Eight WAC teams were in action Thursday night and the conference hasn’t panned out exactly how most analysts expected it to.
Other than Stew Morrill’s Utah State Aggies, that is. The winners of 14 regular season conference championships took a year off last season, but by the looks of it, the Aggies will be favorites to claim what could be their last-ever WAC title. With one loss coming to Saint Mary’s, Utah State is receiving one Top 25 vote in the USA Today poll and will be expected to crack the Top 25 if they remain unscathed in WAC play.
Also undefeated in conference play is La. Tech, a surprise team thus far. Predicted by coaches to claim a fourth-place WAC finish, the Bulldogs are building off of their 2012 WAC Tournament runner-up finish. Sophomore Raheem Appleby is averaging 15.7 points-per-game and has reeled off 30 or more points on a couple of occasions.
San Jose State sits comfortably in third, with its one loss coming at home to Idaho. The Spartans left the state of Texas with two conference wins, lost at home to the Vandals, but redeemed themselves with a home win against Seattle U. Propelled by the WAC’s leading scorer, senior James Kinney (20.6 points-per-game), SJSU visits Utah State, Denver and La. Tech, undoubtedly the toughest chunk of its WAC schedule.
Denver opened its first season in the WAC with an eight-point loss in Ruston, La., but bounced back to defeat all three Texas schools in convincing fashion. Expected to finish third in the WAC, Denver is led by preseason all-conference first teamer Chris Udofia, who surprisingly is not the Pioneers’ leading scorer 14 games in. Sophomore Royce O’Neale is first in that category, averaging 13.4 points-per-game.
Idaho couldn’t surpass Denver at the Cowan Spectrum Thursday in Moscow. With a 65-59 loss against the Pioneers, the Vandals fell to 2-2 in the WAC. The Vandals’ other loss has been an overtime defeat at the hands of powerhouse Utah State in Logan. Headed by senior center Kyle Barone, who is going on four straight double-doubles, Idaho overcame a shaky nonconference showing with consecutive wins to open WAC play.
The biggest surprise 16 games in has been New Mexico State, who, at .500 both overall and in conference, was predicted by conference coaches to claim its second consecutive WAC crown. The loss of WAC Tournament MVP Wendell McKines, along with 2011-2012 starters Hernst LaRoche and Hamidu Rahman has been devastating, despite 7-foot-5-inch center Sim Bhullar gaining eligibility. Bhullar has scored in double figures four of his last five games but has yet to grab more than seven rebounds in a game. The versatility of sophomore Daniel Mullings will be crucial if the Aggies hope to turn things around in the near future.
Averaging just less than 60 points-per-game, Texas-Arlington faced a rigorous nonconference schedule including Oklahoma, Texas, Oklahoma State and Boise State before diving into its conference schedule. The Mavericks opened WAC play with a surprise 21-point blowout of defending WAC champ NMSU. Since then, they’ve fallen into a three-game hole, with losses to Denver, Boise State and La. Tech. UTA’s scoring has been balanced, with four players averaging more than seven points-per-game. Still, they rank No. 328 in the nation when it comes to scoring.
Formerly independent, Seattle U has yet to gain a conference victory but kept it close with Idaho, San Jose State and Utah State. They also came into conference play with losses to tough nonconference opposition (Virginia, Stanford, Washington, Boise State).
Texas-San Antonio and Texas State both have yet to win in the conference and both have just four wins on the season. The efforts of UTSA’s Kannon Burrage, the conference’s second-leading scorer (16.6 PPG), have been overshadowed by the conference’s worst scoring margin.
Theo Lawson can be reached at [email protected]