Wacky WAC blog lands in 2021

 The WAC grabbed my attention in the early 90's, however it started in 1962 with these six-teams. Arizona, Arizona State, Brigham Young, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.  It's most well known recent star is #PascalSiakham,  former #NMST player and budding NBA star with the Toronto Raptors. Grand Canyon  has moved to the top of the league this season, and new coach Bryce Drew has been a big reason  for their success. ASBJORN MIDTGAARD leads the team with a 14.6 ppg. Meanwhile  New Mexico St, the perennial league leader, has fallen to the middle of the pack.

https://busterother5.blogspot.com/2019/11/wac-hoops-201920-hunches.html

https://busterother5.blogspot.com/2018/11/wac-hoops-201819-hunches.html

https://busterother5.blogspot.com/2020/07/pacific-northwest-hoops-chatter-in.html

march 7, 2021

 Tarleton (10-10, 5-7 WAC) has won its last three games but Coach Billy Gillispsie's squad will not get a chance to vie for a Dance ticket  WACT left Tarleton and Dixie St out because they are transitioning to 1A, and are ineligible for the Dance, but is moving forward with a six team tournament in Las Vegas.  Chicago State canceled their season. 

MARCH 12, 2021

Seattle beat Cal Baptist 83-66 and will face Grand Canyon while NMST beat UTRGV to face UVU. NMST. 3 seed NMST doesn't want to lose their annual hold on the WAC dance ticket.

March 14, 2021

Grand Canyon beat NMST in the WACT to make it to its first Dance and on the 23rd anniversary(3/13/98) of  their head coach, Bryce Drew, hitting a buzzer-beating 3-pointer for Valparaiso to beat 10th-ranked Mississippi in the Dance.

March 16, 2021

Grand Canyon faces Iowa in rd1 and have ASBJORN MIDTGAARD , a 7' center, but I don't know if he can handle Garza.

March 21, 2021

Both centers had solid games, but the Hawkeyes shot better as a team in 86-74 win over GC

A. Midtgaard GC(18 PTS, 6 REB, 1 AST)

L. Garza IOWA(24 PTS, 6 REB, 1 AST)

March 25, 2021

I missed this story in February. Lew Hill, the head men’s basketball coach at UTRGV(WAC), died at the age of 56,  after suffering through a variety of medical difficulties. He was an assistant on the Oklahoma staff that reached the F4 in 2016. They haven't hired a permanent replacement.

April 8, 2021

 #MattFigger, who compiled a 76-51 (.598) in four seasons at Austin Peay (OVC) ,is  the new men's basketball head coach at #UTRGV. For my buddies in Alabama he was an assistant at South Alabama (2003-07)

May 18, 2021

#WAC travel (Texas to Seattle ,WA) will get longer in 2022 with the addition of  four teams, Sam Houston, Abilene Christian, and Stephen F. Austin from the Southland Conference, and Southern Utah from the Big Sky. 

July 9, 2021

#FardawsAimaq ,the 6-11 Utah Valley(WAC) center who, averaged a double-double (13.9 ppg, 15.0 rpg) last season,  withdrew from the NBA Draft and will return to UVU for the 2021-22 season. Smart move!

July 10, 2021

Jeff Hurd, who helped bring Lamar University and three other Texas schools into the WAC for 2022, will step down as Commissioner at the end of this year. He joined the WAC in 1985 as Director of Conference Relations, then worked various jobs before taking over as commissioner in 2012. That 's a long stint in one conference.

Aug 8, 2021

Coach Billy Gillispsie's Tarleton St squad visits Kansas on Nov 9. The last time  he coached against KU was during the 2011/12  Big 12 season when he was HC at Texas Tech. Last year's matchup was canceled.  

WAC Officially Welcomes ‘Texas Four’ to Conference .  

Abilene Christian University, Lamar University, Sam Houston State University and Stephen F. Austin State University  

Aug 9

it doesn't  appear that WAC  football will be 1a soon , but they just formed a schedule  alliance with the ASUN . 

 New Mexico State, a WAC member competes as an FBS 1A football independent, IS WATCHING THIS CLOSELY.

