RENO, Nev. -- Nevada coach Mark Fox has some bad news for
the other Western Athletic Conference coaches hoping the No. 24
Wolf Pack figure they've locked up an NCAA bid before the WAC
tournament begins Tuesday on their home court.
"I have no idea if we're in the NCAA Tournament or not. I don't
trust that we are, to be honest with you," Fox said Monday.
Nevada, the regular season champ at 16-2, 24-5 overall, this
year became the first WAC team ever to go 9-0 on the road in league
play and brings a 10-game winning streak into the tournament at
Lawlor Events Center.
Fox told about 200 boosters at his weekly luncheon that his team
doesn't want to leave anything to chance in its bid for a return
trip to the "Big Dance," where last year's Wolf Pack squad made a
Cinderella run to the Sweet Sixteen.
The winner of the WAC tournament earns an automatic invitation
to the NCAA Tournament.
"Utah State was left home last year at 25-3 or whatever," Fox
said.
"I don't want to have our destiny put in somebody else's hands.
I don't trust in that. I do trust our team," he said.
"We're anxious about getting ready for the tournament this week
and moving forward and trying to add to our win total. ... If we
can stay focused, we'll have a chance to get the automatic bid."
Nevada swept the top three postseason awards voted on by WAC
coaches over the weekend. Sophomore forward Nick Fazekas, averaging
a conference-best 21.5 points per game and 9.4 rebounds, was named
player of the year, point guard Ramon Sessions the freshman of the
year and Fox the coach of the year. Fox is a former Wolf Pack
assistant in his first year as head coach after Trent Johnson left
for Stanford.
The top-seeded Wolf Pack opens play in the quarterfinals
Thursday night against the winner of Tuesday night's qualifier
between Boise State (6-12 WAC, 13-17 overall) and Tulsa (5-13,
9-19).
Second-seeded UTEP (14-4, 24-7), which shared the regular season
WAC title with Nevada last year and lost to the Wolf Pack in the
2004 league championship game, opens Thursday against the winner of
Tuesday's qualifier between Hawaii (7-11, 15-12) and San Jose State
(3-15, 6-22).
In the other quarterfinals Thursday, third-seeded Rice (12-6,
18-10) plays sixth-seeded SMU (9-9, 14-13) and fourth-seeded Fresno
State (9-9, 15-13) plays fifth-seeded Louisiana Tech (9-9, 14-14).
UTEP beat Nevada 83-80 in Reno on Jan. 12 and those two are
favored to face off in the title game again Saturday night.
UTEP landed two players on the first-team all-WAC squad, forward
Omar Thomas and point guard Fliberto Rivera. The Miners hope a good
showing this week lands them an at-large spot in the NCAA tourney
if they don't win out.
Rice's Michael Harris, who ranked second in the WAC in both
scoring (20.4 points per game) and rebounds (11.8), and Louisiana
Tech's Paul Millsap, who was third in points (20.3) and leads the
nation in rebounding (12.3 per game) were the other players named
to the all-WAC first team.
"Our focus is on Thursday night, not Saturday," Fox said. He
pointed out that his team was down 11 points at the half before
rallying to win at San Jose State on Saturday. The Spartans lost by
only four points at UTEP and beat Rice earlier this year.
"The 10th-place team in this league almost beat the top three
teams, so it's going to be a real battle," Fox said.
The Wolf Pack opened the season with a 4-3 record after losses
at No. 7 Kansas, at Toledo and at home against No. 17 Pacific, but
have gone 20-2 since. Nevada's last loss was at home against Fresno
State 66-63 on Jan. 29.
Last year's leading scorer Kirk Snyder left a year early to join
the NBA's Utah Jazz and its best outside shooter, Todd Okeson, is
now on the bench as a graduate assistant.
But Sessions, a true freshman from Myrtle Beach, S.C., has
shined at what was thought to be the team's biggest weakness in the
backcourt. And senior swingman Jermaine Washington and junior
college transfer Mo Charlo have improved steadily to compliment
Fazekas and power forward Kevinn Pinkney, the leader of Nevada's
stingy defense that gives up a WAC-best 61 points per game.
"Nick and Kevinn and Jermaine have been through the wars, but
without these young guys, I don't think we'd be where we are," Fox
said.
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