Utah State is good, but not great

We get into this every year and I can't take it anymore.

I've read that Utah State will go unbeaten in the WAC, that they will coast to a WAC title. I don't see it.

I normally don't agree with everything Gary Parish writes, but here is a section from a blog entry where he writes about polls, both media and coaches.

Coaches poll: As you can probably tell by the above Poll Attack, I hate voters who highlight teams simply for building records against weak opponents. It rewards a conservative approach, and I'm against that. So shame on the coaches who put Cincinnati (24 points), Oklahoma State (11 points) and Utah State (four points) on their ballots. I've already told you about Cincinnati (no good wins) and Oklahoma State (no good wins and one bad loss). Now let me tell you about Utah State, the WAC school that's 11-2 with no good wins. Granted, the Aggies' losses (to BYU and Georgetown) are better than OSU's losses (or Baylor's losses, for that matter). But there's not even a decent win on their resume. Thus, Utah State shouldn't be getting votes even though Utah State probably deserves votes as much as Cincinnati deserves votes, and more than Oklahoma State deserves votes. The point is that none of them deserve votes. Stacking wins against bad teams is nothing more than stacking wins against bad teams. It's fine for a school that projected to be strong in the preseason because you can still believe in what you thought you knew. But a gaudy record against a weak schedule should never make you start believing in somebody, which is why I won't start believing in Cincinnati, Cleveland State, Utah State or Oklahoma State until at least one of them records one win against a quality opponent. It would be nice if coaches who vote in the coaches poll did the same.

We know that Utah State hasn't beaten anybody. They've only played two quality opponents. That's fine. It's what they always do and it works for them. But this Utah State team is no different than last year's team to me, which I picked second.

They could very well win the WAC tournament and get a postseason bid, but  I don't think they will coast through teams, namely NMSU, as some have predicted.

I've even seen one place where San Jose State was picked to finish ahead  of NMSU. When has San Jose State ever won a big game? George Nessman entered the season (his sixth) 51-103 and 22-58 in WAC play. Quick question. What other media or fan market in the WAC could a coach post such a record and still have a job this long. It's true that Nessman has a good point guard and one of the top 2 players in the league in guard Adrian Oliver. But I've seen this movie before and I gave up on San Jose State. Two years ago, San Jose State had Tim Pierce, Oliver, Justin Graham and two solid WAC post players in Webster and Oakes and finished seventh and lost in the quarters.

If there is a team who can jump into the conversation, I think it's Boise State, which is why tonight's game looms large.

Basketball is about matchups and I still don't think Utah State matches up well with NMSU when Troy Gillenwater and Hamidu Rahman are healthy. Let's take a look. I will even say hypothetically that Wendell McKines DOES not play this year. And I still like NMSU's chances.

Center

Hamidu Rahman vs. Nate Bendall — Bendall didn't make a peep in the first two games against the Aggies but he outscored Hamidu Rahman 16-6 in the WAC tournament game. Here is  my question when it comes to Bendall vs. the Aggies. Who is he going to guard? Meanwhile, I think NMSU has four guys in Rahman, Gillenwater, Nephawe and even Tyrone Watson at him.

Advantage Bendall on the offensive end because he is skilled, but a small advantage.

Power forward

Troy Gillenwater vs. Tai Wesley — I think this is a push. Two of the best three players in the WAC. Wesley is a great leader for his team. I don't know if they will be matched up on each other.

Push

Small forward

Tyrone Watson vs. Tyler Newbold — Newbold has the offensive edge here, although his numbers have gone down with the departure of such players as Jaycee Carroll and Gary Wilkinson throughout his career. But he is a senior. I don't think Bendall can guard Watson off the dribble or keep him off the boards.

Push

Shooting guard

Christian Kabongo vs. Pooh Williams — Kabongo reminds me of Williams a couple years ago. Not much of a perimeter shooting threat but athletic and a good defender. Williams is shooting the three at 40 percent and scoring 10 per game while Kabongo gets his points in transition and the free throw line.

Push

Point guard

Hernst Laroche vs. Brockeith Payne — Have yet to see Payne play, but he is certainly a different type of point guard than Jared Quayle was. Laroche got his shot whenever he wanted against some good point guards so far at Arizona, St. Marys and UNM. Payne doesn't have a lot of pressure on him, which is good.

Advantage Laroche based on experience in the WAC

Bench —

Utah State has Brian Green and NMSU has Gordo Castillo, two guys who can hit the open 3 on the offensive end. Both teams have some size coming off the bench.

Push

Please don't turn this post into another Menzies bashing. It's obvious that Utah State is well coached and Morrill gives them an  advantage every time they take the court. Utah State is a more disciplined team but I like NMSU for the same reason as I did last year.

Athletes folks.

It's why Utah State was run off the court in Spokane against Texas A&M and it's why NMSU hung with Michigan State. 

