NEVADA ADVANCES TO SECOND ROUND ? Nevada opened the NCAA Tournament with a 77-71 overtime win against Creighton in New Orleans. Marcelus Kemp scored a game-high 27 points inclucing nine in overtime while Nick Fazekas added a double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds for the Pack. It was the first overtime game for a WAC team since Utah beat Stanford in 1997. In the second round game, Nevada faced the second seed of the region, Memphis. Fazekas had 20 points and Kemp added 18, but after Nevada cut the lead to 64-62 with 6:17 remaining, Memphis scored 14 points and shut out the Pack to win 78-62. It was the Wolf Pack’s fourth consecutive trip to the tournament.
NEW MEXICO STATE DROPS FIRST ROUND GAME ? New Mexico State took on the fourth seeded Texas Longhorns in Spokane for its first round NCAA Tournament game. The Aggies took a 62-61 lead with 5:47 remaining but were outscored 15-6 to lose the game 79-67. Elijah Ingram led the Aggies with 16 points while Hatila Passos added 15. Justin Hawkins was also in double figures with 11. It was the first tournament appearance for New Mexico State since 1999.
THE WAC IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT ? The WAC has a 65-89 (.422) record in its teams’ 83 appearances in the NCAA Tournament including the two this season by Nevada (1-1) and New Mexico State (0-1). In 1998, Utah advanced to the NCAA title game before losing to Kentucky, 78-69, in San Antonio. It was the farthest a WAC team has ever advanced. This year marked the 23rd time in the last 24 years that at least two teams have made the NCAA Tournament. A WAC team has advanced to at least the second round in 12 of the past 13 NCAA tournaments.
FRESNO STATE, UTAH STATE FALL IN NIT FIRST ROUND ? Fresno State’s Hector Hernandez and Eddie Miller each made seven three-point field goals to lead the Bulldogs with 21 points but Fresno State fell in a first round NIT game at Georgia, 88-78. Dominic McGuire recorded his second triple-double of the year scoring 15 points, pulling down 11 rebounds and dishing out 10 assists. McGuire became the second player in WAC history to have two triple-doubles in a season joining New Mexico’s Luc Longley (1989-90). Utah State traveled to Michigan where it lost 68-58. Jaycee Carroll scored a game-high 22 points but was the only Aggie in double figures. After trailing by 14 in the second half, Utah State closed the gap to 54-53 with 8:36 remaining. Michigan then went on a 12-0 run when Carroll picked up his fourth foul and was forced to come out of the game.
THE WAC IN THE NIT ? The WAC has a 74-65 (.532) record in its teams’ 65 appearances in the NIT including the two this year by Fresno State (0-1) and Utah State (0-1). Two WAC teams have won the NIT title as Brigham Young did it in 1966 and Tulsa in 2001. Fresno State won the title in 1983, prior to its WAC membership.
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. Next year’s tournament will also be hosted by New Mexico State and will be held March 11-15, 2008.
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM ? New Mexico State placed two players on the WAC’s all-tournament team as selected by the media in attendance. Justin Hawkins and Elijah Ingram were joined by Nevada’s Marcelus Kemp and Utah State’s Jaycee Carroll and Chaz Spicer. Hawkins was named the tournament MVP after averaging 17.0 points and 5.0 rebounds in the three games. In the title game, he scored a team-high 20 points and shot 9-of-17 from the field.
ATTENDANCE ? The men’s tournament was attended by 49,650 fans during the five sessions (9,930/session). The title game drew 11,948 to the Pan American Center in Las Cruces, N.M. It was the highest attended tournament since 1998 in Las Vegas.
NEVADA WINS FOURTH STRAIGHT REGULAR SEASON TITLE ? Nevada finished the 2006-07 regular season with a 14-2 mark to win its fourth consecutive WAC regular season title. The last WAC team to do this was Utah when it won either a division title or conference title five straight years (1995-1999).
FOUR TEAMS WITH AT LEAST 20 WINS ? The WAC had four teams with at least 20 victories. That number is the most since the WAC had five teams in 2003-04 reach that mark. Nevada led the way with 29 victories followed by New Mexico State with 25, Utah State with 23 and Fresno State with 22. Nevada’s 29-5 record (.853) was tied for the sixth best mark in the nation.
