Kevin McCarthy of Parsing the WAC and Sam Wasson of bleedcrimson.net are the RTC correspondents for the WAC.

Current Standings:

1. Utah State (5-0, 17-1)
2. Nevada (4-1, 11-7)
3. Boise State (3-2, 12-5)
4. New Mexico State (3-2, 9-9)
5. San Jose State (2-3, 8-8)
6. Idaho (2-3, 8-10)
7. Louisiana Tech (2-3, 8-10)
8. Hawai’i (1-4, 9-8)
9. Fresno State (0-4, 7-11)

Home Cookin’. Order was restored last week as after the first two weeks of conference play the road teams had jumped out to a 10-5 record against the hosts. However last week the home teams regained that home court advantage, going 6-1. Of the road losers, Fresno State could probably be declared the winner after two close losses to conference leaders Utah State and Nevada, falling by five points and four points respectively. Boise State probably had the toughest time as they went into the week undefeated in league play but came out nursing two double-digit defeats.

Official WAC Player of the Week. Nevada freshman frontcourter Luke Babbitt has been selected the Western Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball Player of the Week for the second straight week. In Wolf Pack wins over Boise State and Fresno State. Babbitt notched 18 points, 10 boards and two shot blocks in the former and 22 points along with 13 rebounds, against the latter.

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Kevin McCarthy from Parsing The WAC and Sam Wasson from bleedCrimson.net are the RTC correspondents for the WAC. 

(ed. note – we received this from our correspondents on Wednesday, Nov. 26, but due to unforeseen circumstances we were unable to post until today)

Flyspecks on the wall of the WAC

It’s a new season and mostly new lineups for the Western Athletic Conference in 2008-2009. A high percentage of the top players have graduated, leaving just two of the top 15 scorers back, Louisiana Tech junior guard Kyle Gibson and Utah State forward Gary Wilkinson.

In the snarkilicious So-What Department, WAC member teams went a perfect 14-0 in exhibition play this year. That’s not exactly the mighty flag Commissioner Karl Benson wants to fly. Once the real season started, the WAC has gone 19-13 in out-of-conference play. There have not been many notable victories, although, there have not been as many notable opponents as in seasons past either as the early schedule has been littered with the likes of Montana State-Northern, Grambling State, Evergreen and the mighty mighty California Maritime Academy, although, we’ll give San Jose State a pass because at least they didn’t schedule the Academy of Art (we’re looking at you University of San Francisco). The league has had early season battles with Southern Cal, San Diego, San Diego State, Michigan State, Gonzaga, St. Mary’s and Siena.

The conference player of the week was Boise State senior Mark Sanchez. A reserve last season, he’s playing the most minutes on the team and leading the Broncos in scoring, shooting percentage, free throws attempted and rebounding. Can he still have a place on the ‘Gettin’ No Love’ team or does the current attention he’s receiving disqualify him?

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A few stories that are bouncing around this week that we wanted to hit before they got too stale…

• Reno 911 Indeed. So everyone has already heard the certifiably insane story involving Nevada Wolfpack forward Tyrone Hanson, but in case you haven’t, here’s the quick recap. Nevada Coach Mark Fox forbids players from going out last Saturday night. Hanson goes to a Halloween party anyway (no word on whether he was dressed as a chump). Some rabblerousers show up and are asked to leave the party. When they don’t leave, they decide to give Hanson (6’6, 195 lbs) a wicked beatdown, knocking him unconscious and robbing him of his wallet and other belongings before shooting and killing three other people on their way out. So what’s Hanson’s big welcome back to campus? Ummmm…. he gets booted from the team for breaking the mandated curfew. After receiving the disappointing news, a bewildered Hanson was overheard muttering to Mark Fox, “I mean, what’s your encore, do you, like, anally rape my mother while pouring sugar in my gas tank?” Fox had no comment.
• Eric Gordon on Line 3. The phone call story from Indiana just won’t quit. On Tuesday, assistant coach Rob Senderoff resigned from his position, effectively making himself the fall guy for Kelvin Sampson’s impermissible phone calls to recruits. Does anyone else find it a little funny that he ‘resigned’ two weeks after the report came out, yet IU was willing to pay him over $66k in severance pay? Or is that hush money to keep the heat off the athletic department? There’s something rotten in Denmark Bloomington, folks. And we’re not the only blogger out there that thinks something else might be afoot. the IU blog Inside the Hall is just as confused by the timing as we are, and at least several of the commenters also believe there’s something very fishy going on in Bloomington.
• RIP Robert Goulet. Like everyone else, we mourned the passing of Mr. Goulet earlier this week, not because of any great affinity for his musical career (which was prodigious); rather, those incredibly entertaining mid-90s ESPN commercials (you remember, when ESPN was original and creative…) for college basketball. Apparently he won an Emmy for those brilliant spots. All sixteen are available on his site, but our favorite one will always be the one below, we’re just sayin… (that “Duncan kid” turned out ok, didn’t he?).

