PLAYER OF THE WEEK ? Boise State forward Reggie Larry has been named the Western Athletic Conference men’s basketball player of the week for Dec. 3-9. This is the second WAC Player of the Week honor this season for the senior.
Larry, a senior from Newark, N.J. (College of Southern Idaho), averaged 20 points with nine rebounds in the Broncos’ two games last week. He was 14-for-19 from the field and had 18 total rebounds. He also shot 73.7 percent from the field. On the road against Idaho State, Larry scored 19 points with six rebounds, while adding two steals and a block. At home against Loyola Marymount, the forward improved with 21 points and 12 rebounds. Larry is tied for first in the WAC with his teammate Matt Nelson with four double-doubles this season. The Broncos now lead the WAC with a 6-3 record.
The other nominations were senior guard Kevin Bell, Fresno State; senior guard Riley Luettgerodt, Hawai?i; senior guard Marcelus Kemp, Nevada; senior center Hatila Passos, New Mexico State and junior forward Gary Wilkinson, Utah State.
THIS WEEK IN THE WAC ? Fresno State has the difficult task of traveling to Tucson, Ariz. to take on No. 22 Arizona on Sunday, Dec. 16. The game can be seen on the Bulldog Sports Net. Nevada will host two games this week against San Diego and Central Florida. San Jose State and Utah State will both host games this week, while Idaho will travel to South Dakota State this week. Louisiana Tech looks to break a four-game losing streak this week with games against Arkansas Pine-Bluff and Centenary.
WAC STRIKES A DEAL WITH GREAT ALASKA SHOOTOUT ? Athletic director Dr. Steve Cobb announced Tuesday that the University of Alaska Anchorage Athletic Department has signed a scheduling agreement with the Western Athletic Conference for the Carrs/Safeway Great Alaska Shootout.
Under the 5-year deal, the WAC will send one men’s team per year to the prestigious college basketball tournament, starting with the 31st annual Shootout in 2008.
“This is a great opportunity for the WAC and its basketball programs,” said WAC commissioner Karl Benson. “This tournament has a national tradition that attracts top-caliber teams that we are excited to be a part of. We also appreciate the national attention that is delivered by the exposure from ESPN.”
The 2008 Shootout will be played Nov. 26-29 at Anchorage’s Sullivan Arena.
WAC ON ESPN ? The WAC has a multi-year contract with ESPN for coverage of WAC football and basketball. The complete television schedule will be available at a later date.
O’REILLY ESPNU BRACKETBUSTERS ? For the sixth year in a row, the WAC has partnered with ESPN and several other top college basketball conferences for the O’Reilly ESPNU BracketBusters, a weekend men’s basketball event matching potential NCAA tournament hopefuls against each other. All nine WAC teams will be a part of this year’s pool of teams. The event will be held February 22-24, and ESPN2 and ESPNU will present 11 games. The match-ups for Bracket Buster Saturday will be determined by ESPN in conjunction with the conferences about three weeks before the event.
NELSON AND CARROLL CANDIDATES FOR SENIOR AWARD ? Utah State’s Jaycee Carroll and Boise State’s Matt Nelson have been named two of 30 candidates for the 2007-08 Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award, which is presented annually to the NCAA Division I Student-Athlete of the Year, it was announced on Tuesday.
Carroll, a 6-2 senior guard from Evanston, Wyo., is the only player from the state of Utah to be selected for this award and one of just two candidates from the WAC. Nelson, a 6-9 senior forward from Issaquah, Wash., is first in the WAC in field goal percentage (.657). The senior is also seventh in the WAC in scoring, averaging 18.0 ppg.
Previous winners of the men’s award include Juan Dixon of Maryland (2002), David West of Xavier (2003), Jameer Nelson of St. Joseph’s (2004), Wayne Simien of Kansas (2005), J.J. Reddick of Duke (2006) and Alando Tucker of Wisconsin (2007).
CARROLL AND KEMP NAMED TO NAISMITH AND WOODEN WATCH LISTS ? Utah State’s Jaycee Carroll and Nevada’s Marcelus Kemp continue to receive national attention this fall and were recently named to the preseason watch list for the 2007-08 Naismith Trophy presented by AT&T, the Atlanta Tipoff Club announced. Last week, both were named one of 50 preseason candidates for the 2007-08 John R. Wooden Award.
The Naismith Trophy watch list, which consists of 50 players, was compiled by the Atlanta Tipoff Club’s Board of Selectors, which based its preseason criteria on player performances from last season and expectations for the 2007-08 season. There were 17 seniors and 17 juniors on the preseason list, along with 16 sophomores. The list does not include incoming freshmen, although those student-athletes will be considered in the first vote in January, 2008. The Naismith Trophy is the most prestigious national award presented annually to college basketball’s player of the year.
