Thursday, February 26, 2009

in case you're wondering

Here is the WAC's tiebreakers as you enter the last couple weeks of games. I'll write something on this for the paper next week after Nevada and NMSU have played the same amount of games. It's a bit long but check it out


14. Tie-Breaking Principles
a. General Procedures
The following procedures are to be used to determine seeding
for a Conference tournament or to establish the
automatic qualifier to an NCAA Championship subject to any
sport regulation tie-breakers.
[1] Ties for all places in the standings (between two teams
or three or more teams) which can be broken
based upon head-to-head competition are broken before the
implementation of further tie-breaking
procedures.
[2] If more than two teams are tied, the three or more tie-
breaking procedures shall be implemented. If
only two teams are tied, the two-team tie-breaking
procedures shall be implemented.
[3] In the case of ties for more than one place, the first
tie broken is that of the highest place (i.e., first
place, second place, etc.) and continue downward through the
standings.
[4] If the tie is for first place and cannot be broken by a
head-to-head results, compare the tied teams’
winning percentage against the next highest finishing team
and continue through the standings. The team
with the best winning percentage against the next highest-
finishing team or group of tied teams advances.
If the tie is for any position other than first place, the
comparison shall begin at the top of the standings.
[5] Once a tied team has been placed in a position/seed,
that team shall be included in all further comparisons
of other tied teams from the position/seed in which it has
been placed.
b. Tie-Breaking Procedures
[1] Two-Way Tie:
[i] The winner of the head-to-head competition is the higher
seed.
[ii] If the tie is for first place, compare the tied teams’
records against the next highest finishing team
and continue through the standings. The team with the best
record/winning percentage against the
next highest finishing team or group of tied teams advances.
If the tie is for any position other than
first place, the comparison shall begin at the top of the
standings.
General Sport Regulations
45
Sport
Regulations
[iii] If a tie still remains, the Conference office shall
conduct a draw. The drawn team shall receive the
higher seed.
[iv] Men and Women’s Basketball Only. If a tie still
remains, the institution with the highest RPI following
the conclusion of the WAC’s regular season shall receive the
higher seed (replaces iii above).
The official NCAA RPI shall be used, if available. If not,
CollegeRPI.com shall be used. [5/06]
[2] Three or More-Way Tie. Once a tie has been reduced to
two teams, the two-team tie-breaker is
implemented.
[i] Compare the records of the tied teams against each
other. The team(s) with the best record(s)
versus the other tied teams receives the higher seed or
advances to the next tie-breaker; the team
with the next best record versus the other tied teams
receives the next highest seed or advances to
the next tie breaker, etc.
[ii] If the tie is for first place, compare the tied teams’
records against the next highest finishing team
and continue through the standings. The team with the best
record against the next highest-finishing
team or group of tied teams advances. If the tie is for any
position other than first place the comparison
shall begin at the top of the standings.
[iii] If a tie still remains, the Conference office shall
conduct a draw. The first team drawn shall receive
the higher seed, the second team drawn shall receive the
next highest seed, etc.
[iv] Men and Women’s Basketball Only. If a tie still
remains, the institution with the highest RPI following
the conclusion of the WAC’s regular season shall receive the
higher seed (replaces iii above).
The official NCAA RPI shall be used, if available. If not,
CollegeRPI.com shall be used.

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Fullerton

Troy Gillenwater and Terrance Joyner are each dressed to play tonight. Gillenwater tweaked an ankle on Monday against La Tech and tonight is the first time Joyner has been in uniform since his arrest on Feb. 4


While their best player is guard Josh Akognon and he will be a handful, the size difference is obvious. Fullerton's biggest players are 6-8. The Aggies could look to get it inside early

Fullerton 44, NMSU 43 HALFTIME
Akognon is everything as advertised, leading the way with 22 first half points in this shootout. Castillo has come off the bench for two triplles and eight points. The Aggies have nine offensive rebounds and lead the rebounding battle 22-13

NMSU 94, Fullerton 86
The Aggies were 18 of 23 in the second half and shot a season best 63 percent for the game. the difference is obvious. Akognon had 32 points, but the Aggies had six players in double figures

Check this guy out

I don't know if you've seen this but check out the Spurs second round pick. I'm looking forward to seeing this guy play, which is different than last year at this time.