Trending ...

Trending upward:

Hernst Laroche — I think Laroche's 11 points per game is right where the Aggies need him to be. He was 6-of-8 in a 20 point loss to St. Mary's. More importantly for a point guard, he was 5 of 9 for 12 points with six assists, no turnovers and two steals on Wednesday. That's the type of stat line the Aggies need from him if they remain healthy.

Tyrone Watson — Watson knows what he is, which makes him an effective player and fun to watch if you like the little things. While he doesn't yet have a consistent jump shot, Watson is good at getting to the foul line and absorbing contact. Watson had 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting. But he was 4-of-5 from the foul line, where he is a 52 percent shooter on the season. He didn't have any assists on Wednesday, but he is a good passer, with 41 assists against 24 turnovers.

On the brink: Bandja Sy. We will see if Wednesday's performance was a step in the right direction.

Trending downward:

Christian Kabongo — Kabongo his a 3 on Wednesday after going 0-for-14 in the previous five games. He was just 1 of 5 on Wednesday and is shooting 15 percent from long range on the year. Once that comes, I think he will be a good player at NMSU, plus he plays good defense, but he's struggling offensively right now, shooting 26 of 65 (40 percent) from the field in the last six games.

Team rebounding. We will see if this will change as Gillenwater and Rahman work back into shape.

Gillenwater, Rahman return to help Aggies win WAC opener

In his post game interview with Jack Nixon, NMSU coach Marvin Menzies said he wasn't sure the Aggies could have won their 74-69 victory over Idaho without Troy Gillenwater or Hamidu Rahman.

They couldn't have. They wouldn't have.

Both Rahman and Gillenwater acknowledged the good job done by role players like Chili Nephawe, Bandja Sy and Renaldo Dixon, but the Aggies will travel as far as Gillenwater's foot and Rahman's calf will take them now that we are in WAC play.

Gillenwater scored 22 points on his 22nd birthday to give the Aggies their fourth straight WAC opener win under Menzies and the school's sixth straight.

"The plan was to play and just to see how it felt and it felt good so coach rolled with me," Gillenwater said. "I really want to thank (trainer) Dom. He really got me back healthy."

Gillenwater said the injury wasn't an ankle at all, as I was originally told. It was a bone bruise on the same foot that he had a hairline fracture this summer, which prevented him from playing in Canada.

Both players were limited in practice. Rahman went for the first time on Sunday and Gillenwater had a full practice on Monday.

Gillenwater might have a jump on Rahman from a conditioning standpoint as the big fella was limited to 16 minutes, but he said he felt better in the second half.

"The first two minutes I was in, I was kind of winded the first five trips up and down, but in the second half, I started getting more into it and got my wind," Rahman said.

Wendell McKines is on the trip, although I doubt he will play on Friday. I can't help but think that Wendell traveling and getting on the floor in a limited capacity points to a likely return at some point this season.

Going into WAC

Here is a column that I wrote for Wednesday and some WAC capsules.

We've talked about how bad the WAC is thus far but I didn't realize how bad until I was going through the RPI for each team.

The capsules includes RPI and strength-of-schedule rankings from RealTimeRPI.com as of Dec. 26. A bad loss was any loss to a team outside of the top 150 RPI and the best win was the team’s highest RPI win thus far.

Utah State (11-2, 56 RPI, 218 SOS)

Best win: Long Beach St. (108 RPI); Bad loss: None

Key player: Tai Wesley, senior forward — 13.8 ppg, 8.3 rpg

Note: The Aggies’ only losses were at BYU (No. 3 RPI) by six and at Georgetown (No. 2 RPI). Head coach Stew Morrill has plugged in junior college transfer point guard Brockeith Payne into a lineup with four seniors returning from last year’s NCAA Tournament team.

Hawaii (9-3, 193 RPI, 303 SOS)

Best win: Utah (169 RPI); Bad loss: Cal Poly (198 RPI)

Key player: Bill Amis, senior center — 15.8 ppg, 6.8 rpg

Note: First-year coach Gib Arnold’s team is coming off a 68-57 win over Mississippi State. The Rainbow Warriors are third in the WAC in rebounding margin, outrebounding teams by 6.2 per game.

San Jose State (8-3, 158 RPI, 318 SOS)

Best win: Oregon (178 RPI); Bad loss: California-Bakersfield (234 RPI)

Key player: Adrian Oliver, senior guard — 25.8 ppg, 46 percent field goals, 38 percent 3-point field goals

Note: The Spartans are five games over .500 for the first time since 2000-01. The last time a SJSU team was six games over .500 was 1997. Perhaps the Spartans have learned how to win consistently?

Louisiana Tech (9-5, 151 RPI, 291 SOS)

Best win: Houston (216 RPI); Bad loss: Northwestern St. (191 RPI)

Key player: Olu Ashaolu, junior forward — 15.4 ppg, 9.1 rpg

Note: The Bulldogs are third in the league in scoring at 71.3 points per game. Their 94 made 3-pointers made top the WAC and their 36-percent shooting from downtown is fourth.