KEEPING TRACK OF COACH MORRILL ? With six wins thus far this year, Utah State head coach Stew Morrill is now 219-80 (.732) in his 10th year at USU and is just six wins shy of tying legendary coach E. Lowell Romney (1920-41) for the most wins in school history with 225. Coach Morrill is tied with H. Cecil Baker (1951-61) for the second-most games coached in USU history with 299.
DOUBLE TROUBLE ? Nevada has seen three different players turn in its three double-doubles this season. Most recently, senior Marcelus Kemp tallied his second career double-double with 20 points and a career-high-tying 12 rebounds Dec. 1 at Pacific. Sophomore JaVale McGee nabbed his first career double-double Nov. 24 at UNLV, matching his career best with 20 points and pulling down a career-high 13 rebounds, while senior Demarshay Johnson turned in his first career double-double with 12 points and a career-high 11 boards Nov. 13 at UC Irvine.
ON THE BOARDS ? The New Mexico State is dominating teams on the boards this season and out-rebounding their opponents by a 9.7 margin. NMSU have grabbed 173 offensive rebounds this year, which is an average of 15.7 per contest. Senior guard/forward Justin Hawkins, senior center Hatila Passos and freshman forward Wendell McKines all have over 75 rebounds this year. McKines leads the squad with 43 offensive boards. He leads the WAC in that category with 3.91 offensive rebounds per game and Passos ranks second as he contributes 3.45 offensive rebounds per contest as of Dec. 10.
NON-CONFERENCE REWIND ? This season, WAC schools are 33-41 (.446) in non-conference games. Last season at this time, the nine schools were 42-36 (.538). The WAC’s best record ever against non-conference opponents came during the 1974-75 season when it was 73-22 (.768).
CHANGE OF PLANS ? The December 15 non-conference men’s basketball game between San Jose State University and Northern Arizona University will be played at the De Anza College Gymnasium in Cupertino, Calif. Tip-off time for the contest now will be 7:30 p.m. (PST). The Event Center, the home of the Spartans, is not available due to fall semester graduation ceremonies taking place that day. Recently renovated Spartan Gym, the listed site for this contest, could not be adapted in time to handle the logistics of a NCAA basketball game.
2007-08 Television Schedule
Upcoming Games (All times local to playing site/Subject to change)
Date Game Time Outlet
12/11 Prairie View at NMSU 7:00 p.m. Aggie Vision
12/16 Fresno State at Arizona 7:00 p.m. Bulldog Sports Net
12/20 Utah Valley at Utah State 7:00 p.m. KJZZ-TV
12/22 Nevada at Northern Iowa 1:05 p.m. Wolfpack Sports Net
12/29 Fresno State at Stanford 7:00 p.m. Bulldog Sports Net
12/29 BYU at Boise State 7:00 p.m. KTVB-Boise
12/31 Alcorn St. at NMSU 1:00 p.m. Aggie Vision
WAC IN THE NCAA STATS ? Boise State is eighth in the nation in field-goal percentage (.516) behind first-place Santa Clara (.541). Utah State is also eighth in the nation in free-throw percentage (.775) behind IUPUI which is first (.800). Individually, Utah State’s Jaycee Carroll is 17th in the nation in field-goal percentage (.637), while Boise State’s Matt Nelson is 23rd (.622). Carroll is also 14th in the nation in free-throw percentage (.927). Nevada’s JaVale McGee is 15th in the country in blocked shots (3.0 bpg), while Kenny George of UNC Ashville is first averaging 6.5 bpg.
WAC TOURNAMENT TO RETURN TO RENO IN 2009 ? Western Athletic Conference commissioner Karl Benson announced that the WAC Board of Directors awarded the 2009 and 2010 WAC Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournaments to the University of Nevada and the Reno-Sparks Convention and Visitors Authority. The tournaments will be held in the 11,485-seat Lawlor Events Center, located on the campus of the University of Nevada.
The WAC tournaments were last held in Reno in 2006. The 2007 tournaments were held in Las Cruces, New Mexico at New Mexico State University, as will the 2008 tournaments before returning to Reno in 2009.
NEW MEXICO STATE TO HOST 2008 WAC TOURNAMENT ? Las Cruces and New Mexico State University will host the 2008 WAC Tournament, March 11-15. It will be the second year in a row that the event will be held at the Pan American Center. The tournament features all nine men’s and women’s teams.