NEVADA OWNS WAC’S LONGEST HOME WINNING STREAK ? Nevada owns the WAC’s longest active winning streak at 12 straight games, tied for the 15th longest in the nation. The Wolf Pack haven’t lost a home game since losing to UNLV on Dec. 9, 2006. In conference play only, Nevada has the longest home winning streak with 13 in a row dating back to last season.
FAZEKAS NAMED ALL-AMERICAN ? Senior forward Nick Fazekas was named to several All-America teams: USBWA (first team), SI.com (first team), ESPN.com (first team), Lowe’s All-Senior (first team), AP (second team) and NABC (second team). Utah State’s Jaycee Carroll was named an AP honorable mention All-America.
ALL-WAC TEAMS ? The 2007 all-WAC teams as voted upon by the coaches, were announced in early March. Nevada senior forward Nick Fazekas was named the Player of the Year for the third straight season. Boise State guard Anthony Thomas garnered Freshman of the Year honors and Nevada coach Mark Fox was named the Don Haskins Coach of the Year for the third straight season.
USBWA ALL-DISTRICT TEAMS ANNOUNCED ? Nevada senior Nick Fazekas, Utah State junior Jaycee Carroll and New Mexico State junior Justin Hawkins were named all-District VIII by the United States Basketball Writers of America. Fazekas was also named that district’s Player of the Year for the second straight season.
4 NAMED TO NABC ALL-DISTRICT TEAMS ? The National Association of Basketball Coaches announced the NABC Division I All-District Teams recognizing the country’s best men’s collegiate basketball student-athletes. Four WAC student-athletes were named to the teams. Nevada’s Nick Fazekas earned first team District 13 honors while Boise State’s Coby Karl (District 13), Utah State’s Jaycee Carroll (District 14) and New Mexico State’s Justin Hawkins (District 15) were second team selections.
KARL, NELSON EARN ACADEMIC ALL-DISTRICT HONORS ? The WAC had two players make the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District Men’s Basketball Teams as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). Boise State’s Coby Karl and Matt Nelson were selected to the District 8 first team.
HAWAI?I, LOUISIANA TECH BEGIN SEARCH FOR COACH ? The WAC will have two new head coaches next year as two of the longest tenured coaches in the league ? Hawai?i’s Riley Wallace and Louisiana Tech’s Keith Richard ? will not be back in 2007-08. Wallace ended his career with a record of 334-265 (.558) in 20 years with the Rainbow Warriors. He was second only to UTEP’s Don Haskins in wins in the WAC. Wallace led Hawai?i to three NCAA and six NIT appearances. The Rainbow Warriors had a winning record in each of the past eight seasons. Richard was 150-117 in nine seasons with the Bulldogs that included two NITs. He posted three 20-win seasons during his tenure.
NATIONAL RANKINGS ? Nevada finished the season ranked 15th in the AP poll and 21st in the ESPN/USA Today coaches’ poll. Earlier this year, Nevada was ranked as high as ninth, the highest ranking for a WAC team since Utah was sixth in the final AP poll of the 1998-99 season. New Mexico State also received votes in the final AP poll to be ranked 34th.
1,000-POINT SCORERS ? The WAC has seven players that have scored more than 1,000 points in their collegiate careers. Those players with points and all-time school ranking: Nevada senior forward Nick Fazekas (2,464-1st); Boise State senior guard Coby Karl (1,698-3rd); Utah State junior guard Jaycee Carroll (1,715-7th); New Mexico State senior guard Elijah Ingram (1,333-scored 607 points at St. John’s); Nevada junior guard Marcelus Kemp (1,280-10th); New Mexico State junior forward Tyrone Nelson (1,212-scored 378 points at Prairie View A&M); and Boise State senior guard Eric Lane (1,074-14th). Carroll, Kemp and Nelson still have a year of eligibility remaining.
WAC SWEEPS O’REILLY ESPNU BRACKETBUSTERS ? The WAC completed the O’Reilly ESPNU BracketBusters, Feb. 16-17, with a perfect 4-0 record. Boise State defeated Albany, 83-82, in a game that featured 33 lead changes. Nevada beat Northern Iowa, 79-64, Utah State won at Oral Roberts, 71-65, and New Mexico State came from 18 behind at halftime to beat Ohio, 77-72. No other conference with at least two teams competing in the event went undefeated. BracketBusters was created in 2003 in conjunction with the WAC, ESPN and several top college basketball conferences to match potential NCAA tournament hopefuls against each other.
