Vandals Open League Against Versatile Nevada

The problem is easy to identify, but difficult to defend.

Nevada, which initiates Idaho into the Big West Conference tonight at 7:05 in the Kibbie Dome, sports interior threat Faron “Meat” Hand and perimeter shooters Jimmy Carroll and Tim Barnett.

Pick your poison. Smother Hand and the marksmen take aim. Guard the 3-point shooters and Hand goes to work.

“Faron’s one of the best low-post scorers in the league,” UI coach Kermit Davis said.

“It’s just going to be a struggle, no matter where we play. Our best opportunities are at home. We just have to have good, quality play.”

Idaho counters with center Jason Jackman’s 18 points per game.

Tourney unfair?

Idaho hasn’t even opened Big West play yet and Davis is upset with the conference tournament format.

The Big West has two six-team divisions. The top four in each division advance to the tourney in Reno.

Davis’ beef: Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo currently is ineligible for the tourney because NCAA rules require Division I newcomers serve an 8-year waiting period before they can earn a conference’s automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament.

Cal Poly, Division I for three years, is in the Western Division, meaning the four tourney teams virtually are set - with Cal Poly ineligible and UC-Irvine among the worst of all D-I teams.

“I really think that’s unfair,” said Davis, whose team will be hard-pressed to make the top four in the Eastern.

Big West Commissioner Dennis Farrell is lobbying the NCAA to allow Cal Poly to be eligible for the tourney title, but he doubts any rule change could happen before this year’s event.

Bench help

The Vandals are so short of players, they don’t need a bench as much as a few extra chairs.

Last week’s loss of senior guard Reggie Rose to injury left the Vandals with eight scholarship players and only nine practice players.

So, Idaho has added 6-foot-6 walk-on Jonathan Tomlinson, of Orofino, to its roster. Davis plans on keeping Chris Popoola as a redshirt.

Davis said UI football player Robert Scott has shown interest in joining the team. Scott, though, isn’t due back from the holidays until this weekend for second semester.

“If he would have joined us after exams (in December), maybe he could have fit in to where he would play more, but now it’s going to be tough,” Davis said.

EWU returns home

Eastern Washington will try to yank the reins back on a five- game losing streak tonight when it entertains Big Sky Conference newcomer Cal State-Sacramento at Reese Court at 7:05.

EWU (4-8 overall and 0-2 in the Big Sky) will get its first taste of home cooking since choking on an 80-65 home loss to Gonzaga back on Dec. 21. The next week, starting point guard Rodrick McClure was killed in a traffic accident and the Eagles have fared horribly without him.

Since committing a season-low six turnovers with McClure in the lineup against GU, Eastern has averaged 22 in its last three games.

Senior Travis King has replaced McClure at the point and averaged a team-high 18.5 points and 3.5 assists in Big Sky road losses to Northern Arizona and Cal State-Northridge last weekend. But he turned the ball over 11 times.

The good news for Eagle fans is that Sac State (2-8) comes in having just snapped an eight-game losing streak with an unimpressive 69-61 win over Portland State, another Big Sky newcomer that hasn’t fielded a men’s basketball team since 1981.

The Hornets, in their fifth season under former Washington State assistant Don Newman, entered the week ranked last in the league in eight statistical categories, including scoring offense (52.6), scoring margin (-20.9) and turnover margin (-6.4).

, DataTimes The following fields overflowed: SUPCAT = COLUMN - College basketball notebook BYLINE = Jim Meehan Staff writer Staff writer Steve Bergum contributed to this report.