Vanquish The Foe: FanShots

Aztecs, Lobos both escape and advance

2010-03-12T00:59:11Z

Aztecs, Lobos both escape and advance

San Diego State's D.J. Gay made two free throws with 23 seconds remaining to tie and then take the lead, 72-71. Adam Nigon led the Rams with 18 points but they came up just short in fulfilling Layton's prediction.

AFA also gave New Mexico a fight in the second half of their matchup, but Darington Hobson went ballistic and led the Lobos to a 75-69 win.

The Aztecs and Lobos will meet each other in tomorrow night's semifinal game at 6 PM. SDSU beat New Mexico in San Diego and lost in OT at The Pit last month.

Utah recruit charged with battering coach

2010-03-11T00:57:42Z

Utah recruit charged with battering coach

A high school quarterback in Southern California said he still has a full scholarship offer from Utah despite being expelled after an altercation with his baseball coach.

Tyler Shreve, 18, of Redlands, Calif., wrestled Redlands East Valley baseball coach James Cordes to the ground in anger after being informed he was being dismissed from the team. The incident happened on school grounds on Feb. 24.

Air Force opens tourney with win over Wyoming

2010-03-11T00:48:47Z

Air Force opens tourney with win over Wyoming

The Falcons will play New Mexico tomorrow at Noon PST. The last time the two teams played, Air Force held the Lobos to 40% shooting and nearly pulled off an upset (59-56). Of course, New Mexico also won by 23 in Colorado Springs back in January. Still, you have to hope the Falcons can at least make a game of it.

SB Nation: WAC Tourney Preview

2010-03-10T21:48:06Z

SB Nation: WAC Tourney Preview

Mar 10, 2010 - Take whatever you know about the WAC from football season - namely that the competition is weak, the level of play is lacking, Mark May knows very little about how it really works, and Boise State is supremely dominant - replace Boise State with Utah State, and you have a pretty good idea of how WAC men's basketball works.

There is Utah State and then everyone else.

MWC Tournament Preview: Four Team Battle

2010-03-09T16:29:22Z

MWC Tournament Preview: Four Team Battle

Expect the favorites to advance to the semis which is where there will be some good hoops action taking place. There have been only two teams fifth or below to beat a top four team, so do not expect any lower seed to advance. The expected matchup of BYU vs. UNLV in round two will be intense since neither school likes each other and there is a history between the teams when they play in the conference tournament. Also, UNLV has all ready beaten the Cougars in Vegas once this season. The Rebels should be cautious since they do play the Utes who swept the Rebels, but do not expect a third loss to the Utes by UNLV.

If New Mexico gets to go against San Diego State in the semis that game will be intense. The last time the two played it went in overtime with the Lobos pulling it out by two. The Aztecs go a bit deeper in their rotation, but lack the player who can really take over a game, where as the Lobos have that type of player in Darrington Hobson

Predicting who will win or even advance to the finals is very difficult since each of the top four have a legit shot to win this thing. San Diego State is the weakest of the three, because they have had some questionable losses. UNLV has the home court and has a 13-3 record, BYU has beaten the other three favorites, and New Mexico is riding a 13 game winning streak.

Local HD Listings - MWC Tournament

2010-03-09T16:26:18Z

Local HD Listings - MWC Tournament

Please join me in welcoming The Mtn. network to the 21st Century. Each conference tournament game will be in HD. Maybe someday they'll broadcast all the Cougars' games in high-definition.

What will it be like to NOT time-travel to 1987? We'll find out this weekend.

Awards in abundance for Cougars

2010-03-09T08:31:59Z

Awards in abundance for Cougars

Jimmer Fredette - All-MWC First Team
Jackson Emery - All-MWC Second Team, All-Defensive Team
Jonathan Tavernari - All-MWC Third Team, 6th-Man of the Year
Tyler Haws - All-MWC Third Team

The Defensive Player of the Year award went to David Foster of Utah. Foster is 5th in the nation in blocked shots and 748th in defensive rebounds. Meanwhile, Jackson Emery is 2nd in the nation in steals and averages 3.6 defensive rebounds per game compared to Foster's 3.3 average. Just sayin'.

Don't sleep on BYU's Jimmer Fredette as a potential draft candidate this year. If he were playing...