 The invitations of membership stated that during the first year of  WAC membership, “football-playing institutions will commit to an analysis of all implications of a move to FBS.” 

 Oct 6, 2021

New Mexico St , whose favored by many to win the WAC despite Grand Canyon winning the WAC 2021 title has a nicer travel schedule with the new Texas teams in the conference this season.

 Jan. 13: vs. Tarleton

Jan. 15: vs. Abilene Christian

Jan. 20: @ Sam Houston State

Jan. 22: @ Stephen F. Austin

In OOC play they face  Washington St  of the Pac 12  this season. 

WAC hoops 2019/20 hunches

A little twist on this season's prognostications. Who's the next #PascalSiakham,  former #NMST player and budding NBA star with the Toronto Raptors. It's #MilanAcquaah  of California Baptist.
NM State:  Jabari Rice may be  the scorer the Aggies need to repeat as WAC champ.
Grand Canyon: Majerle's kids went the trey way  in a bruising loss to Illinois (B10). Isiah Brown  Jovan Blacksher Jr are players to watch.
California Baptist: #MilanAcquaah , a guard who's been averaging nearly 20 PPg and doing a solid dishing assists and grabbing rebounds, will lead the Lancers closer to the top of the WAC.
Utah Valley- Is Havsa, the guard from Turkey, a potential solid guard who can assist and rebound?
Seattle U:  Terrell Brown is the Redhawk to watch this season
CSU Bakersfield: DeMonte Buckingham is  far way from his  hometown of Richmond VA, but he'll be a major factor in the Roadrunners' on-going improvement improvement.
UT Rio Grande Valley- Tyson Smith and Terry Winn III are Vacqueros  worth watching.
UM Kansas City: McKissic remains the key player
Chicago State:  Cougars won't get out of the basemnt this season but  Xavier Johnson  opened the season scoring 37 points in a win against a non 1A team
Nov 13: Cal Baptist hung  with Texas most of last night before losing 67-54  MILAN ACQUAAH (17pts, 7 reb , 3 assists)
Dec 15: Cal Baptist has the best OOC record among WAC teams and UVU , the worst. I don't catch many televised WAC games but did get to UTRGV lose to Creighton 89-58 the other night.

dec 22

 Quinton Johnson II led the UTRGV Vaqueros (4-8) with 17 points and seven rebounds in a 69-59 loss to Texas Tech, who madeit to the final game of the Dance last season.

dec 25

 Terrell Brown had 17 points, eight assists and four steals in a 79-57  Seattle win over Long Beach St(BIG West). Redhawks needed this win to shake off a rough OOC December heading into WAC play.

 dec 29

Seattle turned around and gets crushed by St Mary's 80-58.  I'm getting an education on school names from the WAC OOC schedule. Cal Baptist beat Ottawa University Arizona 92-75, and UVU beat Antelope Valley 80-65.

dec 30

 Back to more recognizable names: CS Bakersfield was within 3 points (44-41) of Texas Tech with 12:54 left but lost 73-58 last night.

jan 3, 2020

WAC play is underway and nothing changes for Chicago St who lost Utah Valley. UMKC beat Seattle, and  #brandonboyd (25 PTS, 5 REB, 4 AST ) led Cal Baptist to a 76-67 victory of UTRGV.

jan 12

 Brandon Boyd had 16 points as Cal Baptist edged past Grand Canyon 61-57  and trail NMST, who barely beat UMKC last night, by a half a game in the WAC. In other games Seattle beat UVU and UTRGV beat Chicago St.

jan 17

Grand Canyon beat Chicago St 78-64, but either they're low on talent or Chicago St is improving.  Rajeir Jones scored 19 points in the Cougars' loss. NMST(4-0) beat UVU to stay a game up on idle Cal Baptist(3-1) and Seattle (3-1) who beat UTGRV. Bakersfield beat UMKC.

jan 27 

Franck Kamgain registered 16 points and six rebounds for UMKC in a win over Cal Baptist(4-2) who fell two games behind NMST (6-0) , a winner over UTRGV yesterday.

 jan 30

 #De'jonDavis tallied 19 points and 17 rebounds for Cal Baptist in a win over UVU. Big win that keeps them 2GB of NMST .