We’re counting down – just over one week until the first tipoffs…

• Didn’t Coach K wait a couple of years after winning B2B titles before using the back excuse? Whatsup Billy D, we realize your team is young, but come on!
• Georgia’s Dennis Felton is officially screwed – he just kicked leading scorer Takais Brown off the team. AOL Fanhouse wonders why UGa players are being charged $10 cashmoney for missing classes – we wonder the same thing.
• One week later, Mizzou’s Darryl Butterfield is at it again.
• Bill Self is in tight with half of the top 15 in the class of 09… will they beat Bucknell in 2011?
• More brilliance from BBall Prospectus – how similar is one player to another?
• Faustian bargains – why you should never marry a rival fan.
• Plissken takes a sensible look at why student-athletes shouldn’t be paid for their services.
• Will Kentucky build a new Rupp Arena?
• Duke and Carolina have special water needs.
• Speaking of special needs, Basketball Times chose Duke as the top program of the last decade.
• We don’t even know what to make of this ridiculous thing.
• Preseason Materials by Conference –
  • ACC –
    • Is the ACC going to have another “down” year?
    • Could be a tough year ahead for Va Tech.
    • The Grey Lady breaks down the league.
    • Luke Winn spends a day at NC State.
  • Big East –
    • Georgetown and Louisville are the co-favorites – the Fanhouse and Jeff Goodman have the scoop.
    • Turns out that it’s actually better when Syracuse is unranked to start the season.
    • Pitt freshman Darnell Dodson leaves school.
  • Big 10 –
    • Sometimes I dream… that he was me… like Mike… if I could be like Mike…
    • Goodman reports that Matt Painter at Purdue is probably going to start three freshmen.
    • Seth Davis is high on Michigan St.
    • Ohio St. knows how to make money with sports.
  • SEC –
    • We can’t help but root for Tyler Smith at Tennessee after reading this story.
    • Notes from SEC Media Days.
    • Billy Gillispie’s already dealing with a lot of injuries in his first month at UK.
    • One of those injuries is not Patrick Patterson’s heart.
    • SEC:TGTBTD on Takais Brown’s dismissal and their pick for COY.
  • Others –
    • The long road back for Josh Heytvelt.
    • Xavier is the runaway favorite in the A10.
    • Nevada’s Mark Fox deals with losing two NBA players from his roster.
    • Luke Winn checks in on Mark Turgeon at Texas A&M.
    • Andy Glockner chronicles the rise of Air Force.
    • Rivals is working through the top 25 storylines of the season.
    • We Suck at Sports notes some season preview tidbits.
    • Gary Parrish argues with his readers over his preseason picks.

It’s that time of year again.

Classes are already in session at many of our nation’s fair universities, and the first few days of school are always the best. Every new class seems interesting; every freshman girl is a hook-up prospect; even the textbooks you just dropped $1000 on seem to hold promises of educational fulfillment within. That is, before boredom reality sets in and you realize that solving organic chemistry problems using those confounding erector sets still doesn’t make any sense and the freshman gals are just as completely and utterly uninterested in you as last year’s class was. Oh well – at least football’s starting and a case of Beast still only costs $6.99, right?

You Still Have No Shot (even with the chub)

Along with the beginning of classes also comes another rite of fall passage – the annual news that some hoopsters around the nation didn’t get the job done in the classroom over the summer and will be academically ineligible for the fall semester. This usually doesn’t mean much from an on-court standpoint, because the players can still practice with the team – they just can’t play in any games until they’re eligible again. And given that most fall semesters end in mid-December, the amount of games any player tends to miss is usually in the single digits.

Already the following players have been declared ineligible for the fall semester:

• Quinton Watkins – Illinois – incoming freshman leaves Bruce Weber with a thin backcourt after Jamar Smith’s DUI rendered him ineligible for the entire season
• Lyndale Burleson – Nevada – presumptive junior starting PG for Mark Fox’s squad didn’t have enough credits to become eligible
• AJ Ratliff – Indiana – the senior guard (9.3 ppg last year) and Indiana Mr. Basketball will miss the first nine games of the season
• Ra’Sean Dickey – Georgia Tech – 6’9 senior starting forward (8.1 ppg; 5.3 rpg) will also miss the first semester due to grades

Isn’t it odd how so many players become ineligible for the fall semester but seemingly always make the grades for the spring semester? We suppose that has something to do with the tutorial services available to athletes that may not be as comprehensive during the summer months. Consider how the Purdue women’s basketball team does it (h/t to Lion in Oil):

Former Purdue assistant Katrina Merriweather has admitted to typing and revising a paper for guard Cherelle George during the 2005-2006 season. Sociology 220 must have been harder for George than she’d expected. Witness the following email exchange between the two:

10/26/05, 4:45 PM Merriweather to George: Here are some thoughts that should help. Make sure you read it and add your own info from class notes or any textbooks you use. All of my info is from the internet and what I remember…

10/26/05, 10:16 PM Merriweather to George: Throw away the other one. This one is better and more organized….

11/29/05, 2:43 AM Merriweather to George: Hey, you still have to do the title page and the reference page. I have attached everything you need to do those (two) things. Make sure you reread the paper and make it sound like you.

Ahh yes, nothing like a little academic fraud to whisk in the fall semester. Happy studying, folks!

