NMSU scrimmage

In case you forgot, or don't follow me on Twitter, NMSU had a closed scrimmage on Saturday against Utah Valley University, formally Utah Valley State. The Aggies have done this against Texas Tech the past two years. Here is Utah Valley's webpage. They didn't have an updated roster but their leading scorer Isiah Williams is back as a senior i belive after scoring 17 ppg last year.  They were 19-11 and 11-1 in the Great West

Benson from Tuesday's WAC call

Probably the most intriguing piece to Tuesday's WAC call, regarding this year's WAC Tournament.

WAC Commissioner Karl Benson announced that the 2011-12 WAC Tournament will revert back to a traditional format after the loss of Boise State.

Last year’s tournament at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas was the first time the tournament rewarded the top-two seeds with a bye into the semifinal round.

“It’s in the best interest to revert to a traditional 8-team bracket with four quarterfinal games,” Benson said. “This will be a one-year consideration and will re-evaluate it when we become a 10-team league (in 2012-13).”

Benson said the women’s quarterfinals will be played on Wednesday and the men’s quarterfinals will be played on Thursday.

Benson said he hopes to determine the site for the 2012-13 tournament sometime before this year’s tournament.

Obviously, the WAC wants to remain in Las Vegas.

Last year’s format certainly affected attendance at the Orleans Arena. The arena was virtually empty until the Utah State fanbase arrived for the semifinals.

The format change rewarded teams for a good regular season. 

“We made the decision to go to Las Vegas the year previous to accommodate the long time wishes of coaches (for a neutral site),” Benson said. “A year later, coaches came back with a new format. At the time, I wish I could have said that you can’t have both. It was a lesson learned. Going back to this format gives us the best possible chance to make Las Vegas successful so we can return to the site.”

Boyd de-commits

Guess those early verbals don't mean much. Too bad. NMSU was excited about him. Hopefully he still shows up.


http://www.arizonapreps.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1280481