Boise State (7-5, 232 RPI, 332)

Best win: Northern Illinois (256 RPI); Bad loss: Drake (263 RPI)

Key player: Robert Arnold, senior forward — 16.2 ppg, 5.3 rpg

Note: Boise State matched its best start at 6-0. The Broncos have lost five of six entering conference play, but did drop close games to Long Beach State, UNLV, Drake, Utah and Portland during that stretch.

Idaho (6-5, 239 RPI, 296 SOS)

Best win: Oregon (178 RPI); Bad loss: Seattle (294 RPI)

Key player: Brandon Wiley, senior forward — 8.3 ppg, 60 percent field goal percentage

Note: Idaho lost nearly everyone from last year’s club, but the Vandals are coming off a win over Oregon. Don Verlin is 2-0 in WAC openers with both contests being on the road.

New Mexico State (6-8, 212 RPI, 77 SOS)

Best win: Pacific (126 RPI); Bad loss: None

Key player: Troy Gillenwater, junior forward — 18.4 ppg, 6.9 rpg

Note: Injuries have plagued the Aggies, although Gillenwater and center Hamidu Rahman are expected to return to the lineup during conference play while senior forward Wendell McKines’ status is unknown after breaking his foot in October.

Fresno State (4-6, 192 RPI, 84 SOS)

Best win: North Dakota State (128 RPI); Bad loss: Utah (169)

Key player: Greg Smith, sophomore center — 9.7 ppg, 6 rpg

Note: Unlike past Bulldogs teams, Fresno State has struggled offensively. The Bulldogs are eighth in the league with 65.1 points per game.

Nevada (3-10, 276 RPI, 117 SOS)

Best win: Montana (140 RPI); Bad loss: Pepperdine (267 RPI)

Key player: Dario Hunt, junior forward — 12.4 ppg, 9.8 rpg

Note: Second-year coach David Carter is still trying to find the right lineup. Nevada used three different lineups through the first 10 games while Duke transfer Olek Czyz has appeared in four games due to transfer eligibility.

Just to clarify

Regarding Wendell McKines, he hasn't been cleared to fully practice. My understanding is that he isn't even allowed to dunk. That's how careful they are being about re-injuring the foot. He is allowed to jog up and down, shoot and do some no-contact stuff. But his doctors have not cleared him to practice.

Just wanted to clarify from my post lastnight.

It was only a matter of time

The Aggies should feel confident entering WAC play, given that you keep trotting out a lineup of what was supposed to be role players this year, and they still beat Pacific (A team that would be a top 4 WAC team this year) and played with a Top 30 team for nearly 30 minutes.

It was bound to catch up with them.

I think once Christian Kabongo develops a jumper (4-of-11) he will be a very nice player and Hernst Laroche proved he could get his shot and into the lane whenever he wanted (6-of-8 shooting) Outside of those two, the Aggies don't have offense right now, especially if Gordo Castillo isn't getting the open looks he's been knocking down the past two weeks.

Marvin Menzies was honest after the game, admitting the Aggies aren't ready to play with team like Saint Mary's right now. Perhaps in March they will be.

Here is a couple paragraphs from my story about what the Aggies need in order to compete at that level.

After two days off for the holiday, Menzies hopes some of the missing pieces start to return to the puzzle for conference play, which begins Dec. 29 at Idaho.

“I’m optimistic that Hamidu, Wendell and possibly Troy will at least be able to get on the floor before we go,” Menzies said. “Who will actually play will be determined as soon as they get 100 percent.”

Scouting St. Mary's

It's a good thing the Aggies have improved man-to-man because I don't think they can zone St. Mary's for stretches tonight.

Mickey McConnell is a 49 percent shooter from 3. Rob Jones shoots it at 38 percent and Matt Dellavedova is only a 31 percent shooter. Those three, and 6-7 forward Clint Steindl (39 percent) have accounted for 226 of the team's 262 attempts from long range.

The Gaels spread teams out and pick and roll for McConnell, Jones or Dellavedova. NMSU assistant coach Mick Durham counted 50 or 60 ball screens per game. At 6-6, Jones leads the team with 14.2 points per game after sitting out last year. Outside of Kenton Walker or whoever they have playing the five, all four players can shoot.

Defensively, the Gaels are a straight man to man team but don't pressure the ball like a UTEP or Arizona, but they play good team defense and don't get out of position.

The Aggies have done a good job defending some quality guards this year in Pacific and UNM, but I don't know of a tandem they've played that are this good. I think the Aggies match up well with St. Mary's from an athletic standpoint, but players like Bandja Sy and Chili Nephawe are certainly going to be tested and have to stay out of foul trouble.