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Thurs/Sat: Montanas at Weber (Feb 17) This week WSU will be hosting Montana and Montana State in basketball. Thursday night's game will feature 2-for-1 ticket vouchers available on weberstatesports.com to 'Pack the Dee' for the game. Also, Saturday night's game vs the Fighting Bobcats of Montana State will be the annual Mascot Night. The Griz, picked to finish 1st place in the media poll had a slow start in league play losing 4 of their first 5 games. Since then UM has won 5 of their last 7 games. Currently at 6-6 with 4 games to go, the Griz are now fighting for the chance to have one of the tops seeds in the conference tournament. The Maroon and Silver are led by 6'9" junior Jordan Hasquet (ppg 14.3, rpg 7.4) and 6'8" senior Andrew Strait (ppg 13, rpg 6.3). Strait has scored 20 points or more in their last three games. Hasquet hasn't fouled out of a game this season and Strait has only fouled once. Neither of the 2 are much of a blocking threat, they combine for 21 all season. The Bobcats, similar to the Griz, got off to a slow start losing 3 of their first 4 conference games. Since then they have won 8 of their last 10. Although the Bobcats were only picked to finish 5th in the media poll and 6th in the coaches, they are turning out to be one of the toughest teams in the conference this year. Sitting at 7-5 tied with Weber, the Bobcats are hopeful that the experience of their 4 seniors and 2 juniors will help them finish near the top of the conference. MSU is led by Big Sky MVP candidate 6'1" senior guard Carlos Taylor. Taylor is averaging 19.1 ppg, 2 apg, & 4 rpg. He is shooting 80% from the line and 43% from the arc. Also he has knocked in 4 or more three-pointers in 4 games this year. He has had 7 games so far with 25 or more points. Against ISU this 6'1" guard scored 19 points and pulled down 11 boards. Montana bio Established: 1893 Undergraduates: 11,841 Graduates: 2,120 Location: Missoula, MT Stadium: Dahlberg Arena (7,500) Colors: Maroon & Silver Grizzly scraps Weber's all-time record against Montana is 60-43 overall, 36-13 in Ogden, and 24-30 at Montana. The last time Montana won the Big Sky in basketball was 2000. The Griz's last NCAA Tournament appearance was 2006. As of late the Griz have been conference tournament spoilers. In 2002 when Montana State hosted, UM ended up going to the Big Dance. In 2005, PSU hosted yet Montana went to the Big Dance again, but this time they beat Weber for the conference tournament championship by 2. Weber's Jamal Jenkins threw up a halfcourt shot with 3 seconds remaining in the game and Weber lost. In 2006, NAU hosted yet UM went to the Big Dance as a 12-seed and beat the WAC champion, Nevada Wolf Pack. Montana State bio Established: 1893 Undergraduates: 10,842 Postgraduates: 1,408 Location: Bozeman, MT Colors: Blue and Gold Random tid bits Weber's all-time record against Montana State is 66-32 overall, 41-9 in Ogden, and 25-23 at MSU. Notable alumni of Montana State include Dennis Erickson, current head football coach at Arizona State, Craig Kilborn the actor and former talk show host graduated from MSU as well he played basketball for the Bobcats. Also, the Big Sky's only school to ever win a national championship in men's basketball was MSU in 1929. 'Cats split with Vikings 1-1 (Feb 17) Associated Press: Jeremiah Dominguez scored 17 points, including the final eight points of the game for Portland State, to lead the Vikings to a 76-73 win over Weber State on Saturday night. Andre Murray and Scott Morrison each scored 14 points for Portland State (17-8, 10-2 Big Sky Conference), which won its eighth straight game and padded their first-place position in the league race. Deonte Huff added 12 points. Kellen McCoy came off the bench to lead Weber State (12-12, 7-5 Big Sky) with 21 points. Daviin Davis added 20 points for the Wildcats. After a back-and-forth game that saw 20 lead changes, Dominguez broke a 68-68 tie with a running jumper with 2:10 left to play to give Portland State a 70-68 advantage. Down the stretch, Dominguez connected on six straight free throws to hold off the Wildcats' run. A last-second shot to tie by Weber State's Juan Pablo Silveira hit the back of the rim and secured the Vikings victory. Portland State shot 41 percent from the field and outscored Weber State in the paint 28-24. Box Score McCoy: 21 pts, 15-19 FT's, 6 rebs Davis: 20 pts, 8-8 FT's, 3 blks, 2 stls, 2 dunks Dez: 12 pts, 2 stls Van Brock: 9 pts, 3 3-pointers, stl Next game: Montana at Weber State, Thursday, Feb 21st. Sat: #2 Wildcats vs #1 Vikings (Feb 15) Weber lost on Thursday night in Cheney, WA, to the EWU Eagles 69-57. On that same night Portland State sliced and diced some 'taters to go along with a big caldron of Bengal Stew as PSU beatdown the Bengals of ISU 81-58. This weeks "Game of the Week" won't be on the Altitude Sports Network. Altitude will be televising its usual Sunday afternoon game but it won't be in Portland. The real game of the week will be Weber State at Portland State Saturday night at the Stott Center in Portland located on SW 10th and Hall. The Viking fans are planning a "blackout" in that all fans need to wear black to the game. They hope to pack the Stott with enough fans to cheer their team on to victory over the Purple and White. Weber's all-time record against PSU is 22-8. The 'Cats are an unbelievable 14-1 at home and an impressive 8-7 in Portland. The Wildcats hope to improve this record to 9-7 to complete a regular season sweep over the Vikings. If they can pull off the W, the 'Cats will still be in it to get the chance to host the Big Sky Tournament. Currently the Vikings have won 7 straight games and they hope to continue their juggernaut like momentum on through Saturday night. Leading up to 1-vs-2 Weber State The 'Cats had big wins in sweeping the Montanas on the road, and home wins against Portland State and Idaho State. Also the 'Cats had a 5 game winning streak before losing at ISU. Not so good - losing on the road to UNC and EWU. Portland State Seven straight wins, 3 of which were on the road. A season sweep over NAU will benefit the Vik's down the stretch. Not so good - a lone loss at EWU is the only chink in the armor of the power house from the North.
