Big West Looking To East

Handicapping the Big West Tournament? Start in the East.

The East Division, that is.

The top four East teams - in no particular order, Boise State, Idaho, New Mexico State and Utah State - should have the edge over the West when the tourney commences next week in Reno, Nev.

“I think we’ve got the best four teams,” Idaho coach Dave Farrar said. “There are several teams that are hot right now. I think we’re pretty good, Utah State is pretty good and Boise is obviously pretty good. New Mexico State has rebounded from a little lull.”

Further evidence: East teams are 20-15 versus the West this year after a 24-12 advantage last season.

Now, all the East has to do is determine its pecking order. Idaho (15-10, 10-5), which entertains Boise State (18-6, 11-3) on Sunday, can finish with a seeding anywhere between first and fourth.

Idaho is first, via a tiebreaker, if: it defeats BSU, BSU loses to Pacific and New Mexico State (18-9, 10-4) loses at least once this week.

Idaho is second, via a tiebreaker, if: it ends up tied for second with New Mexico State.

Idaho is third, obviously, if: it remains where it is, behind New Mexico State and ahead of Utah State. Duh!

Idaho’s fourth, via a tiebreaker, if: it loses Sunday, Utah State sweeps its two road games and New Mexico State beats Nevada.

Bad, er, good call

Mild-mannered Boise State coach Rod Jensen was livid after a 63-62 loss to Utah State on Saturday. He felt Dustin Van Weerdhuizen was fouled on a last-second shot by USU’s Pharoah Davis.

“We got screwed,” Jensen told a Boise reporter after emerging from the locker room. “It’s ridiculous to not make the call in that situation. That’s a foul.”

Shortly thereafter, though, Jensen watched a TV replay of the play and softened his opinion. “From our angle we thought he got hit pretty good, but when you see the replay, it’s not that bad,” he said. “And so the referees let the players decide it and you’ve got to like that.”

Problem is, the Boise reporter was on deadline by the time Jensen changed his tune and the article ran with the coach’s gripes.

No word on whether Jensen will be reprimanded by the conference office.

About-face

Preseason polls had UC Santa Barbara finishing last in the West and Cal Poly first. That’s about what happened, if, to borrow a line from banquet emcee Dennis Hull, you hold the paper upside down.

Santa Barbara, which lost its first eight games, can clinch the title with a win this week. Cal Poly is fifth at 5-9 with a remote chance of qualifying for the tourney.

Perhaps the Mustangs’ year has affected the players’ tongues.

“I don’t think we’re playing good enough to do well in the tournament,” junior Jabbar Washington said. “But I think we deserve to be in.”

Uh huh.

Notes

New Mexico State’s Lou Henson is one win from a milestone. His career record is 699-352. Only five active coaches have 700-plus wins. He won 423 games in 21 years at Illinois… . Cal State Fullerton (13-11) is trying for its first winning season since 1992-93… . Nevada has been eliminated from tournament contention. That won’t help the attendance at Lawlor Events Center in Reno. … BSU might try to send 50-100 special fans, BSU students nicknamed “Zerkies”, to the tournament. The tab would run about $4,000, but the athletic department figures it can raise the money with a raffle at Thursday’s game… . Weber State’s board of trustees on Tuesday unanimously upheld President Paul Thompson’s seven-month-old decision to terminate the contract of basketball coach Ron Abegglen after this season… . Weber’s Mark Lawson, a season-long reserve, averaged 15 points in two games last week, subbing for injured starter Damien Baskerville at point guard… . Northridge junior Andre Larry, just 22.2 percent from 3-point range, made 8 of 11 3-pointers last week… . Portland State, which had its 21-game home-court winning streak snapped by Northridge last week, is 33-6 at home over the past three seasons.

AREA MEN’S LEADERS Scoring Player, school FG-FGA FT-FTA 3pt Avg. Johnny Goodman, NIC 183-406 39-51 97 20.1 Jon Chatfield, CCS 142-286 59-83 57 16.7 Avery Curry, UI 134-369 84-121 57 16.4 Shannon Taylor, EWU 124-331 52-78 89 16.2 Jan-Michael Thomas, WSU 106-255 71-84 84 14.7 Gordon Scott, UI 117-304 69-95 64 14.7 Greg Jones, Whit. 111-210 84-113 21 14.2 Richie Frahm, GU 134-307 58-74 69 14.1 Jason Keep, NIC 142-230 66-136 0 14.0 Chris Crosby, WSU 117-278 73-87 53 13.8 Kojo Mensah-Bonsu, WSU 117-285 73-87 0 13.4 James Kiger, CCS 136-301 41-53 15 13.1 Chris Allen, CCS 109-212 71-95 33 12.9

Rebounding Goodman, NIC, 7.6 (191); Casey Calvary, GU, 7.1 (192); Keep, NIC, 7.0 (176); Reggie Battee, NIC, 6.8 (171).

Assists Allen, CCS, 5.4 (136); Deon Williams, EWU, 5.2 (125); Jerry Petty, NIC, 5.1 (97); Matt Santangelo, GU, 4.9 (138); Curry, UI, 4.6 (115).

Steals Petty, NIC, 2.2 (42); Jordan, Whit., 2.1 (49); Goodman, NIC, 2.1 (53); Curry, UI, 1.8 (46); Scott, UI, 1.7 (42); Julian Nakanishi, Whit., 1.8 (41).

Schedule Thursday: WSU at UCLA, 7:30 p.m.; EWU at Montana State, 6:05 p.m. Friday: Whitworth at Lewis & Clark, 8 p.m. Saturday: EWU at Montana, 12:05 p.m.; Gonzaga vs. Portland in WCC Tournament at Santa Clara, 2 p.m.; WSU at USC, 5 p.m.; Ricks at NIC, 7:30 p.m.; Whitworth at Puget Sound, 8 p.m. Sunday: Boise State at Idaho, 1 p.m.