 ... rebounded with an 85-39 win over Occidental College ... junior F Michael Earl scored a team-high 17 points in just 14 minutes of play ... the Aggies have participated in the postseason in each of the past seven years (5 NCAAs, 2 NITs) ... is one of five teams across the country to win at least 23 games in each of the last seven years joining Duke, Gonzaga, Illinois and Kansas ... is 112-11 at home under head coach Stew Morrill.