Discuss this game on the fans forum - WSUFans. Earlywine's Eagles get past 'Cats (Feb 15) Associated Press: Brandon Moore scored a season-high 21 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, and Eastern Washington knocked off Weber State 69-57 on Thursday night. Marcus Hinton added 12 points and Adris DeLeon 11 for the Eagles (10-17 overall, 5-8 Big Sky). Daviin Davis led the Wildcats (12-11, 7-4) with 16 points. Eastern Washington led 60-51 with 5 minutes left when Hinton scored seven straight points, capped by a three-point play with 2:16 left to put the Eagles up 67-51. Weber State jumped up 6-0 to start the game and led 18-14 on a 3-pointer by Jamaine Nance midway through the first half. But Eastern Washington responded with a 19-3 run to close the half and grab a 33-21 lead. Kellen Williams scored all nine of his points during the run for the Eagles. The Wildcats never got closer than eight points the rest of the way. Moore made 8 of 10 shots for Eastern Washington. Dezmon Harris scored all 13 of his points in the second half for Weber State, which made just 3 of 21 3-point attempts. Kellen McCoy added 11 points and Arturas Valeika had nine rebounds for the Wildcats. Box Score Davis: 16 pts, 3 blks, stl, dunk Dez: 13 pts McCoy: 11 pts Arturas: 9 rebs, blk 'Cats roadtrip to Northwest (Feb 11) Thursday: Eastern Washington EWU is 4-8 so far with with a big home-opening win over Portland State but the Eag's haven't done much since. Two of their 4 wins were against Sac and the other against UNC. WSU's all-time record vs EWU: 33-18; 23-3 in Ogden, 10-15 in Cheney. High soaring Eagles Kellen Williams is a 6'4" senior forward who is averaging 13.6 ppg, 8.4 rpg and has registered 10 double-double games this season. Adris DeLeon a 5'11" junior guard is averaging 12.1 ppg and has scored 20 or more points in a game 4 times this season. DeLeon scored a career-high 42 points against UNC on Jan 17th and got his name in the EWU record books. Saturday: Portland State Six straight wins keeps the Portland State Vikings in first place in the Big Sky and 1 game ahead of the Wildcats in the standings. WSU's all-time record vs PSU: 22-8; 14-1 in Ogden, 8-7 in Portland. Weber's last loss to the Vikings was in 2006, since then the 'Cats are 4-0. The next 5 of PSU's remaining 6 league games will show what kind of team the Vikings really are. They will host ISU and WSU this week and next week travel to Northern Colorado where the Bears beat WSU and NAU in Greeley earlier this season. Then the Vikings will make the Montanas swing which is usually considered the toughest road trip in the conference. Viking vanguard Jeremiah Dominquez a 5'6" sophomore guard is averaging 13.9 ppg and 4 apg. Dominques has 4 games this season with 7 assists. He had a career best game against San Jose State back in December scoring 27 points and knocking down 6-of-9 from beyond the arc. Deonte Huff a 6'4" guard is one of 2 senior leaders on the court for the Vik's, the other is Scott Morrison. Huff averages 12.7 ppg & 5.8 rpg. Scott Morrison the big 6'11" senior center and 4 year starter is averaging 11.3 ppg & 6 rpg. Morrison was last weeks Big Sky Player of the Week. Between the Vikings 2 wins (Sac State & NAU), he averaged 15 points,7 rebounds, and 4 blocks. He also shot 85% from the field and surpassed a milestone that only 15 other Vikings have ever done in PSU history. Morrison joins the Viking 1,000/600 club for points and rebounds as well he helped his team to its 5th and 6th straight win. Wildcats beat Bears (Feb 10) 3,509 Wildcat fans watched Weber get win #7 in league play on what was supposed to be Jake's Over the Top/Taco Maker Night but it turned out to be Dez Harris/Art Valeika Night. Dez shot 5-5 from the 3-point line and led all scores with 21 points; Art scored 16 points and a game-high 14 rebounds. The night turned out to be a typical WSU home game, the 'Cats won, the Big Sky refs made some...well many terrible calls for both teams and the Fazoli's time-out competition was a failure, the fan missed the lay-up. Beating Northern Colorado makes WSU 2-0 all-time against the Bears at home and 3-1 overall. Weber didn't have a great shooting night (40%) but they made up for it from beyond the arc and the charity stripe shooting (7-15) 47% and (27-33) 82% respectively. Box Score Dez: 21 pts, 4 stls, 5-5 three-pointers Arturas: 16 pts, 14 rebs, 3 blks, stl McCoy: 12 pts, 7-7 FT's, 3 rebs, 2 stls Silveira: 8 pts, 4-4 FT's, 2 stls Davis: 8 pts, 6 rebs, 5 asts, blk, stl First place Portland State beat Sac State so the 'Cats are still a game back in 2nd. Weber will play the Vikings next Saturday in Portland after a stop in Cheney to play EWU on Thursday. WSU beat PSU in Ogden last month 73-68. Defending the home-court 2007 style (Feb 8) Free game tickets for Saturday night's game at all Jake's Over the Tops and Taco Makers Last season WSU lost only 2 home games and just 1 in league play. That lone league loss was to the ISU Bengals; with just 3 home games left can the 'Cats do it again? Currently the Rahe Administration is 21-4 at home and 13-2 at home against Big Sky schools. Saturday at the Dee Events Center at 7pm the 6-3 'Cats will host the 4-7 Northern Colorado Bears. WSU is 2-1 all-time vs UNC and 1-0 at home. UNC is the only school Weber is undefeated at home against. Jan 6th, 2007 It took a decade before both Sac State and Portland State got their first ever win in Ogden. But at the same time it was nearly a decade before either of them beat WSU on their own turf and UNC has already done that in their second year in the Big Sky. WSU lost to UNC 55-52 in Greeley, CO. Between the lack of getting to the free throw line and poor shooting beyond the arc, WSU couldn't finish off the Bears. Kellen McCoy led the team with 13 points and 3 three-pointers; as a team on that Sunday afternoon, Weber only made 8 of 26 three's. Rahe about free throw shooting: "They go 27 and you go six, that's not enough. We've got to do a better job of getting there; we usually do. It's very hard to overcome that on someone else's court." Last year in Ogden The last and only time WSU has played UNC in Ogden was last February and it was a night many Weber fans feared would be David Patten's last game. Before 'Dunkin Dave' even attempted his first FG of the game he took an elbow to the face which broke his cheekbone and sent him to the hospital just 6 minutes into the game. WSU went on without the General and won the game 76-65. Luckily the 2007 Big Sky MVP didn't even miss a game and made it back 2 days later to play NAU. He scored 22 points in the game which became a regular season sweep against the 'Jacks. Two days after the NAU game, The General underwent surgery on his face and never even missed a minute of Big Sky action thereafter. Bears Bio Established: 1889 Undergraduates: 10,799 Postgraduates: 2,182 Location: Greeley, Colorado Colors: Navy blue & Gold Home court: Butler-Hancock, capacity 2,941 UNC's Coach Tad Boyle, 2nd year, Kansas graduate 1985 Boyle, a Greeley native, spent 6 years as an assistant at Wichita State before coming to UNC. In 2006 Witchita State went 26-9 and advanced to the Sweet 16 by taking down Seton Hall (86-66) & Tennessee (80-73). WSU eventually lost to Final 4 cinderella George Mason. Top of the 'Sky (Feb 7) Five staight wins for Portland State keeps