UI’S In If It Stays Course

Since late January, Idaho has gone win, loss, win, loss, loss, win, loss, win, loss, win.

Clearly the Vandals have a split personality.

Another .500 week and the Vandals will have a chance to play in the Big West Tournament March 9-11 in Reno, Nev. Idaho (12-14 overall, 6-8 Big West), tied with Boise State for third in the East Division, visits Utah State on Thursday and Nevada on Saturday.

The scenarios are fairly simple. One win and Idaho’s in. If North Texas or Nevada lose once, Idaho’s in. The Vandals will become the third seed if they defeat Utah State on Thursday and USU beats Boise State on Saturday.

Otherwise, BSU will have a tiebreaking edge if it remains even with UI at the end of the week. The third seeded team would meet West No. 2 UC Santa Barbara (13-12) instead of top-seeded Long Beach State (21-4) in the tourney opener.

“It’ll be interesting to see if we want to keep playing,” UI coach Dave Farrar said. “I’ve always believed the teams that want to keep playing find a way to do it.”

Second chance

The Vandals applauded when Utah State ran its winning streak to 14, longest in the nation.

“I’m particularly excited that they’re still undefeated in the Big West,” Farrar said.

USU beat Idaho 67-60 on ESPN2 on Jan. 30. UNLV and Long Beach each have had three unbeaten Big West seasons.

“That’s motivation in itself - the fact they beat us and punished us on national TV,” senior wing Gordon Scott said. “I don’t care about the streak. I want to win because we need to win. I’m trying to chalk up as many wins as I can to at least get to the .500 mark.”

Idaho is 0-5 against the top two teams in the East (Utah State, New Mexico State) and West (Long Beach State and UC Santa Barbara).

Hawking’s successor?

As Cal State Fullerton was plunging to last place in the West Division last week, coach Bob Hawking resigned.

The Orange County Register listed five possible candidates, including Utah assistant Donny Daniels and Eastern Washington head coach Steve Aggers.

Daniels appears to be a natural fit. He played two seasons at CSF and was a candidate when Hawking landed the job in 1995.

The job’s appeal is boosted by the possibility that senior Ike Harmon, one of the top forwards in the Big West, might regain the season of eligibility he lost when he was admitted to the school as a Prop 48 prospect four years ago.

Notes

Idaho’s Cliff Gray, the most accurate shooter in the Big West at 63.8 percent, doesn’t qualify for conference stats because he hasn’t made the required four field goals per game. Gray has made 3.88… . North Texas’ Chris Davis, at 21.3 points per game, is on pace to become the first freshman to lead the Big West in scoring. Cal Poly’s Chris Bjorklund is second at 19.7.