NEVADA TOP TEAM OVER LAST FOUR YEARS ? Over the last four seasons, Nevada is 106-27 (.797), the best record of any WAC team during that time. In conference games, Nevada has won 56 games, the most in that same time period.
TEAM LEADERS ? The WAC had six schools with players that led their team in two of three statistical categories (points-rebounds-assists).
Coby Karl, Sr., G, Boise State (14.8 ppg, 4.0 apg)
Matt Lojeski, Sr., G, Hawai?i (16.9 ppg, 4.5 apg)
Nick Fazekas, Sr., F, Nevada (20.4 ppg, 11.1 rpg)
Justin Hawkins, Jr., G/F, New Mexico State (15.6 ppg, 6.6 rpg)
Carlton Spencer, Sr., G, San Jose State (14.3 ppg, 3.5 apg)
Jaycee Carroll, Jr., G, Utah State (21.3 ppg, 6.3 rpg)
HOME SWEET HOME ? The WAC’s nine teams were a combined 101-34 (.748) at home this season. On the road and in neutral site games, the WAC was 52-101 (.340). In conference games only, home teams were 50-22 (.694) while road teams were 22-50 (.306)
NON-CONFERENCE MARK ? The WAC was 73-55 (.570) in non-conference games in 2006-07, including a 69-55 (.556) mark against Division I team. In 2005-06, the WAC was 63-52 (.548) in non-conference games (57-52 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).
WAC ON ESPN ? The WAC has a multi-year contract with ESPN for coverage of WAC football and basketball.
TEAM-BY-TEAM NOTES
Boise State Broncos (17-14, 8-8 WAC)
Improved to 3-0 versus Fresno State in WAC Tournament play and was the lower seed the past two meetings ... trailed by 14 at the half before outscoring the Bulldogs 55-36 in the second half ... Anthony Thomas was the first Bronco to earn Freshman of the Year honors since Gerry Washington in 1996 (Big Sky) ... senior G Coby Karl finished his career with 1,698 points, the third most in school history ... he finished his career playing and starting the last 99 games, the longest current streak in the WAC ... he is the WAC’s active career leader in 3-point FGs made (266) and attempted (717), ranking seventh and fifth, respectively, all-time in the WAC in both of those categories ... center Colin Hallberg will not return next season.
Fresno State Bulldogs (22-10, 10-6 WAC)
Lost its final two games after a six-game winning streak to finish the regular season ... scored its first 18 points on treys in the NIT game at Georgia ... Dominic McGuire had his second triple-double of the year when he had 15 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists in that game ... the Bulldogs had 31 double-doubles this year, the most in the WAC ... McGuire had 114 blocks this year, the most by a WAC player since Wyoming’s Theo Ratliff had 114 in 1993-94 ... had two of the top three rebounders in the WAC in McGuire (9.8 rpg-2nd) and Quinton Hosley (8.9 rpg-3rd) ... led the WAC in scoring defense with 66.2 ppg, FG% defense (.385), blocks (6.44 bpg) and 3-point FGs (9.47/game) ... one of just two teams in the WAC with a winning road record (7-6).
Hawai?i Rainbow Warriors (18-13, 8-8 WAC)
Had its four-game winning streak snapped in the quarterfinals of the WAC Tournament against Utah State ... has now lost four straight WAC quarterfinal games ... one of two teams in the WAC with four players averaging in double figures (Fresno State) ... Matt Lojeski and Matt Gibson tied for the WAC lead in steals with 1.68 per game ... has had a winning season the last eight consecutive years ... Riley Wallace finished his career with 20 WAC tournament wins, one shy of tying the all-time record of 21 set by UTEP’s Don Haskins ... Wallace won 334 games at UH, tied with former women’s coach Vince Goo for the most in school history in any sport ... he coached a total of 599 games at UH.
