With McGee gone, Fox still has time to recruit big man
Tuesday, Apr. 1, 2008 @ 12:20 am
Five years ago, Nevada basketball fans never thought this problem would arise.
Five years ago, when Nevada men’s basketball was about as popular as Nevada baseball, the thought of Pack players leaving school early was preposterous.
Now, coach Mark Fox has that problem.
For the second year in a row and third time in five years, Fox has to fill a position after a player decided to skip school and head for the NBA.
Sophomore JaVale McGee became the second player in two years to go pro early after Ramon Sessions did it last year. Junior Kirk Snyder opted for the draft in 2004.
If senior Marcelus Kemp gets drafted, which could happen late in the second round, it would be the second year in a row Nevada had two players go in the same draft.
So what now?
The Wolf Pack lost a bulk of its rebounds with McGee gone next year, and Fox doesn’t have a center that can rebound.
Malik Cooke, Matt LaGrone, Richie Phillips and recruit Luke Babbitt will all help on rebounds, but they are not centers.
Luckily for Fox, he has time.
With McGee gone, Fox now has time to recruit a big man. A smart choice would be a junior college transfer because they have more experience against better players.
Fox, however, can tell senior high school players who haven’t chosen a school yet that he has a starting position open on a team with the best mid-major recruiting class already in tact.
That could be interesting.
Softball’s hard schedule
The Nevada softball team’s next two series against Fresno State and Hawaii will be a tough test.
Fresno State is ranked No. 12 and Hawaii No. 17 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Division I Poll.
Everybody remembers when Nevada beat then No. 1 Arizona, which is currently No. 10 in the nation, and how amazing that was.
This could be a turning point if they can take two-of-three from both of these teams.
It would show that they can beat ranked non-conference and conference opponents, which is a task that many teams go through in good conferences.
Howe should be honored
When Fresno State beat Nevada in three of four games this past weekend, it also got the nod from the conference.
The Western Athletic Conference named Fresno State’s Justin Miller as its pitcher of the week after he pitched 9.2 innings in two wins without allowing a run.
Miller’s a good pitcher, there’s no doubt. He’s 4-0 with a 1.62 earned run average. I have no problem with that.
Nevada’s Kyle Howe, on the other hand, pitched a six-hit complete game in the second game of the series, holding a potent Fresno State lineup to one run. And he completed his innings consecutively.
Miller pitched 9.2 innings in two games. Any player will tell you it’s harder to throw a complete game, especially in the later innings. The mental process is tough and having the arm to get guys out late in the game is just hard.
Miller didn’t have to go through that. He had three days of rest to throw the seven innings against Nevada after throwing the other three and change against Cal Poly.
The decision probably came down to Fresno State winning the series. Whatever.
Scott Oxarart is the Sports Editor for the Nevada Sagebrush. He can be reached at soxarart@nevadasagebrush.com
Photo by David Calvert/Nevada Sagebrush
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