Fresno State's surge to a share of the Western Athletic Conference lead hasn't surprised anybody, and more importantly, has earned respect around the league.
The Bulldogs moved into a tie for the top spot with Nevada (both teams are 5-1) after their dramatic 66-63 win over UTEP last Saturday in Fresno.
What makes Fresno State's 11-4 start even more impressive is that the Bulldogs have nine - count'em, nine - new players on their roster. The only guys that played much last year are 6-foot-9 center Mustafa Al-Sayyad and 6-7 swingman Dreike Bouldin.
"Ray Lopes (FSU coach) has done a tremendous job getting his team to play with a lot of confidence and poise," Rice coach Willis Wilson said. "They are a lot stronger than they were a year ago.
"They had the respect (of the league) before beating UTEP. Beating UTEP goes a long way. I'm not surprised they beat them. This is the WAC, and that's what happens in this conference."
Added Boise State's Greg Graham: "They've got better pieces than people thought. They can rotate in the two big guys (Al-Sayyad and 6-10, 315-pound Jack Marlow), Bouldin is a very good player and Ja'Vance (Coleman) is on a roll."
Nevada's Mark Fox said he wasn't surprised that Fresno State beat UTEP.
"I look back to a year ago when he kicked some guys off (Terry Pettis, Renaldo Major and Jonathan Woods) the team knowing it would hurt his team," Fox said. "I have a lot of respect for him. I'm happy to see him get off to a great start.
"They have Mustafa, Ja'Vance is a great scorer and they have some quality young people."
Fox said that UTEP's emotional win over Nevada may have drained UTEP a little bit for Saturday's contest.
Lopes admits he's having the time of his life with this young squad.
"Last year's group was fine on the court," Lopes said. "It was the distractions off the court that made it tough. We have a good group of guys. We're all having fun and working hard to get better."
• Louisiana Tech finally got off the snide with a split of its road trip against San Jose State and Hawai'i. Tech lost an 88-87 heartbreaker at San Jose State, but bounced back to beat Hawai'i 61-59 in Honolulu.
The win in Hawai'i snapped the Rainbow Warriors' 13-game home winning streak.
"Both games went down to the last second of play," Richard said. "Either one could have gone the other way.
"On a positive note, those two games we played much better offensively than previously. It's something we can build on. We had better balance; better field goal percentage. Earlier in conference, we weren't even shooting 40 percent. A lot of that was due to perimeter players. Instead of a Paul Millsap-led team, we had better balance."
Donnell Allick scored a game-high 23 points and Millsap yanked down 24 rebounds in the narrow win.
• The ESPN Bracket Buster is scheduled for Feb. 19, and the Wolf Pack will be at home against an as yet unknown opponent. Pairings will be released on Jan. 30, according to WAC commissioner Karl Benson.
The format, according to Benson, will be a bit different. Eleven games will be part of the official Bracket Buster package, and Benson expects four or five WAC teams to be among the top 22. He feels that Nevada, which has been guaranteed a home game, Rice, UTEP, Fresno State and Hawai'i will make the cut as long as those teams maintain their current RPI ratings.
All 11 of those games will be televised, six nationally on ESPN and five on a regional basis. The other 21 games (42 teams) will be paired in early February.
• Will Nevada's successful run in last year's NCAA Tournament make the Wolf Pack a more viable candidate this year?
Yes and no, according to Benson.
Benson said that teams are supposed to be judged on their "body of work," meaning what the team accomplished during the season, and not what they have done in the past.
However, Benson also said Nevada's past success means the Wolf Pack might be on more people's radar screen come tournament time.
The WAC boss also said 20 wins isn't the magic number that people think it is. He said the focus is on who you play and where you play.
Benson could have a point when it comes to power conferences like the Big 12 or ACC. Those teams beat up on each other so much that teams from those two conferences could get in with 17 or 18 wins. The WAC might be another story, however. Until last year, the conference had only gotten in one team yearly. Two years ago, Nevada had 18 wins and was sent to the NIT instead.
• UTEP's Omar Thomas and Louisiana Tech's Tamika Kursh have been named the players in the WAC.
Thomas, a senior forward, averaged 27.5 and 8.0 rebounds per game, helping the Miners split on their road trip to Nevada and Fresno State. The UTEP star scored 28 points, including nine in overtime, to spark the Miners to an 83-80 win over Nevada. He added 27 points, including 13 of 16 from the foul line, in the Miners' 66-63 loss to Fresno State. His two foul shots tied the game at 63 before Ja'Vance Coleman won it for the Bulldogs with a desperation 30-footer at the buzzer.
Coleman, Jake Sottos (Hawai'i), Allick (Louisiana Tech), Kevinn Pinkney (Nevada) and Bryan Hopkins (SMU) werer also nominated.
Kursh earned the women's honor after averaging 14 points and 13.5 rebounds per game to lead Louisiana Tech to wins over San Jose State and Hawai'i. She scored 17 in a come-from-behind win over San Jose State and added 11 in a come-from-behind win over Hawai'i.
Darrell Moody can be reached at dmoody@nevadaappeal.com, or by calling (775) 881-1281
This Week in the WAC
Thursday - Nevada at Tulsa, 5:05 p.m.; Fresno State at Rice; Hawai'i at UTEP; San Jose State at Boise State
Saturday - Nevada at Rice, 12:05 p.m.; Fresno State at Tulsa; Hawai'i at Boise State; SMU at Louisiana Techv
