Western Athletic Conference Panty Raid

I know it’s lame, I do. But every time I see the Western Athletic Conference I always call it the “wiggidy wiggidy WAC.” I use to think that I was the only person who still had “wiggidy wack” in their vocabulary, but I see that I’m not alone.

It’s not about sports, but damn if that’s not a funny clip. I really should start watching Project Runway.

Anyway, the WAC is very top heavy with the Top 3 teams all having double digit wins in conference and less that 10 losses overall. Could this mid-major get three teams into the tournament?

Nevada finished the season first in the league with a 14-2 record in conference and a 27-3 overall record. They are another one of those darlings that have gotten to the Sweet 16 before and can do it again. The Wolfpack didn’t have that impressive of an out of conference schedule, playing Gonzaga, Santa Clara, and Oregon State among others. They won all of those games. This team is very well-rounded with 12 out of 13 players seeing action in at least 10 games this season. Nick Fazekas is the name everyone knows, leading the team in points per game (20.9), and rebounds (11.3).

New Mexico State comes in at second with an 11-5 conference record and 22-8 overall. The only other ranked team they played this year besides Nevada was Arizona at the beginning of the year and lost by 15.That was the extent of the impressive o-o-c schedule Aggies played. New Mexico State leads the league in scoring, averaging 78.3 points per game. The only team they lost to twice was Fresno State. This team is heavily dominated by upperclassmen, with only 4 of the 15 players being freshmen and having no sophomores.

Fresno State finished third with an 10-6 record in conference and 22-8 overall. They lost to Oregon State and Stanford early on, but beat the newly minted MVC Champions Creighton Bluejays. Fresno St. gets the bulk of their scoring from five players with Quinton Hosley leading the team in scoring with around 14 points a game. Kevin Bell leads the conference in assists while Dominic McGuire and Quinton Hosley are second and third in the conference in rebounding.

Utah State was fourth (9-7, 21-10) followed by Hawaii (8-8, 18-12), Boise State (8-8, 16-13), Louisiana Tech (7-9, 10-19), San Jose State (4-12, 5-24), and Idaho (1-15, 3-26). The tournament starts tomorrow, with the #8 vs. #9 game between Idaho and San Jose State. The winner will face Nevada in the quarterfinals two days later. I’m going the easy way and say Nevada wins this and gets the automatic bid.

All-WAC Hot Team

Tyler Tiederman-F 6’7′, 210 lbs. (Boise St.)
Quintin Hosley-G/F 6’6′, 210 lbs. (Fresno St.)
Julian Richardson-G 6’1′, 170 lbs. (San Jose St.)
Jared Dillinger-G/F 6’5′, 200 lbs. (Hawaii)
Colin Hallberg-C 6’11’, 260 lbs. (Boise St.)