them 1 game ahead of the rest of the pack to stay in first place and they've won 7 of their last 8 games. The Vikings had a huge win at NAU to complete a sweep over the 'Jacks. Northern Arizona has lost 3 straight (@ ISU, @ UNC, PSU). Idaho State has lost 2 of their last 3 games and will face PSU & EWU on the road next week. Since losing at home to WSU, Montana State went on to win 4 in a row and just recently lost to PSU. The Bobcats next will face the Griz in Missoula and then come home to take on NAU & Sac next week. Weber sitting 1 game back from first place will host UNC on Saturday then head for the Northwest to play at EWU & PSU. Berger's Blog (Feb 7) Attention fans, Berger's Blog which started back in December is a fan blog by a long time Weber State sports fan. Berger will be posting weekly his thoughts and comments on what he sees each week at the games. The link to his blog is under Links to the left. To contact him - mark@wsubball.com. U of Northern Colorado (Feb 6) WSU men's hoops will be hosting the Bears of Northern Colorado this Saturday at the Dee Events Center, Feb 9th. WSU leads the all-time series 2-1 which only started last season. Before Saturday's game, the 3-7 UNC Bears will make a stop in Pocatello to try and avenge an 11 point loss earlier this season to the Bengals back in Greeley. 'Cats split with Bengals 1-1 (Jan 31) With 100+ Wildcat fans in attendance to see their team attempt to win for the second straight year in Pocatello, ISU pulled off the win 63-59. WSU beat Idaho State 59-57 on the previous Thursday, however, scoring 59 points on Saturday wasn't enough to sweep the Bengals this year. The Bengals led almost the entire game and were up 29-24 at the half. The 'Cats were down about 10 for most of the second half and never gave up. They chipped away at ISU's comfortable lead and with just over a minute and a half left Jamaine Nance sank a 3 from the baseline that got the 'Cats within 2 points. ISU inbounded the ball and JP Silveira stole the ball but was quickly fouled before he could race down and score the easy layup. He made both FT's which tied things up 56-56 with 1:24 left. ISU inbounded the ball again; this time they held on to the ball too long so as the shot clock expired, Kilpatrick of the Black and Orange launched a desperation long range 3 that went in with 49 seconds left. With 31 seconds remaining and the score 59-56, Nance again attempted another baseline shot from behind the arc but it didn't fall. Arturas quickly fouled Kilpatrick as he came down with the rebound to stop the clock, Kilpatrick didn't like the foul and attempted to elbow the big Lithuanian, Art didn't get hit but he was pushed backwards a few feet with his arms flailing in the air as he caught his balance. Apparently the ref assumed Art was fighting back so he called a double technical on both players. That sealed the deal for the Bengals and they won the game. The moral of the story for the Wildcats is don't get behind and make a comeback with less than a minute remaining in the game with Big Sky referees on the court. Box Score Arturas: 14 pts, 6 rebs, 4-4 FT's, 4 asts, blk McCoy: 11 pts, 4-4 FT's D-Will: 10 pts, 2 stls, blk, dunk 'Cats topple 'taters (Jan 31) WSU wins at home 59-57. When the game started it was snowing outside but that didn't stop the 3,227 faithful of WSU to cheer on their team as the 'Cats beat the ISU Bengals 59-57. This victory makes WSU's home record vs ISU 39-9 all-time and 64-39 overall. Arturas Valeika led all scores and rebounds with 13 & 13. The big Lithuanian will continue his campaign for Big Sky player of the week this Saturday night in Pocatello as the 'Cats take on ISU again for the second time this week. The last time WSU swept the Bengals in a season was in 2003. Interestingly, 2003 was also the last year WSU and ISU played twice in the same week. Unlike the disaster against NAU, not one Wildcat player had any foul trouble against the big ISU team. Also unlike the NAU game, WSU had a 7 point lead at the half. However, ISU would make it a close one as they came back in the final few minutes of the game. With 38.7 seconds left Valeika hit 2 free-throws to put Weber ahead 58-57. ISU couldn't get a shot and later fouled McCoy with 12 seconds left, McCoy hit one of two free throws and with 4 seconds left ISU's Lucas Steijn missed a jumper and Art pulled down rebound number 13 and the game ended. Box Score Arturas: 13 pts, 13 rebs, blk, stl McCoy: 12 pts, 3 stls, 3 rebs Dez: 11 pts, 5-5 FT's Davis: 6 asts, 4 rebs, 3 blks, stl Thurs: Jazz Bear night, ISU @ WSU (Jan 27) This Thursday on Jan 31st the 5-2 Wildcats will be hosting the 5-2 Idaho State Bengals. The night will also be Jazz Bear night live on KJZZ at 7 pm. Then on Saturday, WSU as well as 2 buses full of Wildcat fans will travel to the land of the potato where ISU will host the Wildcats at Holt Arena. The last time WSU played ISU twice in the same week was in 2003, Weber beat the Bengals both times, once in Pocatello 82-76 and the other in Ogden 87-70. 2003 was also the last year WSU swept the bengals in a season. From 2001-03, WSU went 4-0 vs the Bengals and from 2004-07 the 'Cats are 3-5. Overall in the series against the Bengals, WSU is 63-39 all-time and 38-9 at home. The last time ISU won the Big Sky title was in 1994, Weber & ISU were co-champions that year. ISU's Big Sky titles: 1974, 1976, 1977, & 1994. Bengal bball season In the preseason ISU went 3-10 beating only 1 division I school which was the U of Idaho in overtime. The Idaho Vandals are currently ranked 306th in the nation out of the 341 teams. Since league play started ISU has gone 5-2 which is shocking considering the way they played in the preseason as well in the coaches and media poll for the Big Sky the Beng's were picked to finish 5th & 6th respectively. ISU bio Established: 1901 Students: 13,802 Location: Pocatello, ID Colors: Black and Orange Mascot: Benny the Bengal Famous Potatoes Famous ISU alumni: Jerry Graybeal, WSU Athletic Director, Ron Boone, broadcaster for the Utah Jazz; Merril Hoge, ESPN commentator; Marvin Lewis, Cincinnati Bengals head coach; William L. Petersen, actor on CSI. Sixth Man t-shirt $6 (Jan 26) Get your Sixth Man shirt now for only $6. The Sixth Man t-shirt which is sponsored by the Purple Pak is a new Weber State basketball fans tee that recently came out at the start of this year. At only $6, this shirt is currently the lowest price WSU shirt on campus. It is for sale at all Weber State home games at the Dee Events Center, also, it can be purchased at the WSU bookstore, and at the Davis Campus. More shirt pics For WSU fans who would like to purchase this shirt who live outside of the area or the United States, let us know at admin@wsubball.com and we can make special arrangements to ship you a shirt. Final: NAU 69, WSU 56 (Jan 24) The referees had a goal before the game started to beat Weber and NAU, they were somewhat successful in handing out 55 fouls between the 2 teams and fouling out 4 players as well has ending the game with 4 other players with 4 fouls. Sadly the officials were unaware that only WSU or NAU could win the game. WSU jumped out to an early lead but at the 14:50 mark in the first half NAU took the lead and never gave it up for the rest of the game. This game was a good example of the "quality" Big Sky officiating that the fans have enjoyed so much over the years and apparently Doug Fullerton approves. The nail in the coffin for the 'Cats was at the 5:43 mark in the 2nd half when Arturas Valeika "committed" his 5th foul after being in foul trouble much of the game. Art headed over to the bench having only played 11 minutes as the NAU bench erupted with cheers and from there the game was over. As for the Lumberjack threats, Landry played just 14 minutes and scored 4 points and pulled down 2 rebounds. He averages over 16 ppg and 8.9 rpg. Josh Wilson scored 14 and 7 assists, Nathan Geiser one of the best 3-point shooters in the league hit 3-8 from the arc and ended the game with 9 points and 3 rebounds. The season is still looking very good for the Wildcats especially when they get another chance at the 'Jacks. WSU will go down to NAU to attempt another win against the Lumberjacks on Feb 28th which will be the second to last game of the season. If that 'Cats can continue to win they will hopefully get another chance to get win #40 at home against NAU by hosting the Big Sky tournament. Box Score McCoy: 17 pts, stl Panos: 13 pts, 9 rebs, 2 blks Dez: 11 pts Art: 7 rebs in just 11 minutes played Next game: Thurs, Jan 31st Idaho State (4-2) @ WSU (5-2) Dez Harris - Big Sky POTW (Jan 24) Dezmon Harris was selected as the Big Sky Conference men's basketball Player of the Week for Jan 15-21. Dez was chosen as player of the week after his audition for 2007-08 Big Sky first team candidate by helping his team sweep the Montanas for the first time in 5 years. During the 2 games this past week he averaged 22 ppg and shot 67% from the arc. During the Montana game on Sunday he hit 5 three-pointers in a row. On the Thursday night game at Montana State Dez scored a career-high 27 points. In conference play after 6 games, Dez is averaging 16 ppg, 51% FG shooting, 53% from the arc, & 86% from the free-throw line. Watch out Lumberjacks! Fri: #1 'Cats vs #1 'Jacks (Jan 24) Listen on the Internet at KLO 1430 AM The Northern Arizona Lumberjacks will be coming to town Friday for the 45th ever meeting against WSU in Ogden. WSU is 39-5 at home vs the 'Jacks and 61-23 in the series overall. The Wildcat faithful are hopeful to get win #40 as well as a 6th straight win! The last time Weber had 6 straight wins was 2003. 2003 was also the last time 'Cat fans saw a sweep at the Montanas. NAU along with Portland State are the only 2 teams left in the conference that Coach Randy Rahe hasn't lost to. Who is NAU? NAU is a school located in Flagstaff, AZ, that has been a member of the Big Sky since 1970. They have 5 conference championships - '87, '97, '98, '06, & '07. NAU and Weber were co-champions in 2007 by both finishing 11-5, however, Weber beat NAU in the conference tournament championship and later went on to the NCAA tournament. Even though the 2 finished as co-champs, WSU swept NAU 3-0. The 'Jacks also have 2 NCAA tournament appearances - 1998 & 2000. NAU is 2-5 when hosting the conference tournament and Weber is 7-8 when hosting. WSU has 17 overall Big Sky titles but the conference tournament didn't start until 1979 which was the same year as the start of the 64 team era for the NCAA tournament. Lumberjack season NAU lost to #17 Arizona in a close one that went down to the wire. NAU lost to Utah State by 16 in Logan. Their only loss in league play was at Portland State where the 'Jacks got jacked up in a 14 point loss. The Vikings were up 14 at the half and never let up. WSU on the other hand is just 1 lucky three-pointer from UNC away from being 6-0. NAU's top players are: Kyle Landry - 16.9 ppg, 8.9 rpg; Josh Wilson - 12 ppg, 5.7 apg; Nathan Geiser - 10 ppg. Geiser can be deadly from the arc, he has had 4 games this season with 4 three-pointers, 1 game with 5, and 1 game with 7. NAU bio Established: 1899 Undergraduates: 15,569 Postgraduates: 5,783 Location Flagstaff, AZ Colors: Blue, Sage, and Gold Nickname: Lumberjacks Mascot: Louie the Lumberjack Bigs lead 'Cats to 5th straight win (Jan 23) The big men of WSU namely Arturas Valeika & Steve Panos contributed to Weber's 44 points in the paint to lead the Wildcats to victory over the Hornets of Sac State 69-56. Sac only had 14 points in the paint. It was yet again another sparse crowd (2,640) in Ogden at the Dee Events Center but that didn't prove to be any advantage for the Hornets. Weber is now 14-1 all-time at home against Sac and 24-4 overall. All scores were led by Steve Panos with 16 points and a career high 9 rebounds. Also, the Big Sky's leading rebounder Arturas Valeika had 9 rebounds to go along with 11 points. Valeika's last shot of the game was at the 4:37 mark when he put in a layup and got fouled. He went on to miss the free-throw which would have given the 'Cats a 20 point lead. This missed shot didn't go over well with the student section who has desperately waiting for quite some to time to chant "up by 20". The fans weren't mad at the big Lithuanian and look forward to the chance to yell their favorite chant this Friday when NAU comes to town. Box Score Panos: 16 pts, 9 rebs Arturas: 11 pts, 9 rebs, 3 stls Dez: 13 pts Next game: Fri, Jan 25th Northern Arizona @ WSU Wed: Sac State at Weber, 7 pm (Jan 21) Listen on the Internet at KLO 1430 AM Sacramento State Hornets (1-5) aka California State University, Sacramento will be coming to Ogden for the 15th time in the schools history to take on the 4-1 Wildcats. The Hornets have only 1 win in Ogden and just 4 wins overall out of the 27 times the 2 teams have met. All 4 of Sac's wins against Weber have come in the last 5 years. Currently Sac has lost all 9 road games this year and 16 straight dating back to last season. Weber would like to contribute to this losing streak and especially to avoid anything resembling the disaster of 2006. For those who have been lucky to forget, the '05-'06 season was one of the worst seasons in WSU history. Sac State and Portland State both got their first ever win in Ogden, and after the Hornets won they were so excited they even took the game ball home. Sac preseason Notable non conference wins for the Hornets include: none. They went 2-10, and both wins were against non division I schools. Sac had their last preseason home game on December 4th and didn't have another home