feb 2

 Milan Acquaah had 18 points and eight assists as Cal Baptist defeated Seattle 72-65 to remain 2GB of NMST, a winner over Grand Canyon, in the WAC. UMKC beat Chicago St. UTRGV beat Bakersfield.

feb 9

Cal Baptist's(7-3) comeback  against an improving Grand Canyon(5-4) squad fell short in 103-98 loss . NMST(10-0) remained undefeated in WAC play witha 67-61 win over UMKC, Seattle(5-4) beat UVU(3-6). Chicago St(0-10) got closer to it's first conference win in a long time, but Lesley Varner II made 4 of 5 treys and 9 of 10 free throws to score 23 points for UTRGV(5-5) in a comeback 75-64 win.

feb 15

Coach Majerlie has Grand Canyon getting into gear for a late season run . They beat UMKC 71-66 to move to 6-4 in WAC play but NMST beat Seattle to move to 11-0. Second place Cal Baptist (7-3) played an OOC game against Westcliff.  UTRGV beat UVU and  Bakersfield beat Chicago St.

feb 21

Seattle(6-6) put the brakes on Grand Canyon's(7-5) recent run with a 95-89 win. Terrell Brown SEA - G(31 PTS, 6 REB, 10 AST) had a big night. UVU(4-8) beat Bakersfield (5-7). NMST (12-0) has 4.5 games lead on second place Cal Baptist(7-4).

feb 23

Yes, Chicago St is a bad team but  they were handed one of their worst defeats this season by Cal Baptist who hit 18 treys in a 95-53 victory. NMSt beat remained undefeated in WAC play with a win over UTRGV. Seattle continued to improve with a win over Bakersfield, while Grand Canyon lost to UVU.

feb 27

 Milan Acquaah scored 24 points and De'Jon Davis added a double-double for California Baptist(20-8, 9-4 WAC) in a 73-66 win over UVU

March 1

 De'jon Davis scored 31 points and grabbed 15 rebounds and Milan Acquaah added 27 points  for Cal Baptist(10-4) in a narrow win over Seattle. UMKC crushed Chicago St and UTRGV beat Grand Canyon.

mARCH 4

i THINK Chicago St men's hoops may be working its way out of the WAC and 1A hoops  the men's team would not travel to Seattle or Utah Valley for WAC games  this week, and the woman's team won't be hosting the same teams . And also may not attend the WACT. tHE REASON: coronavirus . No response yet from the WAC.

March 6

  Wow, Cal Baptist got a taste of the big dog. NMST 83 CB 50. UMKC beat UVU

March 13

 Tarleton St near Dallas TX, and Dixie St  in Utah are joining the WAC in 2020.
 CAL St Bakersfield is leaving the WAC for the Big West.  UMKC is leaving for the Summit League which leaves Chicago St, the lone member from the Midwest section of the USA. All of these moves were scheduled a few years ago.

March 17

Jerry Colangelo, Grand Canyon strategic advisor,said this after the school  fired Dan Majerle  "GCU has become a premier mid-major basketball destination with its resources, facilities, and student and community support." Just a bit of overhype. So much for Phoenix Suns alumni hanging tough.

March 28

Looking back to 1962:  The WAC’s  original six-team league: Arizona, Arizona State, Brigham Young, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. AZ and ASU exited the Pac 10 in 1978. 

March 31

look who's back: Tarleton St who's moving to 1A and the WAC hired #BillyGillispie , who had decent stints at the first two schools: UTEP, Texas A&M, Kentucky and Texas Tech. He 's been a coaching at Ranger College, a community college in TX, since 2015.

may 7 2020

  I was kind of surprised Chris Jans, the NMST HC, considered replacing Forbes, who took the Wake Forest job, at E Tenn St (Southern Conference). At best it would've been a lateral move with maybe a few more $$$$. ETSU elevated Shay an asst to the HC job.

may 20, 2020 

#WAC hoops stays in the off-season spotlight. Dan Majerle, ex GC HC,  is suing Grand Canyon for waging a campaign to disparage him as part of its effort to avoid its severance obligation. He was replaced by  former Valparaiso and Vanderbilt coach Bryce Drew.