Idaho Vandals (4-27, 1-15 WAC)
Snapped its 12-game losing streak by beating SJSU in the first round of the WAC Tournament, 50-49 ... led at halftime and picked up its first win of the season when leading at the intermission (1-5) ... the first round win kept the Vandals from posting its worst record ever (3-22 in 1946-47) ... Keoni Watson averaged 16.5 points in the Vandal’s two tournament games ... was last in the WAC in scoring with 61.5 points per game ... has not allowed its opponents to score 100 points in a game for 462 contests, the longest such streak in the WAC ... has made a 3-point FG in 284 consecutive games (since Feb. 27, 1997) ... made 225 3-point FGs this season, breaking the record of 190 set in 1998-99 ... also broke the single-season record for 3-point FGA (655).
Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (10-20, 7-9 WAC)
Head coach Keith Richard’s contract was not renewed and he will not return for the upcoming season ... the Bulldogs had their season come to an end in the quarterfinals of the WAC Tournament against host New Mexico State ... trailed by 19 with 4:08 remaining before trimming the deficit to seven at the end of the game (77-70) ... Harry Disy was just short of a double-double with nine points and nine rebounds ... Trey McDowell scored a team-high 24 points against the Aggies ... he finished the season scoring at least 10 points in 18 consecutive games ... the 20 losses were the most for Louisiana Tech since finishing the 1993-94 season with a 2-25 record ... is 19-4 in non-conference home games since joining the WAC for the 2001-02 season.
Nevada Wolf Pack (29-5, 14-2 WAC)
Broke the school record for wins (28-5 in 1945-46) ... has increased its number of wins in seven of the past eight years (matching the other) ... was 7-2 when trailing at halftime this year after beating Creighton in the first round of the NCAA Tournament ... made 253 3-point FGs, breaking the record of 214 set in 1996-97 ... Kyle Shiloh and Nick Fazekas were a part of 106 wins, the winningest players in school history ... led the WAC in scoring margin (+9.9), FG% (.484), rebounding margin (+6.5) and 3-point FG% (.406) ... senior F Nick Fazekas posted a double-double in 21 games this season and 62 in his career ... he scored 20 or more points 67 times and scored in double figures in his last 62 games.
New Mexico State Aggies (25-9, 11-5 WAC)
Led 62-61 with less than six minutes to go in the NCAA first round tournament game against Texas but was outscored 18-5 to end the game ... was 19-1 at home ... was 7-6 when trailing at the half ... had 25 wins for the first time since going 25-10 in 1994-95 ... was 8-5 in games decided by five points or less ... NMSU has won its last nine games when Justin Hawkins scores at least 20 points ... Tyrone Nelson has posted 23 double-doubles in his career ... he scored 26 points in the WAC quarterfinal game against Idaho, tying for the most by a player in the tournament and averaged 17.3 points per game in the three contests ... NMSU led the WAC in scoring with 78.0 ppg ... reached 100 points in three games this season ... also led the WAC in steals (7.12).
San Jose State Spartans (5-25, 4-12 WAC)
Menelik Barbary nearly had a triple-double in the first round WAC Tournament game against Idaho when he posted 10 points, 10 rebounds and nine blocks ... the nine blocks broke a tournament single-game record ... Lance Holloway grabbed 13 rebounds in that game, tying for the most by a player in the tournament ... is 1-10 in WAC Tournament games ... won four conference games, the most since going 4-14 in 2002-03 ... its schedule was ranked the toughest in the WAC ... had 10 newcomers on its roster this season ... had just five wins this year after posting six 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 (805 games).
Utah State Aggies (23-12, 9-7 WAC)
Advanced to the WAC championship game for the second straight season ... Jaycee Carroll averaged 24.7 ppg in the WAC Tournament, the most of any individual ... he tied for tournament-high honors in both points (26 versus New Mexico State) and rebounds (13 versus Hawai?i) ... lost 12 games for the first time since the 1998-99 season (15-13) ... is one of just four teams to have won at least 23 games in each of the last eight seasons (Gonzaga, Kansas and Syracuse) ... Carroll led the WAC in scoring (21.3 ppg), 3-point FG% (.432) and FT% (.888) ... Utah State led the WAC and was second in the nation in FT% (.780) ... the Aggies have participated in the postseason eight straight years ... (5 NCAAs, 3 NITs) ... is 125-12 at home under Stew Morrill.