game until January 10th. Many of the Hornet faithful were under the impression that the season was over. Finally on Jan 10th, Sac had another home game which was against Montana State and the Hornet team was so excited to play they even won the game! League play Much like the Wildcats the Hornets started the season losing to Northern Colorado on the road. Unlike WSU, Sac went on to lose to EWU & PSU by large margins. Then when Jan 10th rolled around they beat MSU by 1 and then lost to Montana by 7 to start another losing streak. Currently they have lost 3 straight (UM, CS-Bakersfield, & NAU). Hornet bio Established: 1947 Undergraduates: 22,555 Postgraduates: 5,417 Location: Sacramento, CA Colors: Green and Gold Mascot: Herky the Hornet Famous alumni Tom Hanks, Creed Bratton from The Office, Lester Holt anchor of the weekend edition of Today, Joan Lunden & Bobby McFerrin. The Wig's on fire! WSU sweeps the Montanas! (Jan 20) 4 straight wins for WSU Dezmon Harris' new due aka "The Wig" helped him score 17 points, and 2 free throws with 17 seconds left to help WSU beat Montana for the 60th time in Weber State's 46 year history of division I basketball. Similar to how Pootie's belt helped him fight crime, Dez's hair will help him lead the 'Cats to victory. During the Montanas road trip, The Wig scored 44 points, 8 rebounds, 8-12 from the arc. Bring on Sac State! After Dez's 2 FT's, UM's Staudacher hit a 3 to get the Griz within 1 point with 8.7 seconds left to play. UM quickly fouled Tyler Billings who ended up missing the first of a 1-and-1, UM got the ball and just like last Thursday against MSU, they were unable to take a final shot to win the game. The 'Cats shot (12-15) 80% from the line and only Billings missed free-throws - 0-3. The Griz weren't so lucky with the freebies. While the Griz outrebounded the 'Cats and had only 15 turnovers to Weber's 12, similar to Portland State, UM is having some issues this year trying to get some points from the line and thus didn't take the opportunity converting on 25 free points Weber gave them. Montana made just 11 of the 25 free throws. Box Score Harris: 17 pts, 5-6 three-pointers Arturas: 14 pts, 9 rebs, 2 stls, 2 dunks Davis: 11 pts, blk, 2 dunks Next game: Wed, Jan 23rd Sacramento State @ Weber State 'Cats attempt win #60 Tip-off: Sunday, 2 pm Altitude TV - Comcast 65, DirecTV 644, & Dish Network 410 Listen on the Internet at KLO 1430 AM (Jan 19) Sunday's game on the altitude will be the 102nd all-time meeting between the 2 schools. WSU currently leads the series 59-43. With a win over the Griz, UM would become the 4th school in the Big Sky to have at least 60 losses to Weber State in basketball. Of the 4 remaining charter members of the Big Sky, UM is the only school to have at least 40 wins against the Wildcats and less than 60 losses. Last season Weber got win #59, #60, & #61 against NAU, can the 'Cats do the same with the Griz this year? The last time WSU won in Missoula was the 2003-04 season. From the 2004-05 season to the 2005-06 season Weber went 0-4 in the state of Montana. Weber State's record vs Big Sky charter members WSU 52, Idaho 19 WSU 63, Idaho State 39 WSU 29, Gonzaga 14 WSU 59, Montana 43 WSU 66, Montana State 32 Sun: WSU (3-1) @ Montana (1-3) Tip-off: Sunday, 2 pm Altitude TV - Comcast 65, DirecTV 644, & Dish Network 410 Listen on the Internet at KLO 1430 AM (Jan 18) Live from Missoula, Weber will attempt to go 4-1 and sweep the Montanas with a win over the Griz of Montana this Sunday. Weber's last 2 sweeps at the Montanas was 1999 & 2003. Sunday's game will be on the Altitude Sports Network at 2 pm MST (Comcast 65, DirecTV 644, & Dish Network 410). Last year at Montana, Weber lost 90-86 in overtime. JP Silveira led WSU with 23 points, Patten had 19, 14 for Dez, Billings 12, and Henry knocked in 11. Overall it was a great game and both teams shot over 50% from the field, really it all came down to 5 overtime minutes. Montana scored 9 and Weber just 5 points. The 'Cats look to avenge that loss this year by exploiting a media poll favorite Griz team that is definitely in a slump by winning just 1-of-4 games in league play. With Weber playing like they did against Montana State, UM won't have much of a chance. WSU's momentum is building and the Wildcat fans won't be mad if the men's hoops team turns into the juggernaut they were in 2003 when they won 17 straight games. Griz preseason Notable UM preseason wins were 2 victories vs the Mountain West Conference. Montana blew out Colorado State 75-39 and at the Hispanic Invitational in Spokane, WA, they beat Air Force 69-57. Griz in league play Montana started Big Sky play at MSU where they lost 74-58, then they took a week off to prepare for NAU which they ended up losing 72-64. At 0-2 they got their first W at Sac State 76-69. Then they again lost but this time it was to Idaho State 56-54. Right now UM is in the middle of a 3 game home stand, after WSU, UM will take on EWU then head out for 3 road games (@ UNC, @ PSU, & @ EWU). Montana bio Established: 1893 Undergraduates: 11,841 Graduates: 2,120 Location: Missoula, MT Stadium: Dahlberg Arena (7,500) Colors: Maroon & Silver Grizzly scraps Weber's record all-time against Montana is 59-43 overall, 36-13 in Ogden, and 23-30 in the state Montana. The last time Montana won the Big Sky in basketball was 2000. Their last NCAA Tournament appearance was 2006. As of late the Griz have been conference tournament spoilers. In 2002 when Montana State hosted, UM ended up going to the Big Dance. In 2005, PSU hosted yet Montana went to the Big Dance again, but this time they beat Weber for the conference tournament championship by 2. Weber's Jamal Jenkins threw up a halfcourt shot with 3 seconds remaining in the game and lost. In 2006, NAU hosted yet UM went to the Big Dance as a 12-seed and beat the WAC champion, Nevada Wolf pack. Break out win for 'Cats (Jan 18) Wildcat fans were hoping just for a split as the team travels to the Montanas and now they are looking at maybe a sweep! Having a 10 point lead at the half (WSU 42, MSU 32) was a bit of a surprise not that the Wildcat fans don't believe in their team, but WSU hasn't won at Montana State since 2003 when Weber went 16-0. The 2003 win in Bozeman was Weber's 12 straight win. This year's win (78-76) was win number 3 in a row with the next stop in Missoula to take on the Grizz on the Altitude at 2 pm on Sunday. Montana (1-3) just lost to Idaho State (3-1) 56-54. In the first half WSU was shooting over 50% from the field and 3-point land, the Bobcats could do nothing to stop the Purple & White. MSU's leading scorer Carlos Taylor who scored 34 points the game before was just 1-of-4 with 6 points at intermission. By the end of the game the 'Cats accomplished many goals, low turnovers (12), shutting down MSU's 2 