May 26, 2020

#terrellbrown (PTS 20.7  REB 6.2 AST 4.9 last season), a native of Seattle , used the grad transfer portal and left Seattle U for Arizona.

July 10, 2020

Is hiring ex NBAers to be  college head coaches a growing trend?  Mark Madsen had a rough season(11-18, 5-11) at UVU(WAC) replacing Mark Pope who went 24-8 at BYU(WCC) and was probably going to get the Cougars to a No. 6 or No. 7 seed.

dec 10, 2020

 #BillyGillispie , who had decent stints at the first two schools: UTEP, Texas A&M, Kentucky and Texas Tech has  Tarleton (WAC) off to a 2-2 start including battling Texas A&M hard before falling 73-66.e slated to play Kansas on Dec 13.

WAC Hoops 2018/19 hunches

In my hip pocket I had a slip of  dusty paper  that said #NMST and #grandcanyon would be the teams to beat in the  #wac. GC lost to SDak St  while NMST handled N Dak SDt easily in Summit League /WAC challenge . UMKC  and Seattle got crushed by respectively, Loyola ( ILL) and Stanford.


NM State:  AJ Harris had five assists  in a win over UTEP and should have move per game as the season progresses and the Aggies try to repeat as conference champions.
Grand Canyon: T Dreschel  and C Johnson each at 17 ppg so far
Utah Valley- Toolson  18 ppg
Seattle U: Carter 7.5 RBG
CSU Bakersfield: Joiner 14 PPG
California Baptist: M Acquaah  22 ppg so far. Pirog 4 BLKG
UT Rio Grande Valley- Varner & Winn at 16 PPG so far
UM Kansas City: Mckissic 14.5 PPG
Chicago State: C Jacob  is at 8.7 RBG after three losses against IU, ND, and CMU

Nov 17, 2018

Wake up WAC: Cal Baptist is playing well in it's first 1A season. They beat Oral Roberts (Summit) a few days ago  and took Tulsa (AAC) to the final seconds before losing. #MilanAcquaah led Cal Baptist with 20 points, eight rebounds and 11 assists.

Dec 7, 2018

New Mexico (MWC) head coach #PaulWeir , who left NMST HC job in 2017 for the NM job,  apologizied for the actions of some of his players in a pre-game skirmish at rival New Mexico State in Las Cruces. JoJo Zamora tossed in 27 points and Ivan Aurrecoechea scored  23 with 11 rebounds in the NMST blowout of NM 100-65.The Aggies are 2-0 against the Lobos this season and also have OOC wins against Wash St (Pac12) and UTEP (CUSA).

dec 9

#IvanAurrecoechea  (14 PTS, 3 REB, 6 AST) but Zamora's last second trey attempt  bounced off the rim in New MexicoSt  loss to #2 Kansas.
dec 22
 #ChicagoSt got crushed by local neighbor  #Depaul last week and are 0-17 in this matchup which won't help recruiting. #seattleu is having a decent December including playing UW tough before falling 70-62.

jan 4, 2019

#Acquaah (36pts, 7 reb 1 asst) led Cal Baptist upset over NMST , the top dog in the WAC. Bakersfield beat Seattle. Irvine beat UTRG. Grand Canyon beat UVU.

jan 6, 2019

UTRG outscored Cal Baptist 53-34 in the second half for 81-74 win. Bakersfield beat UVU. Grand Canyon beat Seattle. And #ChicagoSt showed some improvement by staying close to #UMKC  but its 15 turnovers cost them dearly in an 80-72 loss.
jan 12, 2019: Perhaps there is a changing of the guard in the WAC as  CSU Bakersfield is 3-0 in conference play with wins over Seattle, UVU, and UTRG. Joiner, Durham, and Holden are each averaging about 12 ppg

jan 21,2019

It's not a great sign that CSUB(13-6, 5-1 WAC) had to rally beat Chicago State 86-73 (0-4 WAC) Saturday to remain tied with Grand Canyon , who beat UMKC, for first in the Wac.

Jan 25

CSUB (6-1)  beat Cal Baptist 85-81 to stay atop the WAC. Seattle (1-5) climbed out the basement with a win over Chicago St (0-5) .UVU beat UMKC.