2010-03-09T02:26:56Z

Don't sleep on BYU's Jimmer Fredette as a potential draft candidate this year. If he were playing at Duke, he'd be mentioned as a potential player of the year candidate. Much like Duke's own Jon Scheyer, he's not the greatest athlete in the world, but he's tough, can really see the floor and he shoots the lights out."

'He's really tough and he's a fearless kid,' one NBA GM said. 'He's going to lead a team. I wish he was a little bit better athlete, but I can't name five better point guards in this draft. He'll find a way to do it at the next level.'"

Chad Ford, ESPN

MWC Connection: BYU stereotypes don't escape the NFL Combine

2010-03-05T00:02:17Z

MWC Connection: BYU stereotypes don't escape the NFL Combine

"We all get the dumb BYU jokes that they are old and married. Haha, real funny, but at the NFL combine one would think ... those would not be brought up.

Well you are wrong. Rich Eisen and Mike Mayock crack jokes about BYU tight end Dennis Pitta being married for the past nine years - real mature guys - well, at least Charles Davis makes a point to try to bring it back to actual football by saying he caught a lot of balls."

Dawg Sports: Why the Justice Dept.'s letter to Senator Hatch is ultimately inconsequential

2010-03-02T02:37:18Z

Dawg Sports: Why the Justice Dept.'s letter to Senator Hatch is ultimately inconsequential

The structure of college football is as fundamentally American as you can get, with the rising tide of the sport’s popularity lifting all boats. Boise State’s recent ascent parallels that of many previous "mid-majors" who now are part of the established power structure and the Broncos now find themselves knocking on the door of the full-fledged big time as the latest in a long line of upstarts who made good dating back at least as far as underdog Alabama in the 1926 Rose Bowl.

If you’re in favor of a Division I-A college football playoff, by all means, celebrate the fact that folks are talking about the BCS, for all the good it will do you. Even if the power brokers with a vested financial interest in preserving the existing system lacked the savvy, the political connections, and the war chest to beat back the tepid efforts suggested by the Justice Department’s letter to Senator Hatch---a dubious proposition at best---all the sturm und drang originating in the Beehive State will last approximately as long as it takes for the Mountain West to be made an automatically-qualifying BCS conference. Since that development appears to be right around the corner, Senator Hatch’s outrage figures to cool as soon as his home state’s major players are let inside the gates he presently is bound and determined to storm.

Glockner (CNNSI) - Bracketology Update

2010-03-01T23:23:21Z

Glockner (CNNSI) - Bracketology Update

East Region -
No. 6 BYU vs. No. 11 California (@ New Orleans)

West Region
No. 3 New Mexico vs. No. 14 Weber State (@ San Jose)

South Region
No. 7 UNLV vs. No. 10 Old Dominion (@ Providence)
No. 8 Clemson vs. No. 9 Utah State (@ Buffalo)

Blogging the Bracket: Bracketology Update

2010-03-01T22:49:18Z

Blogging the Bracket: Bracketology Update

MWC: 4
New Mexico (3), BYU (5), UNLV (10), San Diego State (13)

"The Lobos took their preferred spot in the West, thanks to a big win at BYU on Saturday. The Cougars, meanwhile, drop down to the 5 line in the East (as that regional is played Thursday/Saturday), but their fans shouldn't fret, as they still remain at a Western site, San Jose, for the first weekend."

Cougars drop (slightly) in polls

2010-03-01T22:30:00Z

Cougars drop (slightly) in polls

AP - 14th (13th last week)
Coaches' - 15th (11th last week)

Other updated rankings:

Pomeroy - 6th
Sagarin - 9th
RPI - 23rd

Joe Lunardi (ESPN) - Bracketology Update

2010-03-01T22:26:48Z

Joe Lunardi (ESPN) - Bracketology Update

West Region -
No. 4 BYU vs. No. 13 Mississippi State (@ San Jose)
No. 6 Xavier vs. No. 11 Utah State (@ Providence)

Midwest Region
No. 2 New Mexico vs. No. 15 UC Santa Barbara (@ San Jose)

South Region
No. 3 Vanderbilt vs. No. 14 Weber State (@ New Orleans)
No. 4 Michigan State vs. No. 13 San Diego State (@ Spokane)

East Region
No. 7 UNLV vs. No. 10 Florida State (@ Providence)

Having now been swept by New Mexico, I'd say this [a No. 4 seed] is as high as BYU is going...