best players, Mbunga (wasn't even a factor with 9 pts & 5 rebs) and Taylor, and crashing the boards. Rebounds: WSU 32, MSU 26. The Fighting Bobcats made a late run to comeback to win the game with Taylor finishing with 26 points but they didn't take a 3 to tie it up with 12 seconds remaining. Instead, MSU went in for a layup and missed, Juan Pablo got the rebound and got fouled and it was all over. Weber is now 65-32 all-time against MSU. Box Score Harris: 27 pts, 8 rebs, 3 three-pointers, 6-6 FT's Panos: 17 pts, 7-10 FG's Arturas: 12 pts, 12 rebs, 2 blks McCoy: 10 pts Thurs: WSU @ Montana State (Jan 15) Weber will be heading north for the Montanas this week, with the first stop in Bozeman, MT, this Thursday to play the Fighting Bobcats. Weber is 65-32 overall against MSU and 41-9 in Ogden. In Bozeman the 'Cats are 24-23 and look to make it win number 25. Then Sunday, Weber will head to Missoula to play the Montana Grizzlies on Sunday's Altitude game of the week. Bobcat preseason Noteable MSU preseason wins include: Long Beach State (W 74-56), Boise State (W 86-84), Pepperdine (W 95-89), @ Wyoming (W 79-72), & @ Oregon State (W 60-59). They even lost a close one at Arizona State (L 66-62). Bobcats in league play Montana State started out league play hot by beating the media poll favorite Montana Griz at home 74-58. Riding a 4 game winning streak they would go on to lose this past Thursday at Sacramento State 78-77. This win for the Hornets of Sac State was their first win against a division I team this year. To make things worse they lost at NAU on Saturday by 20 (78-58). Montana State bio Established: 1893 Undergraduates: 10,842 Postgraduates: 1,408 Location: Bozeman, MT Colors: Blue and Gold Random tid bits Notable alumni of Montana State include Dennis Erickson, current head football coach at Arizona State and former MSU basketball player Craig Kilborn the actor and former talk show host. Also, the Big Sky's only school to ever win a national championship in men's basketball was MSU in 1929. David Patten returns (Jan 13) wsubball: What is your major and when do you think you will finish school? Patten: I am a broadcast news major and plan on graduating as soon as possible. Hopefully in the summer, maybe in the fall. wsubball: Can we expect you to be back on the Weber State News any time soon like you were last year? Patten: I will not be a part of Weber State News. That was a tremendous group to be a part of, but my time has come and passed. I am just going to focus on finishing my degree for the next little while. wsubball: As a part of the staff on this year's team, what will you be doing and do you have a job title? Patten: My job title officially for the team this year will be "hang out guy", I will be there to do whatever the team needs at any time. wsubball: Will we see you on the bench? Patten: I spent enough time on the bench during my career at Weber, I think the stands are more comfortable. Read more Earlywine's Eagles lose to Weber (Jan 13) EWU's first year head coach and former WSU assistant Kirk Earlywine made his return to the Dee and it was just like when he was with Weber, the 'Cats beat the Eagles for the 23 time out of 26 games in Ogden. Attendance is struggling so far in conference play but the 'Cats are playing some of their best ball at home since the new year started. In front of 2,897 the Wildcats got off to a great start with a 19-6 run in the first 10 minutes of the game and never looked back. Weber beatdown EWU 74-62. Similar to last Thursday's game all scores were led by Davis and Harris. The duo combined for 36 points against Portland State and 33 points against Eastern Washington. In the first half, the 'Cats were on fire shooting 60% from the field and 7-10 (70%) from the three-point line. Taking good shots was the difference in this game, WSU hit their shots and EWU's didn't fall in. Weber was out rebounded 30-28 but only committed 14 turnovers and when the 'Cats keep the TO's low they win. Box Score Harris: 17 pts, 4 asts, 3 three's, steal Davis: 16 pts, 5 rebs, 3 asts, 2 dunks, 2 stls, blk Billings: 11 pts, stl Panos: 10 pts Arturas: 13 rebs, 5 asts Next game: Thurs, Jan 17th WSU @ Montana State Sat: Eastern Washington @ WSU (Jan 11) Tip-off: 7:00 PM Jan 12th at The Dee, KLO 1430 AM Listen live on the Internet at KLO 1430 AM Eastern Washington, located just 15 minutes from downtown Spokane, Washington will be coming to Ogden with a 1-6 road record. What is significant about Saturday's game is EWU's coach who spent 7 years at Weber during the "Cravens era". EWU's first year head coach, Kirk Earlywine will be making his first game back to the Dee after being associate assistant coach under Joe Cravens from 1999-2007. According to some of the players of old Earlywine had been referred to as "the man behind the curtain". He is already off to a great conference start after playing maybe the toughest nonconference schedule of all the Big Sky teams. Currently they are 2-2 and 7-11 overall. The 2-2 might not sound impressive but the Red & White were picked 8th in the coaches poll and 9th (last) in the media poll. When Earlywine was hired he said immediately he would like his team to compete for a Big Sky title. Many people around the 'Sky didn't take him serious and now he has 2 wins out of his first 4 games. EWU beat Portland State 58-57 and they beat Sac State 76-52. The Eag's lost 2 close ones, a 4 point loss to NAU and a 2 point loss at ISU this past Thursday. The next test for EWU will be at Weber State, Saturday at 7 PM in Ogden. Weber is an amazing 22-3 at home against Eastern and 32-18 overall. In 2003 WSU beat EWU in the Big Sky tournament championship game and then went on to the NCAA tournament. That game was EWU's 4th consecutive conference tournament championship loss. The next year EWU would go on to finally win the title get their school's first ever NCAA tournament birth. Of course before that happened EWU would lose one of their final road games at Weber but still finished 11-3 in league. Anyone who was at the game will remember exactly which game it was when they see the next sentence. Johnny Hamilton hit 8 three-pointers, half of which were in the final 2 minutes of the game and the 'Cats won in overtime 81-78. Hamilton had 31 points, Nick Sparrow had 18, & Lance Allred put in 17 points. As a team Weber shot 67% which makes winning really easy. WSU: Victory over Vikings (Jan 11) Deja vu at the Dee...for those fans having this happen to them and not understanding the reason; it was the final score - 73-68. This was the same final score the two schools had this past Fall when Weber beat Portland State in football - 73-68. Only the football game turned out to be the highest scoring game in NCAA Division I history! Thursday night at the Dee in front of a small crowd