SUPER SENIORS ? The WAC seniors are leading the way offensivley this season. Seven of the top 10 leading scorers in the league are seniors, while eight of the top 10 are upperclassmen. Utah State Jaycee Carroll leads the way, averaging 20.1 ppg. The guard is the only player in the WAC averaging over 20 ppg. Fresno State senior Kevin Bell is fifth in scoring (18.1 ppg) and first in assists (6.11 apg). There are is just one underclassman in the top 10 in scoring, Nevada sophomore JaVale McGee (13.7 ppg). New Mexico State’s Justin Hawkins is the only junior in the top 10. He is fourth in the league in scoring, averaging 18.2 ppg.
TEAM LEADERS ? The WAC has four schools with players who lead their team in two of three statistical categories (points-rebounds-assists). Idaho’s Jordan Brooks is the only player in the WAC to lead all three categories.
Reggie Larry, Sr., F, Boise State (18.7 ppg, 8.3 rpg)
Kevin Bell, Sr., G, Fresno State (18.1 ppg, 6.1 apg)
Bobby Nash, Sr., G/F, Hawai?i (17.0 ppg, 5.7 rpg)
Jordan Brooks, Jr., F, Idaho (11.5 ppg, 5.6 rpg, 3.4 apg)
Kyle Gibson, So., G, Louisiana Tech (13.0 ppg, 7.8 rpg)
NEVADA TOP TEAM OVER LAST FOUR YEARS ? Over the last four-plus seasons dating back to 2003-04, Nevada has turned in a 109-31 record, the best record of any WAC team during that time (.779 winning percentage). In conference games, Nevada has won 56 games, the most in that same time period. The top three teams in
wins (both overall and WAC) over the last four-plus seasons:
Overall Record (Pct.) WAC Record (Pct.)
1. Nevada 109-31 (.779) 1. Nevada 56-12 (.824)
2. Utah State 101-38 (.727) 2. Fresno State 37-31 (.544)
3. Hawai?i 75-53 (.586) 3. Hawai?i 36-32 (.529)
TOURNAMENT OPPONENTS ? WAC teams could face at least 18 non-conference opponents that played in last year’s NCAA Tournament. Boise State, Fresno State and New Mexico State are scheduled to play three of those teams, a WAC-high.
Utah State at Weber State, Nov. 10
New Mexico State at Duke, Nov. 12
Florida A&M at New Mexico State, Nov. 14 (Legends Classic)
Washington State at Boise State, Nov. 13
Idaho at Gonzaga, Nov. 13
Idaho at Washington State, Nov. 16
Illinois at Hawai?i, Nov. 16
Nevada at UNLV, Nov. 24
Louisiana Tech at Texas Tech, Dec. 5
Fresno State at UNLV, Dec. 8
Fresno State at Arizona, Dec. 16
San Jose State at Michigan State, Dec. 19
Boise State at Albany, Dec. 22
New Mexico State at Louisville, Dec. 22
Nevada at North Carolina, Dec. 27
Brigham Young at Boise State, Dec. 29
Oral Roberts at Utah State, Dec. 29
Fresno State at Stanford, Dec. 29
NEW MEXICO STATE WINS 2007 WAC TOURNAMENT ? In just its second year in the WAC and two years after posting a 6-24 record, New Mexico State won the 2007 WAC Tournament held in Las Cruces, N.M. The Aggies beat Utah State in the finals, 72-70. It was Utah State’s second straight finals appearance. New Mexico State opened the 2007 tournament by beating Louisiana Tech in the quarterfinals, 77-70, and Boise State in the semifinals, 88-69.
TEAM NOTES
Boise State Broncos (5-2, 0-0 WAC)
Boise State senior Matt Nelson is among the leaders in several WAC categories ... Nelson is tied with teammate Reggie Larry and San Jose State’s C.J. Webster for the lead in rebounding, averaging 8.3 rpg ... Nelson is third in field goal percentage (.622) behind Reggie Larry (.637) and New Mexico State’s Hatila Passos who leads the WAC (.641) ... this week, the Broncos take the week off ... Boise State will return to action on Dec. 22 on the road against Albany and at hone against BYU on Dec. 29 it its final action of 2007.
Fresno State Bulldogs (5-4, 0-0 WAC)
Bryan Harvey had the best game of his career against Cal State Monterey Bay with 19 points, nine rebounds, four blocks and two steals, all of which are career-highs ... he hit a 22-foot shot with :02 remaining in regulation to force overtime, with the Dogs winning 85-80 ... Fresno State continues a tough stretch of game that began at UNLV, a Sweet 16 team from 2007, with a road trip to Arizona this week ... the Bulldogs also host Big West power Pacific and Stanford in the next four games ... Cleveland and his players are teaming with the Bulldog women’s team to host 60 families and 140 children on Sunday for the inaugural Children with Cancer Holiday Party at the Save Mart Center.