Monday, February 16, 2009

Versus La. Tech

LA TECH
Guyton
Rogers
Rolle
Gibson
Loe

NMSU
Young
Laroche
Gibson
McKines
Rahman

La tech 9, NMSU 8 11:48
It looked for a minute that NMSU was going to start running, but after starting 1-9 La Tech is doing a good job getting back and playing their pace. they go through rolle and he seems like a good passer so far

NMSU 17, La Tech 15 7:55
Gillenwater returned to the court with 9:10 left in the first half

NMSU 21, La Tech 20 3:26
Gabriel isn't having his best game, but Gibson is off to a good start and he's doing it on the defensive end with a couple steals, he drew an offensive foul and he has an assist. At some point, either Gibson or Young will have to start making shots as they are 2-10 combined

NMSU 30, La Tech 23 HALF
La Tech was scoreless for nearly six minutes with the Aggies outscoring La Tech 13-3 to close the first half

NMSU 41, La Tech 29 14:05
La Tech closed to within 4 but the Aggies are on a 8-2 run with Rolle at the line out of the timeout

NMSU 51, La Tech 34 7:42
I'm calling it. It's over. balanced effort for the Aggies tonight offensively while holding La Tech to 30 percent shooting

NMSU 65, La Tech 63
Sorry Aggies fans i think i jinxed it. Gibson's 30-footer looked good and was halfway down off the glass, but the Aggies pulled it out. They were outscored 21-7 in the last 348

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Fresno State

Troy is dressed and warming up. Terrance is in streetclothes

Fresno State
Ladd
Cartwright
Golubovic
George
Seay

NMSU
Laroche
Young
Gibson
McKines
Rahman

NMSU 12, Fresno 9 11:39
Wendell is all over the place filling up the stat sheet. He has three streals, two of which set up layups during a 6-0 run but Sylvester Seay has hit some jumpers to keep Fresno close early

Fresno 20, NMSU 15 7:54
Fresno shoots a lot of 3s. They are 4 of 8 so far and hit from long distance on three straight possessions

Fresno 24, NMSU 22 3:38
NMSU came back to tie it at 20-20 and now fresno's Brandon Sperling is shooting two out of the media timeout

Fresno 31, NMSU 24
Wendell and Jahmar each had two fouls and Menzies sat Gillenwater the first half so not a lot of scoring on the court to end the first half as the Aggies didnt score in for the last three minutes and were outscorred 11-4 in the last 4:55

Fresno 45, NMSU 41 10:57
Fresno is spreading the court. They have shot nine 3s here in the second half after nine the entire first half

Fresno 51, NMSU 50 7:38
The Aggies took a brief lead after Young hit a 3 from the top of the key to tie it at 46-46

NMSU 66, Fresno 66

Sory, 79-71 Aggies in OT
Wendell and J.Y. took over in OT

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Tuesday

During Tuesday's Coach Menzies press conference, he said that he hasn't decided if Troy Gillenwater would practice. I hope to talk to him after practice since Aggies practices are closed. I did see Gillenwater in practice gear as he left the lockerroom and went to the training room so I don't know if that means anything.

Regarding Joyner, I talked with McKinley Boston on Monday. He said that he will meet with Menzies and Joyner at some point this week. He said the challenge is determining if the arrest subjects him to a first positive test, which would go a long ways to determine the length of the suspension based on the guidelines of the student athlete handbook.

Monday, February 9, 2009

La Tech fires women's coach

RUSTON, La. (AP) — Louisiana Tech fired coach Chris Long on Monday and promoted former WNBA star Teresa Weatherspoon to the top spot on an interim basis.Long, who was an assistant at Tech for six seasons before he became the head coach in 2005, went 71-44 with the Lady Techsters. Louisiana Tech is 12-11 this season and in danger of missing the NCAA tournament for the third straight year after a run of 25 straight appearances.“I put my heart and soul into trying to revive a program that I have been a part of for a decade,” Long said in a statement released by the school. “The landscape of women’s basketball has changed dramatically over the last eight years or so. I know as far as academics and players in the program, that I am leaving it in better shape than I inherited it.”A former Lady Techster, Weatherspoon was a member of the U.S. Olympic team that won a gold medal in 1988.