Jan 27

NMST edged UTRGV 63-61 to stay within a half game of  first place Grand Canyon (6-1) a winner over Cal Baptist yesterday.  #XavierBishop scored 22 points and UMKC (3-3) snapped a three-game losing streak with a 63-54 win over Seattle, who remains a half game  ahead of cellar dweller Chicago St, a loser to UVU.

feb 8

Cal Baptist (4-5 WAC) beat  Chicago St by 50  , 94-44.  NMST (9-1) edged Bakersfield by 1 to stay in first. #TysonSmith scored 21 points for UTRGV in its win over Grand Canyon (7-2)

feb 15

NMST moved to 10-1 in WAC play with a win over UVU(5-4). UMKC  beat GC(7-4). Chicago St (0-11) lost to Bakersfield while Seattle (1-10) lost to UTRGV(7-4)

feb 22

Damari Milstead and Oscar Frayer scored 18 points apiece  Grand Canyon's(9-4) 91-58 rout of Cal Baptist(5-6) .Jake Toolson had 25 points for  Utah Valley in a 103-71 blowout of Chicago State(0-12). UMKC (5-7) lost to Seattle(2-9)

march 1

NMST  (25-4, 13-1 WAC) crushed UMKC (10-19, 5-9 WAC) amd Cal Baptist(15-12, 6-7 WAC) fell to Seattle(16-13, 4-10 WAC). Hey but Chicago St (3-26, 0-14 WAC) came darn close to a win in an 82-77 loss to UTRGV(17-14, 8-6 WAC). Travon Bell posted solid numbers for Chicago St:26 PTS, 2 REB, 1 AST

march 3

Is Utah Valley(21-8, 10-4 WAC) a team to watch in WACT ? #BayleeSteele recorded 14 points and 10 rebounds for UVU in a 64-63 win over Cal Baptist to move into a tie forsecond with Grand Canyon, a 73-69 winner over Bakersfield.

march 15

No surprises in rd 1 of the WACT. NMST crushed Chicago St. UTRG beat Bakersfield. UVU over UMKC.  Carlos Johnson scored 31 points in Grand Canyon's  84-75 win over Seattle.

march 16

 CBU had to wait out its transition period. If they were going by record, Chicago St, the perennial WAC cellar dweller, was winless, and would have been sidelined. Dan Majerle has Grand Canyon back in the WAC final against NMST.

march 17

#TrevelinQueen (27 PTS, 4 REB, 2 AST) led #NMST to a blowout victory over Grand Canyon in the WACT final.

March 19

NewMexico St faces Auburn , ahot team who just won the SECT. Ags may not move past rd1 of the Dance.

March 21

Tough night for the WAC in the CBI. Grand Canyon lost to West Virginia, and Cal Baptist made a nice second half comeback but fell 56-55 to Loyola marymount.

march 22

 Harris passed on an open layup and fed Terrell Brown for a trey. Brown was fouled but missed two of three free throws with 1.1 seconds left, and New Mexico State fell 78-77 to Auburn. What a roll of the dice.

april 7 2019

 Kareem Richardson, the only coach that has taken #UMKC to the postseason. is out and Billy Donlon, who was head coach at Wright State (Horizon) from 2010-16, is in was named UMKC He has spent time on staffs at Northwestern and Michigan which may help in recruiting in the Midwest.

april 11

I heard the rumors but remain mildly surprised that BYU(WCC)  hired a #WAC coach, #MarkPope from Utah Valley . His Wolverines went 77-56 overall in four seasons, including a 34-24 record in the WAC.

april 15

#markMadsen  hired as UVU Head Coach. His resume:six seasons on the Lakers staff, a year as the Lakers G League head coach, and a season as an assistant coach at Stanford.
 May 31: MILAN ACQUAAH, California Baptist- smart move not leaving for the 2019 NBA draft. He was decent on a so -so team.

july 3

 #grandcanyon Head coach Dan Majerle landed  Jaylen Fisher, an impact transfer from TCU
july 8-some history-  Utah Valley, UTPA and Chicago State  came from the Great West. Texas Pan- American merged into UTRGV. Chicago St won the last  Great West tourney in 2013.