of 2,785, the student section could still be heard as they helped push their team on to victory over the Vikings of Portland State. WSU is now 14-1 at home against the Vik's and 22-8 overall. D-Will led all scores with a career-high 23 points, he also pulled down 7 boards and of coarse had a monster dunk. The dunk was the nail in the coffin in the final seconds of the game. The 73-68 win puts the 'Cats at 1-1 in conference play; 2-2 EWU will be Weber's next test this Saturday at the Dee. Box Score Davis: 23 pts, 7 rebs, 2 blks, steal, dunk Dez: 13 pts, 3-3 three-pointers Panos: 11 pts Arturas: 10 rebs, 8 pts, blk Next game: Thurs, Jan 12th EWU @ WSU PSU/EWU come to Ogden (Jan 8) The Wildcats are set to take on the 2-1 Vikings of Portland State for their first conference home game of the season Thursday. Following the PSU game, the 'Cats will host the 2-1 Eastern Washington Eagles on Saturday. Both games will be at 7 pm. The EWU game will be Kirk Earlywine, the Eagles' coach's first game back in Ogden after spending 7 years here as an assistant to Randy Rahe's predecessor Joe Cravens. Between PSU and EWU they combine for just 4 wins out of 40 games against Weber State in Ogden. The 'Cats would like to keep the high winning percentage against these teams by winning both games to improve to 2-1 overall. PSU Bio Established: 1946 Undergraduates: 18,012 Postgraduates: 6,272 Location Portland, OR Colors: Forest Green and white Against Weber in football: 12-16 Against Weber in basketball: 8-21 (1-13 in Ogden) EWU Bio Established: 1882 Undergraduates: 8,309 Postgraduates: 923 Location Cheney, WA Colors: Red and White Against Weber in football: 13-13 Against Weber in basketball: 18-32 (3-22 in Ogden) 1st ever loss to UNC (Jan 7) Between the lack of getting to the free throw line and the 'Cats uncharacteristic poor shooting beyond the Arc, the Bears won the game 55-52. New starter Kellen McCoy led the team with 13 points and 3 three-pointers, however, as a team Weber only made 8 of 26 three's. Rahe about free throw shooting: "They go 27 and you go six, that's not enough. We've got to do a better job of getting there; we usually do. It's very hard to overcome that on someone else's court." The 'Cats really didn't take advantage of the situation to get the W. They played in front of a small crowd of 1,075, you could see only about 5 students in attendance. Weber only turned the ball over 12 times to UNC's 18. From the bench Weber scored 31 to UNC's 4. Coach Rahe said Weber is a good shooting team and just needs to keep shooting and they also need to get to the line more on the road. Box Score McCoy: 13 pts, 3 three-ptrs Art: 9 rebs, 2 blks, steal Next game: Thurs, Jan 10th Portland State @ WSU Sun: WSU @ UNC Tip-off: Jan 6th, 2 pm Altitude TV - Comcast 65, DirecTV 644, & Dish Network 410 Listen live on the Internet at KLO 1430 AM (Jan 5) Weber will "tipoff" the conference schedule with a Sunday afternoon game on the Altitude at Northern Colorado. The 'Cats are 2-0 all-time vs the Bears and look to make it 3-0. The last time WSU played UNC was in Ogden last February and it was a night many Weber fans feared would be Patten's last game. Before Dunkin Dave even attempted his first shot of the game he took an elbow to the face which broke his cheekbone and he left for the hospital just 6 minutes into the game. Luckily he didn't even miss a game and made it back 2 days later to play NAU. He scored 22 points in the game which became a regular season sweep against NAU. Two days after the NAU game, The General underwent surgery on his face. Last year in Greeley, Weber won the game by 1 point after "The General" hit a free throw with 11 seconds left to make it 61-60. Patten led the team to victory with 21 points, 2 blocks, and 2 steals. While as a team the 'Cats only hit 7 of 21 from the Arc. The Bears went 0-12. UNC's Sean Taibi, one of their best players went 0-8. Attendance for the game was 325 because of a severe snow storm. Rahe: "I certainly didn’t pick them [Northern Colorado] to finish low. I felt they and Montana State are probably the two most improved teams in the league. Jabril Banks gives them a big, athletic scoring threat in the middle and he’s tough match up with. Coach Boyle has them playing with a great deal of intensity and enthusiasm." Probable WSU starters 1-Brody Van Brocklin 2-Kellen McCoy 3-Daviin Davis 4-Arturas Valeika 5-Steve Panos Big Sky update (Jan 4) Northern Arizona is off to another great start, the 'Jacks are 2-0 in the Big Sky and they have won 7 of their last 9 games. The 'Jacks blewout UNC and beat EWU by 4 in Cheney, WA. Idaho State is 1-0 after starting the season 3-10 and only one of the wins was against a Div I school. The Bengals beat UNC by 11 in Greeley, CO which definately was a surprise. They will take on EWU & PSU at home on Jan 10th and 13th. Portland State beat Sac yesterday 83-58 to put them at 1-1 in conference. On Dec 22nd they lost at EWU by 1 in a game where the Vik's hit just 7 of 19 FT's. PSU has lost 4 of their last 6. Montana, Montana State, and WSU still haven't started league play yet. The Montanas will play each other Saturday, Jan 5th. Weber will hit the road to take on the Bears of UNC this Sunday on the Altitude. U of Northern Colorado? (Dec 31) WSU men's hoops will be traveling to Colorado for their Big Sky opener to take on the 1-1 Bears of Northern Colorado this Sunday, Jan 6th on The Altitude (DirecTV 644 & Dish Network 410). The 2 teams have only met twice, both last season and Weber leads the series 2-0. This season is UNC's second year in the Big Sky Conference, last year the Bears won 2 league games (NAU & Sac), and in football they finished 0-8. UNC was picked by the coaches/media polls to finish 7th & 8th respectively. So far the Bears are 1-1 by beating Sac once again and they would love nothing more than beating Weber after the one point loss in Greeley last year. In football they were able to get their first ever 'Sky win against Montana State and finished 1-7. So far this season, UNC's top performers are Jabril Banks (13.5 ppg & 5.6 rpg), Sean Taibi (12.1 ppg), and Jefferson Mason (9.5 ppg). The Bears won 5 of their first 7 games this season and even won 4 straight. Last season combined they only had 4 wins. Currently they have lost 5 of their last 6 games, 2 of the losses were to Oregon State and Gonzaga. Bears Bio Established: 1889 Undergraduates: 10,799 Postgraduates: 2,182 Location: Greeley, Colorado Colors: Navy blue and Gold Home court: Butler-Hancock, capacity 2,941 UNC's Coach Tad Boyle, 2nd year, Kansas 1985 Boyle, a Greeley native, spent 6 years as an assistant at Wichita State before coming to UNC. In 2006 Witchita State went 26-9 and advanced to the Sweet 16 by taking down Seton Hall (86-66) & Tennessee (80-73). WSU eventually lost to Final 