WAC ballots

Western Athletic Conference preseason ballots

Men’s basketball

Coaches poll

Team 1st place points

1. Nevada 5 46

2. NMSU 41

3. Utah St. 3 38

4. Hawaii 32

5. Idaho 24

6. Fresno State 18

7. San Jose St. 14

8. La. Tech 11

Media

1. Utah State 13 174

2. Nevada 5 162

3. NMSU 3 150

4. Hawaii 3 126

5. Idaho 89

6. San Jose St. 66

7. Fresno St. 59

8. La. Tech 38

Women’s basketball

Coaches

1. La. Tech 5 47

2. Utah St. 2 40

3. Fresno St. 1 36

4. Nevada 33

5. Hawaii 22

6. NMSU 18

7. Idaho 17

8. San Jose St. 11

Media

1. La Tech 13 144

2. Fresno St. 3 129

3. Utah St. 3 126

4. Nevada 80

5. Hawaii 72

6. NMSU 59

7. Idaho 52

8. San Jose St. 22

Preseason All-WAC 

Men’s basketball

Coaches

POY — Nevada sophomore Deonte Burton

First team

Deonte Burton, Nevada

Vander Joaquim, Hawaii

Zane Johnson, Hawaii

Wendell McKines, New Mexico State

Brockeith Pane, Utah State

Second team

Kyle Barone, Idaho

Dario Hunt, Nevada

Hernst Laroche, New Mexico State

Brady Jardine, Utah State

Malik Story, Nevada

Media

POY — Brockeith Pane, Utah State

Newcomer of the Year — Shaquille Stokes, Hawaii

First team

Deonte Burton, Nevada

Dario Hunt, Nevada

Zane Johnson, Hawaii

Wendell McKines, New Mexico State

Brockeith Pane, Utah State

Women’s basketball

Coaches

POY — Ashlee Brown, Utah State

First team

Jasmine Bendolph, La. Tech

Ashlee Brown, Utah State

Whitney Jones, La. Tech

Rosie Moult, Fresno State

Kayla Williams, Nevada

Second team

Devyn Christensen, Utah State

Kamilah Jackson, Hawaii

Shawna-Lei Kuehu, Hawaii

Taylor Thompson, Fresno State

Tabytha Wampler, New Mexico State

Media

POY — Ashlee Brown, Utah State

First team

Jasmine Bendolph, La. Tech

Ashlee Brown, Utah State

Kamilah Jackson, Hawaii

Rosie Moult, Fresno State

Tabytha Wampler, New Mexico State

Second team

Shantale Bramble-Donaldson, Louisiana Tech

Amanda Johnson, Nevada

Whitney Jones, La. Tech

Taylor Thompson, Fresno State

Kayla Williams, Nevada

Aggies notes and my WAC ballot

The WAC is holding its preseason conference call Tuesday morning at 10 a.m., releasing the coaches and media polls and their All-WAC selections. Following is the ballot I turned in.

An interesting side note on Tuesday is that I talked to Karl Benson on Monday, asking about the WAC Tournament format now that there are eight teams. Remember how the Top 2 teams got a bye into the semis last year. Dont know how much sense that makes for an 8 team league, plus I think it hurt the overall attendance for the tournament. Benson wouldn't tell me but there will be some news on the 8 team format on Tuesday.

My  predicted Order of finish
1. Nevada
2. New Mexico State
3. Utah State
4. Hawaii
5. Idaho
6. San Jose State
7. Fresno State
8. Louisiana Tech

WAC Player of the Year — Wendell McKines, NMSU
Newcomer of the Year — Kevin Foster, Fresno State

All WAC
McKines, NMSU
Dario Hunt, Nevada
Deonte Burton, Nevada
Malik Story, Nevada
Zane Johnson, Hawaii

I've written all about the top two teams. Utah State has the best coach and the best home court in the conference, although if they push for their fifth straight title, would it be Stew's best coaching job? I think so. Hawaii seems like the popular up and comer team. I like Hawaii. I like Gib Arnold. I love Vander Joaquim. But it's Hawaii. I remember San Jose State was the team two years ago. And Idaho had all of their players coming back after Don Verlin's first year only to fall flat. I think there is a reason bottom half teams finish in the bottom half. Nevada, NMSU and Utah State have done it over time. Until the other schools show me something in the tournament, I'm not buying the preseason hype.

Now for some Aggie notes. First here is a story I wrote on Tony Delk.

Here are some quotes from Delk:
On Marvin Menzies "It's been great being around him. He has a feel for this team and a passion for basketball overall. He is like a father figure to most of these guys. He wants to see this team be successful."

I asked him about the NBA potential of players. He said he encourages players to stay in the present and if the league is there, it will come. Delk said he has to be honest with players and that you have to outwork other players and separate yourself from other players in one thing. Here is what he said about Wendell McKines, whose rebounding prowess could provide his ticket.

"You want to see a guy like that succeed. He believes in himself. You have to have confidence in your ability. I think he will have a shot or an opportunity to maybe try out for a team. You can't teach his work ethic. It's remarkable for a kid to get hurt like that last year. He knows this is his last go-around in college basketball and he wants to make the most out of it."

NMSU players have soaked up everything Delk says because of his pro career. But he also won a national championship at Kentucky.

"Even at Kentucky, we told guys to unpack your bags and enjoy the college experience because once it's over, it's over. If it's there in the future, prepare for it in the present and then when you get to that point, you will be ready for it but you have to enjoy each practice and each game."

I also talked to junior wing Tyrone Watson. Watson has been working on his release, which has a noticeable hesitation at the top of his jump shot. Watson still hit a decent percentage, shooting 32 percent on 37 attempts.

"I'm just trying to get the shot off quicker and get the hitch out of it and not pause up in the air so long. The adjustment of my feet and just getting strength into the shot from the ground up."

Watson entered his sophomore season battling Bandja Sy for playing time. The injury to Wendell McKines and Watson's toughness made  him an easy decision for minutes and he wound up starting all 33 games.