Saturday, February 7, 2009

Team win

I'm still trying to comprehend what I watched on ESPN2. perhaps they should play unde rthe bright lights more often?
Everyone on this blog knows why the Aggies were missing who they were missing. Kelly Merker, Robert Lumpkins and Chris Gabriel didnt put up big numbers but they were solid. Lumpkins showed some awareness late int he shot clock using a gabriel screen to knock down a jumper. All it takes is one game to turn the season around and with four of their last six at home, all against teams that are beatable, the Aggies could actually go on a little streak here.
I think it just goes to show that everything in the WAC is pretty even and that even includes coaches. I mean, Fox didn't blow me away in the game that the Wolf Pack won here and tonight he lost his second straight at home so i wonder if the nevada fan base is calling for his head while Utah State is eeking out wins on a nightly basis. I understand things can turn quickly but i think menzies deserves some credit for getting his players to play shorthanded and on the road, coming off a loss.
I haven't forgotten about what transpired over the weekend and i doubt Aggies fans, administrators or coaches have either, but I think the Aggies deserve a day to enjoy a big win.

Women's hoops

I covered the Aggies loss at home against Boise State on Friday. Tough loss, but a couple things stood out to me. The first is that Madison Spence seems like she is more comfortable taking over games. The Aggies gave up their first half lead and went scoreless for five minutes, but Spence started to take over, either scoring herself or dishing to teammates against Boise's zone. It's something that I think she needs to do more and its something I think her teammates accept as a game goes along.

the other thing was a little more fire from Darin Spence. Not that Darin isn't a competitor or intense during games because he is but he was visibly pissed off following the game saying that his team doesn't hate losing enough yet. At times he talks about his teams youth and inexperience which are all factors, but the bottom line is they had this one won and they lost it. They've had some tough losses this season, but maybe they can turn the corner down the stretch, starting sunday against Idaho

NMSU makes it official

Gillenwater to Miss Nevada Game
RENO, Nev.-New Mexico State men’s basketball head coach Marvin Menzies has suspended freshman forward Troy Gillenwater for one game due to conduct detrimental to the team. 

Gillenwater

After reading about an alleged incident involving troy gillenwater on a message board, i've heard a lot of things. All that I know is that Gillenwater is still in reno (contrary to one rumor) and his status for tonight's game is still up in the air. with or without him, the Aggies are heading into a bad situation where nevada is coming off a home loss to la tech. without him, i dont see the aggies pressuring nearly as much, which would hurt them because their pressure was effective against nevada in the first half at the pan am. i guess they could play the same way if wendell plays 39 minutes. obviously gabriel and lumpkins will need to build on their efforts at utah state. lumpkins didnt hurt the aggies but i'm not sold on him yet and maybe playing the point settles gibson down a little bit? i only really saw one bad shot jonathan took at utah state.

Thursday, February 5, 2009

7 p.m. tipoff

The New Mexico State men’s basketball ESNPU BracketBuster game versus Cal State Fullerton, Feb. 21, is scheduled for a 7 p.m. tipoff in the Pan American Center.

Joyner and Utah State

I know people want to know what is going on with Terrance Joyner so here is the story I wrote. I was chatting with McKinley Boston and he said that the first phone he makes in situations like this is to compliance in terms of the APR implications should a player leave the university. A lot of people talk about kicking Terrance off the team (by the way, there is precedence this season. Remember Johnny Higgins) but it's too early to talk about at this point. I'm sure it will be a topic at Tuesday's Menzies press conference.

For tonight's game, I don't think the loss of Joyner will play that big of a factor into the game considering the aggies played without him for so long anyway. Jonathan Gibson needs to get out of this slump that he's in this weekend if the Aggies have a chance of pulling off an upset in either Reno or Logan. If he doesn't, I think the Aggies return to Cruces trying to fight their way back to .500.

Utah State is a good team with good players and a good coach in a great home court advantage but they aren't invincible by any means. I think Wendell has a better game this time out to cancel Wesley out and perhaps Gibson plays better, but wilkinson is too much inside and Newbold improves on his game in Las Cruces to become the x factor in a Utah State win

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Confirmation

During his weekly press conference, Aggies coach Marvin Menzies was asked about the team's Feb. 21 game against Cal State Fullerton, he also confirmed that the UCLA game next season was done. I reported that on here earlier this season. He didn't have a date for me however, but I'll get that for you as soon as I can.