Ron Wellman’s decision to elevate Dino Gaudio to the head coaching position at Wake Forest has been universally lauded by the hoopsnascenti over the last couple of days as a great hire. Nobody will dispute that this decision makes sense in terms of continuity for the program, the players and the university. But if you’ll indulge our playing of devil’s advocate for a moment, we ask the question – is this a good hire from a basketball standpoint?

This is a significantly tougher question to address, largely because Gaudio will be evaluated on games yet unplayed. We can point to his unimpressive records at Army and Loyola as evidence of coaching mediocrity; or, we can just as easily dismiss those situations as tantamount to coaching graveyards, where only the truly special of the business can succeed.

So we thought it could be interesting to see how elevating an assistant from within a program tends to work out, historically speaking. We took a look at all the mid- and high-major programs the last three offseasons (2004-06) that elevated an assistant from within its shop to the head coaching position. FYI – there have been six such examples in 2007 – Butler (Brad Stevens), Frank Martin (Kansas St.), Randy Peele (Winthrop), Jeff Reynolds (Air Force), Bob Nash (Hawaii), and Dino Gaudio (Wake Forest).

In 2004, there were four such instances. Three of those new head coaches have gone on to great success at their programs, and the fourth had a solid first year at his before moving on up the ladder the following offseason.

• Mark Fox – Nevada (following Trent Johnson) : rode Nick Fazekas to an 81-18 record the next three seasons, including two NCAA second round appearances. Contrastingly, his predecessor Johnson has largely struggled over on The Farm.
• Doc Sadler – UTEP (following Billy Gillispie) : Sadler continued the Texas Western renaissance for two seasons there, going 48-18 with one NCAA and one NIT appearance.
• Sean Miller – Xavier (following Thad Matta) : Xavier has continued to flourish under Miller, going 63-32 with two NCAA appearances, including the can you top this game vs. Ohio St. in the second round of 2007 that XU should have won.
• Chris Mooney – Air Force (following Joe Scott) : in his only season at AF, he was 18-12 (a slight drop from 22-7 the year prior) before taking a new job at Richmond.

Can Mark Fox continue his Reno Magic w/o Fazekas?

In 2005, there were only two instances. Here too both could be fairly qualified as successful transitions.

• Dave Rose – BYU (following Steve Cleveland) : in two seasons, Rose has taken the Cougs to one NCAA appearance and one NIT appearance, going 45-18 over that period.
• Andy Kennedy – Cincinnati (following Bob Huggins) : Kennedy enjoyed a 21-13 season in his only at the helm after Thuggins was fired, but what’s most telling is the utter collapse in the season after Kennedy was released by UC. The Bearcats were an atrocious 11-19 overall and dead last in the Big East (2-14) in 2006-07. Great decision there.

Last offseason there were four instances, and in a weird coincidence, two of those assistants were coach’s sons who had been formally groomed to take over the program. In one case, the new coach far exceeded his predecessor; in the others, it was largely status quo.

• Sean Sutton – Oklahoma St. (following Eddie Sutton) : Sean’s first year at the helm for the Pokes was up-and-down. OSU started strong, winning 16 of its first 17 games, but limped into the finish with an overall record of 22-13 (6-10) and losing in the first round of the NIT at home. This was still an improvement over his dad’s final season (17-16) (6-10), however.
• Tony Bennett – Washington St. (following Dick Bennett) : this was the feel-good story of the year, as son Tony updated his dad’s offense and took the Pac-10 and nation by surprise, going 26-8 (13-5) – a fifteen win improvement – and making the program’s first NCAA tournament since 1994.
• Ben Jacobson – Northern Iowa (following Greg McDermott) : this very solid mid-major program had its first non-NCAA appearance in four years during Jacobson’s first season at the helm, as his team sputtered to a pedestrian 18-13 campaign in the very competitive MVC.
• Fred Hill – Rutgers (following Gary Waters) : Hill’s first season is one he’d like to forget, we’re sure. The Scarlet Knights were 10-19 (3-13) and battled with Cincinnati for the distinction as worst team in the Big East all season long. Waters’ final season ended at 19-10, which was a cause for celebration with Rutgers basketball.

Tony Bennett is the Model for Gaudio

Obviously, it’s tough to draw a persuasive conclusion from this sample size, and we also realize that every situation involves different factors. Nevertheless, we find it striking that in seven of the ten instances above, the assistant coach who was elevated either outperformed his predecessor or kept the program at the level of success it already enjoyed (or not enjoyed, as with Oklahoma St.). In two cases, there was a slight dropoff from previous levels, and in only one case of a single season sample there was a significant decrease.

The problem with analyzing Gaudio’s situation at Wake in this light is that status quo means that he’ll be regularly finishing in the cellar of the ACC. With the recruits he has arriving one year from now, he’ll be expected to significantly outperform what Prosser accomplished during the last two seasons. Put another way, Deacon faithful will be satisfied with nothing less than challenging for the ACC title and annual NCAA appearances – much like the first four years of Prosser’s tenure. This is a high bar, but if the recent history of Gaudio’s peers is any indication, he may have a great shot at clearing it.