"I didn't expect to start at all. It was a blessing to start and I took the opportunity. I don't expect to start just because I did last year. Everyone is battling for each other's position. At the end of the day, it's still a family."

On McKines' return
"My workload is not going to be so heavy because he's back. He's expecting big things for himself and we really want it for him because he had to sit and watch last year."

The Aggies' slow starts in recent years have killed attendance. But they also take a while to recover from a chemistry and continuity standpoint, hence their hovering around .500 all year last year. NMSU has an experienced group this year and some winnable games early with some tough ones as well.

"I think we are going to have a better start to the season than we have had in the past compared to where we have lost a bunch of games at the start and then try to build it back up. I think we are going to be more steady."

No. 1 — New Mexico State senior forward Wendell McKines

As a reporter in a market this size, you don't think players or coaches read things, but Wendell McKines has proven over time that he does. He reminded me of a blog entry I wrote his sophomore or junior season where I believed that he should come off the bench and provide an energy boost for the Aggies. That's not the reason I believe McKines to be the best player in the WAC this year, but I do have some concerns. The biggest is the simple fact that nobody has seen him play since March 19, 2010 in a NCAA Tournament loss to Michigan State. McKines told me the other day that he was disappointed with his individual performance in that game (1 for 8, 7 points, 7 rebounds) He worked over that summer getting ready to play on the perimeter last year along side Troy Gillenwater and Hamidu Rahman. We all know what happened. Now from what he tells me, he's moving back into the post, but he will likely still show an improved jumper and game off the dribble. As I thought about it though, what put him ahead of other players this year to me is that even if he is the same player we saw as a junior (10.7 ppg, 9.8 rpg), he's the best player in the league. He led the league with 9.8 boards per game in WAC play at a time the league had really good rebounders like Babbitt, Rolle, Oakes, Ashaolu and Okoye. From a local standpoint, is McKines the best pure athlete they've had here? He will likely leave NMSU No. 2 in rebounds behind Sam Lacy. Lacy is also the only Aggie to have 1000 points and 1000 rebounds, but all McKines has to do to join that company average 4 ppg and 8 rpg this season. What put McKines over Burton to me though was his unselfishness as a player. He averaged 3 assists per game as junior in 24 games. I wouldn't be surprised to see McKines record at least one triple double this season, which would make him the third to do so at NMSU and the first since William Benjamin had 15 pts, 11 rebounds and 10 assists in a 120-62 win at home against Cal State Northridge in 1990. The best player in the WAC should make players around him better, and McKines has certainly done that throughout his career.

No. 2 — Nevada sophomore guard Deonte Burton

I know that Burton was the focus when the Aggies got ready to play Nevada. Nevada played a tough schedule with virtually no returning experience. In WAC play, they started to figure it out but went 8-8, looked great in the qtrs and not so great in the semis. Burton finished 10th in the WAC with 13.7 ppg, but he led Nevada and was fifth in the league in conference play at 15.8 ppg. Burton ranked seventh in WAC play with 3.4 apg. That's an area I would like to see him improve, even though he has to score as well. He played 30 minutes per game but had 113 assists for a team that likes to run. He finished fourth in the WAC in assists but consider the dropoff between him and the other top point guard. Anderson had 165 as a scorer at Boise St., Laroche had 152 and Graham had 141. 113 seems like a low number. Other numbers to consider, Burton had 1.3 steals per game, shot  42 percent from the floor because he's so good at getting to the basket and was a respectable 36 percent from 3-pt range. He was 46 percent in WAC play. I think Burton will be even better with a year under his belt.

No. 3 — Hawaii senior guard Zane Johnson
No. 4 — Nevada senior center Dario Hunt
No. 5 — Nevada junior guard Malik Story
No. 6 — Hawaii junior center Vander Joaquim
No. 7 — Nevada senior center forward Olek Czyz
No. 8 — New Mexico State senior point guard Hernst Laroche
No. 9 — Idaho junior center Kyle Barone
No. 10 — Utah State senior point guard Brockeith Pane