Schedule: Week #1
November 13 (Friday)
Idaho at Utah, 7:00 p.m. MT
^Boise State at Montana, 7:35 p.m. MT
Utah State at Weber State, 7:35 p.m. MT
San Francisco State at Fresno State, 7:00 p.m. PT
New Mexico State at St. Mary’s, 8:30 p.m. PT
%Southern Utah at Hawai‘i, 7:35 p.m. HT
November 14 (Saturday)
Louisiana Tech at Texas Pan American, 1:00 p.m. CT
^Loyola Marymount vs. Boise State, 5:35 p.m. MT
Montana State at Nevada, 7:00 p.m. PT
November 15 (Sunday)
^North Dakota vs. Boise State, 1:00 p.m. MT
Idaho at Texas Southern, 6:00 p.m. CT
%McNeese State at Hawai‘i, 5:00 p.m. HT
^ Montana Tournament (Missoula, Montana)
% Outrigger Hotels Rainbow Classic (Honolulu, Hawaii)
WAC TEAM-BY-TEAM NOTES
Boise State Broncos (0-0, 0-0 WAC)
Boise State returns an experienced group to this year’s squad as the Broncos welcome back starters Kurt Cunningham, Paul Noonan, Ike Okoye and Anthony Thomas ... senior guard Anthony Thomas not only ranked third in the WAC in assists last season (4.72 apg), but set a school record after dishing out 151 assists
last year ... senior forward Ike Okoye ranked among the league’s best at returning shots and currently ranks second in the Boise State record books after posting 60 blocks last season. Okoye is the leading returning rebounder after averaging 5.7 boards a game ... after leading the WAC last season with a 67.3 shooting percentage, center Kurt Cunningham returns to BSU for his senior season ... the Broncos will continue to be strong defensively, as they return both Thomas and Okoye, who both earned nods to the All-WAC Defensive Team last season.
Fresno State Bulldogs (0-0, 0-0 WAC)
Fresno State returns the WAC’s only Academic All-District honoree after forward Nedeljko Golubovic earned the honors in February 2009 ... sophomore forward Paul George ranked as one of the top 15 freshmen scorers (14.3 ppg/6.2 rpg) in the NCAA in 2008-09 ... second Team all-WAC forward Sylvester Seay is the Dogs’ leading scorer from a season ago (15.3 ppg) and is the lone senior on Fresno State’s roster. This is the second straight season the Bulldogs have only one senior ... for the past six seasons, the Bulldogs have topped the conference in average home attendance after moving to the 15,596-seat Save Mart Center ... with an up-tempo emphasis, the Dogs have led the WAC in three-point shooting for the last three seasons.
Hawai‘i Rainbow Wahine (0-0, 0-0 WAC)
UH returns 10 letterwinners and four starters from last season’s squad that finished 13-17 overall and 5-11 in the Western Athletic Conference ... among the returnees is senior wing Roderick Flemings. Flemings earned all-WAC second team, all-WAC newcomer and NABC District 6 second team honors last year while leading the team with 16.6 ponts per game ... also returning is two-year starter Bill Amis, who last year led the team in rebounding (6.4 rpg), field goal percentage (.468), and blocks (41) ... the 2008-09 squad was the first in modern history without a senior on the squad. The 2009-10 team, meanwhile, will have six seniors and will be without a single freshman ... UH seeks its first postseason berth since the 2004 NIT. The Rainbow Warriors also look for their first winning record since 2006-07 ... three Divsion I transfers join this year’s squad.
Idaho Vandals (0-0, 0-0 WAC)
With nine conference wins, Idaho earned its most conference victories in a season since joining the WAC. It surpassed the total amount of conference wins from the last three seasons combined (seven) ... Mac Hopson earned first team all-WAC and all-Newcomer team honors. He is the first Idaho first team all-conference selection since Gordon Scott during the 1999-2000 season in the Big West ... Mac Hopson was honored as a member of the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Division I All-District team ... Idaho finished the season with an RPI of 135 which is up 164 points from last season. The RPI improvement was fifth-best in the country ... Idaho finished third in the WAC. It was the highest finish since the Vandals joined the WAC and was the highest conference finish since the 1998-99 team finished third in the Big West.
Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (0-0, 0-0 WAC)
Louisiana Tech head coach Kerry Rupp returns for his third season at the helm of the Bulldogs ... Dusty May joins the LA Tech staff as an assistant coach after spending the past two years in the same role at UAB ... the Bulldogs return nine letterwinners from the 2008-09 season, including seniors Kyle Gibson, Jamel Guyton, David Jackson and Magnum Rolle ... the squad welcomes two newcomers, junior transfer DeAndre Brown and true freshman Darius Redding ... NBA legend Karl Malone will serve as Tech’s director of basketball promotion for the second season in a row ... Tech’s 2009-10 slate features 31 regular season contests. Of the 31-game schedule, the Bulldogs will take to Karl Malone Court at the Thomas Assembly Center 14 times ... Gibson joined the 1,000-point club last season and was named second team all-WAC.
Nevada Wolf Pack (0-0, 0-0 WAC)
David Carter was named the 17th head coach in the history of Nevada men’s basketball on April 3, replacing three-time Don Haskins Coach of the Year Mark Fox ... Nevada returns three starters and a total of eight letterwinners from last year’s 21-13 team. Returning starters include junior guard and first-team all-WAC selection Armon Johnson, sophomore forward and 2009 WAC Freshman of the Year Luke Babbitt and sophomore forward Dario Hunt ... Johnson and Babbitt were both named to the all-WAC first team, marking the second time since joining the WAC that Nevada has had a pair of first-team all-WAC selections (Nick Fazekas and Marcelus Kemp in 2007) ... the pair also earned first-team all-district honors from the National Association of Basketball Coaches, while Babbitt was also a first-team all-district selection by the United States Basketball Writers Association.
New Mexico State Aggies (0-0, 0-0 WAC)
The Aggies have four players returning to the hardwood who averaged double figures last year, Jahmar Young (17.9), Jonathan Gibson (14.1), Troy Gillenwater (12.1) and Wendell McKines (12.1) ... New Mexico State led the league in scoring (76.3), steals per game (7.22) along with three-point field goal percentage (40.0), which ranked 10th in the country ... the Aggies continue their challenging non-conference slate with games at UCLA and Saint Mary’s this season ... the Aggies return all five starters from a year ago including the WAC’s top scoring guard in Jahmar Young (17.9) and top rebounder in McKines (10.0) ... as a freshman, Hernst Laroche was the only player to start all 32 games last season ... playing the point, he ranked No. 18 in the NCAA in assist to turnover ratio (2.48) and ranked No. 2 freshman in the country among freshman.
San Jose Spartans (0-0, 0-0 WAC)
San Jose State returns its top two rebounders and assist makers from the 2008-09 season. The Spartans are one of two conference teams with a pair of top-10 returning rebounders for the upcoming season ... San Jose State seeks its first .500 or better record since 2001 ... San Jose State has 16 games against teams that posted a .500 or better record and face six opponents that won 20 or more games in 2008-09 ... San Jose State returns five of its top six scorers from the 2008-09 season ... forward C.J. Webster is the first Spartan since the 2003 season to average double-figure scoring in back-to-back seasons ... guard Adrian Oliver’s 17.1 scoring average is the highest scoring average by a San Jose State player since the 2005 season ... guard Justin Graham’s 142 season assists in 2009 were the sixth best single season total at San Jose State.
Utah State Aggies (0-0, 0-0 WAC)
Utah State returns one all-league player from a year ago in senior guard Jared Quayle who was named second-team all-WAC in 2009 along with being named to the all-newcomer squad ... Utah State won its second straight WAC regular season title in 2009, including its first outright. USU also won its first-ever WAC Tournament championship last year ... Stew Morrill was named the WAC Coach of the Year for the third time while at Utah State (2000, 2002, 2009) and for the fourth time overall as he was also named the Big Sky Conference Coach of the Year in 1991 while at Montana ... USU was ranked in the top 25 for four weeks during the 2008-09 season, including three straight weeks in February when it climbed as high as No. 17 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches poll and No. 21 in the Associated Press poll.That ranking marked the second time in the last five years that USU has been nationally ranked.
