The Nevada Sagebrush - » Tourney Breakdown: Battle begins Tuesday for NCAA bids

Tourney Breakdown: Battle begins Tuesday for NCAA bids

By Garrett Hylton
Tuesday, Mar. 11, 2008 @ 1:17 am

Five observations

The most interesting aspect of the Western Athletic Conference Tournament bracket is how the four co-champs split according to experience and talent. No. 1 Utah State and No. 4 Boise State are on the same side of the bracket while No. 2 Nevada and No. 3 New Mexico State are on the other side. Utah State boasts the only starting senior backcourt among the group while the Broncos start four seniors. Neither team is overwhelming from an athletic standpoint, but both teams are incredibly skilled and execute with great efficiency – they are the WAC’s top-two shooting teams. New Mexico State and Wolf Pack, on the other hand, are the two most talented teams in the field.
Don’t be surprised if there’s some first round craziness. It’s hard to say whether the bottom of the WAC is improving or whether the top is just that much worse than usual – probably a bit of both – but the teams are more even Nos. 1 through 9 than they have been in a long time. That could mean an upset or two in the first round. Even the top-seed Aggies could face a team that beat them in the regular season if San Jose State wins the play-in game against Louisiana Tech.
Of the four co-champs, the Wolf Pack has the best record against its side of the bracket. The Wolf Pack swept New Mexico State, Fresno State and Idaho. Utah State and Broncos are both 6-2 against its side of the bracket – although Utah State swept the Broncos – and the New Mexico State went 4-2 against its side of the bracket.
The WAC Tournament should show the conference’s struggles this season won’t last long. While all five All-WAC first-team players are seniors, five of the seven underclassmen to appear on the All-WAC second, newcomer or defensive team belong to the tournament’s top-three seeds. The Wolf Pack’s underclassmen are sophomore JaVale McGee (second team, defensive team), freshman Armon Johnson (newcomer of the year) and junior Lyndale Burleson (defensive team), while the Utah Aggies are represented by junior Gary Wilkinson (newcomer team) and New Mexico State are represented by freshman Herb Pope (newcomer team).
New Mexico State are the presumable favorites playing at home in the Pan-American Center, but homecourt advantage hasn’t been as beneficial in the WAC Tournament as you’d think. In the last 10 years, the host team has been a No. 1 or No. 2 eight times, but only five host teams have won the WAC Tournament. But while hosting the tournament doesn’t necessarily mean an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, is does give teams a pretty good chance of playing for one. Seven of the last 10 host teams have made it to the finals.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 11th, 2008 at 1:17 am and is filed under 2008 WAC Tournament Coverage, Sports, Sports CP. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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