2010-03-01T22:21:14Z

Having now been swept by New Mexico, I'd say this [a No. 4 seed] is as high as BYU is going to get."

Joe Lundardi, ESPN

The Tavernari-Alford Altercation

2010-03-01T19:14:06Z

The Tavernari-Alford Altercation

Jay Bilas: New Mexico vs. BYU preview

2010-02-26T19:10:39Z

Jay Bilas: New Mexico vs. BYU preview

"BYU wins if … The Cougars can rebound with New Mexico and limit the Lobos to one shot. If BYU allows extra possessions to New Mexico on the glass, then the Cougars will have a tough time.

New Mexico wins if … The Lobos can get to the free-throw line. BYU is the better free throw shooting team, but New Mexico gets to the line more often. BYU plays both man-to-man and 2-3 zone, but New Mexico has to attack off the bounce and get to the free throw line to win."

DNews: When BYU was closer to joining the Pac-10

2010-02-26T18:05:16Z

DNews: When BYU was closer to joining the Pac-10

There are varying stories of BYU nearly joining the Pac-10 or Big 12. Hale, who served as A.D. at BYU from 1999-2004, says a move could well have happened. Tuckett, who was the A.D. from 1976-1993, isn't so adamant.

Though he wasn't A.D. at the time of the Pac-10 push, Hale knows this much: BYU did make a pitch to bigger conferences. He prepared the reports himself. Before he was A.D., he worked in marketing and media relations for the university.

He says BYU made a "quiet run" at the Pac-10 in the early 1990s.

Some believe the Pac-10 A.D.'s were in favor of BYU joining the conference, but the all-important presidents council wasn't. Asked how much support BYU had from the Pac-10, 20 years ago, Tuckett says, "There was a lot. All of the directors liked us, they knew us so well, they were all for it. But it's not an A.D.'s conference."

One story is that all the presidents of the Pac-10 voted to admit BYU, except Stanford's. Others say Oregon State and Washington State balked, fearful that BYU might replace one of them.

But Tuckett says there was never an expansion vote among Pac-10 presidents, as far as he knows.

SB Nation Power Poll: No. 11 BYU

2010-02-26T17:47:15Z

SB Nation Power Poll: No. 11 BYU

"On Saturday, the Mountain West Conference's top two teams square off in a game that will put place- and likely the MWC regular season crown - on the line. If you're Versus, you're salivating at this, right? You would think, only there's no explicit mention of the game anywhere on the main page of their website. After a few carefully selected click-throughs, you're given a link to read a preview from one of the network's college basketball analyst. But that link is broken, and Versus wants you to feel like a complete idiot for their webpage FAIL."

Sports Illustrated: Will the committee leave BYU in the West with the regional round in SLC?

2010-02-24T21:00:08Z

Sports Illustrated: Will the committee leave BYU in the West with the regional round in SLC?

This is a big question which is impacted by things like Question No. 1 and complicated by BYU's religious restrictions, which mandate the Cougars be placed into both a Thursday/Saturday subregional and regional. This season, that means BYU has to be in either the East or West region, and the West region would be an enormous home-region advantage.

BYU's situation will be handled similarly to Gonzaga's, with one additional caveat: right now, the Cougars are behind league rival New Mexico on the S-curve. In theory, that would give the Lobos first crack at the West regional and would force the Cougars into the East (because you can't have two of the top three teams from a conference in the same region).

In actuality, the cluster of Big East teams at the top of this week's bracket inadvertently hosed New Mexico, which was a 3 seed. Because Syracuse was the West No. 1, and the Big East also had two 2s (which couldn't be in Syracuse's region) and two 3s (which couldn't be paired in a region with a 2 seed from the conference), bracketing procedure forced the No. 3 seed in the West to be a Big East team. That pushed New Mexico out of the West region and opened the door for BYU to stay.

Bottom line: This situation is a lot more complicated than Gonzaga's, and we'll have to wait until right before Selection Sunday to have a real idea of how likely it will be that BYU gets to stay in the West.