Monday, February 2, 2009

Bracketbuster teams

2009 ESPNU BracketBusters Pairings

Here are the televised games
Friday, Feb. 20
Virginia Commonwealth at Nevada
Illinois State at Niagara

Saturday, Feb. 21
George Mason at Creighton
#11 Butler at Davidson
Miami (OH) at Evansville
Hofstra at Fairfield
Green Bay at Long Beach State
Liberty at Old Dominion
Boise State at Portland State
#22 Utah State at Saint Mary's
Northern Iowa at Siena
Buffalo at Vermont
Northeastern at Wright State


The remaining WAC matchups which the WAC website says will be played on Feb. 21
UC Irvine at Hawai‘i
Cal State Northridge at Idaho
UC Riverside at San Jose State
Cal State Fullerton at New Mexico State
Fresno State at UC Davis
Louisiana Tech at Murray State

Utah State makes it in

As if Thursday's game wasn't big enough. An upset on the road would do wonders for the Aggies


USA Today/ESPN Top 25 Poll
The top 25 teams in the USA Today-ESPN men’s college basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Feb. 1, points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote and previous ranking:
Record Pts Pvs
1. Connecticut (28) 20-1 772 2
2. Oklahoma (3) 21-1 729 5
3. Duke 19-2 682 1
4. North Carolina 19-2 670 6
5. Pittsburgh 19-2 633 3
6. Wake Forest 17-2 609 4
7. Louisville 17-3 604 7
8. Marquette 19-2 586 8
9. Xavier 19-2 529 10
10. Clemson 18-2 487 11
11. Butler 19-1 456 13
12. UCLA 17-4 400 16
13. Purdue 17-4 369 17
14. Michigan State 17-4 356 9
15. Memphis 18-3 309 19
16. Villanova 17-4 298 21
17. Texas 15-5 274 12
18. Gonzaga 16-4 201 25
19. Minnesota 18-3 197 24
20. Syracuse 17-5 162 15
21. Illinois 18-4 126 20
22. Utah State 21-1 106 NR
23. Arizona State 16-5 104 14
24. Kansas 17-4 100 NR
25. Washington 16-5 78 NR

The Top Twenty Five
By The Associated Press
The top 25 teams in The Associated Press’ college basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Feb. 1, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote and previous ranking:
Record Pts Pvs
1. Connecticut (64) 20-1 1,792 2
2. Oklahoma (5) 21-1 1,691 4
3. North Carolina (3) 19-2 1,639 5
4. Duke 19-2 1,563 1
5. Louisville 17-3 1,464 7
6. Pittsburgh 19-2 1,427 3
7. Wake Forest 17-2 1,409 6
8. Marquette 19-2 1,358 8
9. Xavier 19-2 1,176 10
10. Clemson 18-2 1,077 12
11. Butler 19-1 1,051 13
12. Purdue 17-4 961 16
13. Michigan St. 17-4 876 9
14. Memphis 18-3 798 18
15. UCLA 17-4 787 17
16. Texas 15-5 724 11
17. Villanova 17-4 698 21
18. Gonzaga 16-4 632 20
19. Minnesota 18-3 426 —
20. Syracuse 17-5 415 15
21. Kansas 17-4 316 —
22. Washington 16-5 216 23
23. Illinois 18-4 198 19
24. Arizona St. 16-5 146 14
25. Utah St. 21-1 99 —

A no brainer

DENVER - New Mexico State's Jahmar Young has been named the Western Athletic
Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Week for Jan. 26-Feb. 1. The honor
marks the first career WAC Player of the Week award for Young.

Young, a sophomore from Baltimore, Maryland (Laurinberg Prep), led the
Aggies to a pair of wins over San Jose State and Hawai'i. Against San Jose
State, Young scored a season-high 32 points, one shy of tying his
career-high mark. He blocked a career-high two shots against the Spartans
and tied his career-best mark for steals (four) and season-best mark for
field goal shots made (nine). In the win against Hawai'i, Young led the way
with 25 points and seven rebounds. He was a perfect 8-of-8 from the free
throw line and was 3-of-4 from behind the three-point line.

On the week, Young averaged 28.5 points per game and shot 72.7 percent
(16-of-22) from the field. He was 70 percent (7-of-10) from beyond the arc
and 90 percent (18-of-20) from the free throw line. Young averaged 5.0
rebounds, 2.0 steals and 1.0 blocks per game.

Other nominees: Boise State senior Mark Sanchez; Fresno State freshman
Mychal Ladd; Idaho junior Mac Hopson; Nevada freshman Luke Babbitt; San Jose
State sophomore Adrian Oliver; and Utah State sophomore Tai Wesley.