Hawai?i Rainbow Warriors (3-4, 0-0 WAC)
Hawai?i stayed tough at home with a 61-57 win over Long Beach State Sunday night at the Stan Sheriff Center ... the Rainbow Warriors improved to 3-4 on the season ... Hawai?i led for nearly the entire game and enjoyed a 16-point lead with just under nine minutes, but the outcome was in doubt up until the final seconds ... UH ultimately held off the 49ers (2-6) to win its third-straight game at home with just enough offensive firepower and an opportunistic defense that registered a season-high 15 steals ... Bobby Nash is sixth in the WAC in scoring, averaging 17.0 ppg, while teammate Riley Luettgerodt is eighth, averaging 15.0 ppg.
Idaho Vandals (2-6, 0-0 WAC)
Idaho currently leads the WAC in scoring defense and has allowed opponents to score just 65.4 points per game ... outside of the two games vs. ranked opponents, Idaho is shooting 44-percent from the floor, out-rebounding opponents 33.8 to 31.7, and holds a +1.8 turnover margin ... the Vandals hold a positive margin in every statistical category except for free throw percentage ... over the last three games, Idaho has committed just 41 turnovers compared to 49 from its opponents ... however, the Vandals have been hampered by 38-percent field goal shooting and have been outscored by 17 points at the free throw line over that span.
Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (1-5, 0-0 WAC)
Louisiana Tech will square off with Arkansas-Pine Bluff for the second time this season Tuesday, Dec. 11 in the second game of a double-header following the Lady Techsters’ game ... Tech traveled to Pine Bluff, Ark., Nov. 20, where the Golden Lions bested the Bulldogs 67-54 ... sophomore Kyle Gibson finished with 10 points and nine rebounds in the first half alone before ending the night with another double-double with 17 points and 12 rebounds ... Prior to this season, Tech and Arkansas-Pine Bluff had only met twice; both times were in the 2003-04 season where the Bulldogs won both games.
Nevada Wolf Pack (3-4, 0-0 WAC)
Nevada continues its season-long four-game homestand this week, playing host to San Diego on Dec. 12 and UCF on Dec. 16 ... the Wolf Pack snapped its first three-game losing streak in seven seasons with its 82-76 victory over Montana State ... UN had not lost three consecutive games since the 2000-01 season ... the Wolf Pack scored a season-best 82 points and got a season-high 24 points from its bench in the victory over Montana State ... the team also turned in season bests for free throw shooting (82.1 percent, 23-28) and assists (18) in the win ... Nevada has won 26 of its last 28 games at Lawlor and has turned in a 62-7 record at home since the start of the 2003-04 season.
New Mexico State Aggies (4-7, 0-0 WAC)
New Mexico State went 1-1 in a pair of rivalry games last week ... the Aggies defeated New Mexico, 71-62, Dec. 4 in Las Cruces behind 12 points from senior guard/forward Justin Hawkins and 15 rebounds from freshman forward Wendell McKines ... senior center Hatila Passos also added to NMSU’s effort with 12 points ... both senior guard Fred Peete and Passos had 20-point performances against UTEP, Dec. 8, but it wasn’t enough as the Aggies were edged, 79-78 ... Passos not only had a career-high scoring showing but also a game-high 11 rebounds.
San Jose State Spartans (3-3, 0-0 WAC)
This week, the Spartans look to get back on track after losing two-straight games ... San Jose State will play only one game this week against Northern Arizona ... due to graduation in the Events Center, the game against NAU and San Jose State will be played at the De Anza College Gymnasium in Cupertino, Calif. ... tip-off time for the contest now will be 7:30 p.m. (PST) ... sophomore C.J. Webster is tied for first in the WAC with Boise State’s Matt Nelson and Reggie Larry, averaging 8.3 rpg.
Utah State Aggies (6-5, 0-0 WAC)
Utah State will play just one game this week as it hosts Prairie View A&M on Saturday, Dec. 15 in its first of five- straight home games ... it will be the first-ever meeting between the Aggies and Panthers ... last week, Utah State notched a 1-1 record with an 88-66 win at Cal State Bakersfield and a 72-48 loss at Utah ... junior forward Gary Wilkinson led the Aggies during the week as he tied his season-high with 21 points at Cal State Bakersfield and had 12 points and a season-high 10 rebounds at Utah for his first-ever double-double ... on the year, USU is led by All-American Jaycee Carroll who is averaging 20.1 ppg and 6.0 rpg and shooting 51.4 percent from the field.