WAC NOTES
WAC TEAMS PERFECT IN EXHIBITION PLAY
With just one exhibition game remaining (Chico State at Nevada, Nov. 10), WAC teams are a perfect 10-0 during this year’s exhibition season. During those 10 exhibition contests, teams from the WAC won by an average scoring margin of 24.5 points.
WAC TOURNAMENT TO RETURN TO RENO IN 2010
The Western Athletic Conference Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournaments return to the University of Nevada and the Reno-Sparks Convention and Visitors Authority in 2010. The tournaments will be held in the 11,485-seat Lawlor Events Center, located on the campus of the University of Nevada. This year’s tournament will feature eight men’s and eight women’s teams. The Tournament will take place
ESPNU BRACKETBUSTERS
For the eighth year in a row, the WAC has partnered with ESPN and several other top college basketball conferences for 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 Feb. 20. The match-ups for Bracket Buster Saturday will be determined by ESPN in conjunction with the conferences about three weeks before the event.
TOP PLAYERS RETURNING
The WAC returns four players from last year’s all-WAC first team and four players return from the second team. Four of the five players from last season’s all-defensive team also return this year. All-WAC first team returnees include Idaho’s Mac Hopson (G, 6-2, 195, Sr.), Nevada’s Luke Babbitt (F, 6-9, 225, So.) and Armon Johnson (G, 6-3, 195, Jr.) and New Mexico State’s Jahmar Young (G, 6-5, 180, Jr.). Second team all-WAC returnees include Fresno State’s Sylvester Seay (F, 6-9, 220, Sr.), Hawai‘i’s Roderick Flemings (F, 6-7, 210, Sr.), Louisiana Tech’s Kyle Gibson (G, 6-5, 205, Sr.) and Utah State’s Jared Quayle (G, 6-1, 180, Sr.).
TOURNAMENT OPPONENTS
WAC teams will play at least 15 non-conference games against opponents that played in last year’s NCAA Tournament, including last year’s national champion (North Carolina).
Idaho at Utah, Nov. 13
Utah State at Utah, Nov. 18
San Jose State at Washington, Nov. 20
Brigham Young at Hawai‘i, Nov. 20
Nevada at VCU, Nov. 27
Nevada at North Carolina, Nov. 29
Brigham Young at Utah State, Dec. 2
Idaho at Cal State Northridge, Dec. 3
Boise State at Illinois, Dec. 5
Louisiana Tech at Arizona, Dec. 9
Fresno State vs. Brigham Young, Dec. 12
New Mexico State at UCLA, Dec. 15
Morehead State at Utah State, Dec. 22
Portland State at Boise State, Dec. 21
Nevada vs. Brigham Young, Dec. 22
LETTERWINNER/STARTER CAPSULE
This season, six of the nine WAC teams return at least four starters, led by New Mexico State, which returns all five of its starters from last season. Hawai‘i, Idaho, Louisiana Tech, San Jose State and Utah State each return four starters. Boise State, Fresno State and Nevada each return three starters. New Mexico State has the most number of returning letterwinners with 11.
STAT LEADERS BACK
Statistically, 14 of the top 15 scorers return for the 2009-10 season. New Mexico State’s Jahmar Young returns for his junior campaign after leading the WAC in scoring at 18.9 points per game in league games last year. Young’s teammate Wendell McKines also returns for his junior season after leading the league in rebounding at 10.5 boards per game in WAC games last year. Idaho’s Mac Hopson returns as a senior this season after leading the conference in assists at 5.7 per game just a season ago. Hopson also led the WAC in steals at 1.9 per game. Boise State’s Kurt Cunningham led the league in field goal percentage last season at 62.5, and returns for his senior campaign this season. Louisiana Tech long range shooter Kyle Gibson returns this season as a senior after leading the league in three-point field goals at 2.4 per game.