4 cinderella George Mason. WSU wins final game of the year (Dec 29) The team delivered a late Christmas present to the fans to make up for the lump of coal from Albuquerque. Friday night's snow storm wasn't enough to keep away the 2,518 fans who showed up to see the 'Cats' rematch with USF. The Dons new head coach Eddie Sutton will have to let UVSC see whether or not they will be win #799 for the 71-year-old coach. WSU beat USF 62-54 and is now 2-3 all-time against the Dons and 54-20 all-time with the West Coast Conference. The game seemed to be not to different from most of the other games this season. As for turnovers, it wasn't very pretty but the team shot well and was able to outrebound USF 33-25. After building up a 15-point lead in the second half, the 'Cats were able to win the game 62-54. The Dons went on a 18-8 run to make a comeback but WSU hit 6 straight free throws in the final minute to preserve the W. Rahe: "I can live with getting beat if we play hard, play smart and play together. We adjusted the starting line up to give those who have been giving a full effort in practice a reward for those efforts and they played hard. I was pleased with efforts of those starters who came off the bench especially down the stretch." Eddie Sutton: "People ask me, what do you miss about coaching?. The games aren't the thing I miss the most. I miss the teaching at practice sessions and watching the players mature and grow and get better." Box Score Game pics Panos: 13 pts, 6-7 FG's, 4 rebs, dunk Davis: 12 pts, 7 rebs, 3 steals, dunk Arturas: 11 pts, 8 rebs, 3 blks Dez: 10 pts, 5-5 FT's Legendary coach comes to Ogden Friday (Dec 26) Tip-off: 7:00 PM Dec 28th at The Dee, KLO 1430 AM Listen live on the Internet at KLO 1430 AM This Friday when the Wildcats play host to the University of San Francisco, the Dons will have a new Padre en La Casa USF. Legendary Coach Eddie Sutton, 798 wins overall after 36 years of coaching will take over as the new head coach of the Dons on an interim basis. The Coach only needs 2 wins to get 800 all-time W's. Bobby Knight is the only active coach with 800+ wins. Jerry Tarkanian: "Eddie Sutton is a pioneer of college basketball. He exemplifies a teacher, coach, and role model all in one." Doug Gottlieb (Former player & ESPN analyst): "Coach has done more for his players off the floor than on. That is an amazing accomplishment considering all that he has done throughout his career on the floor." Sutton's first game will be against WSU this Friday in Ogden. He hasn't coached since retiring as head coach of Oklahoma State in 2005-06. Over the past 4 decades Sutton has made it to the Final 4 once with Arkansas and twice with Oklahoma State. Sutton beat Weber twice in the NCAA Tournament. In 1978 with Arkansas, he beat Weber in the first round and made it to the Final 4. In 1979 he beat Weber in the 2nd round of the Tournament. Sutton's Record 1969-74 Creighton 82-50 1975-85 Arkansas 260-75 1986-89 Kentucky 90-40 1990 Did not coach 1991-2006 Oklahoma 342-108 Most Wins All-Time Bobby Knight-896, Texas Tech Dean Smith-879, North Carolina Adolph Rupp-876, Kentucky Jim Phelan-830, Mount St. Mary's Eddie Sutton has 2 sons also coaching Div I basketball. Scott Sutton is the head coach for Oral Roberts and Sean Sutton is Oklahoma State's head coach. Rematch: Dons vs 'Cats (Dec 24) Tip-off: 7:00 PM Dec 28th at The Dee, KLO 1430 AM Listen live on the Internet at KLO 1430 AM Friday, December 28th the Wildcats will get the chance to redeem themselves after losing to the Dons of the University of San Francisco a couple weeks back. USF beat Weber 67-65 and they scored 25 points off of 27 WSU turnovers. The 4-8 Dons have lost 3 straight and haven't won a game since beating Weber. The Dons lead WSU 3-1 all-time and the only other WCC team with a winning record vs the 'Cats is St. Mary's 2-0. Overall WSU is 53-20 against WCC teams (Weber is 29-14 against Gonzaga). In the 1950s the Dons won 2 NCAA national championships with Bill Russell and K.C. Jones both former NBA players. Also, Bill Cartwright played his college hoops at USF. Dons Bio Roman Catholic private school Undergraduates: 5,248 Postgraduates: 3,199 Location San Francisco, California Conference: West Coast Conference Colors: Green and Gold Dons Schedule 11/08 at Oklahoma L 71-55 11/09 East Cen W 87-70 11/17 Sac St W 93-63 11/20 at UC Santa Barbara L 74-69 11/24 at #11 Oregon L 110-79 11/28 Utah Valley State W 69-64 12/01 Boise St L 91-81 12/05 Pacific L 84-57 12/08 Weber St W 67-65 12/15 at UC Irvine L 72-59 12/18 at Long Beach State L 71-68 12/22 at Notre Dame L 84-76 'Cats lose to Lob's (Dec 24) WSU loses in a blow-out to New Mexico 62-32 in front of 13,000+ at The Pit in Albuquerque, NM. This was the second lowest point total in Weber's 45 year history. This game also was the first time this season that no player scored in double figures. JP & Art, both had the team high of 8 points. Interestingly, Van Brocklin had the high for rebounds with 5. The real question is did the team just not show up for the game or is it the Sunday curse for the Wildcats? WSU has not been known historically to play well on Sunday. The 'Cats turned the ball over 16 times which the Lobos converted into 20 points. WSU scored zero points on UNM's 9 TO's. Weber shot 11-48 from the field, 4-19 from the Arc, and 6-10 from the line. In the first half alone the 'Cats only scored 12 points; five FG's out of 25 were made as well as 1-10 from three-point land. A five day layoff will hopefully be enough time for the team to regroup for the San Francisco game on Friday night. Box Score Next game: Fri, Dec 28 U of San Francisco @ WSU Sun: WSU @ New Mexico (Dec 20) Tip-off: 1:00 PM Dec 23rd, KLO 1430 AM Listen live on the Internet at http://www.kloradio.com/ With 2 straight wins giving the 'Cats a little confidence boost, can they win at New Mexico? WSU (4-6) turned the ball over an average 18.6 times per game over the first 8 of 10 games this season. Since then, the past 2 games, the 'Cats have averaged 10 TO's per game. So if they can keep the TO's to a minimum they might have chance to win. Weber is 1-5 on the road thus far and New Mexico is 9-0 at home. The Lobos have only played 3 road games and they are 1-2 in those games. New Mexico's opponents up to this point combine for a 47-75 overall record. Only 2 of the opponents had winning records and the Lobos split 1-1 with those games. The Lobos home court is the famous University Arena (capacity: 18,018), aka The Pit, which has averaged over 15,000 fans per game for the past 41 years. The Pit is probably known best as the site of the '83 NCAA basketball championship, in which Thurl Bailey and his NC State Wolfpack, coached by the legendary Jim Valvano, upset Clyde and Hakeem's U of Houston Cougars. Lobos Bio Record vs WSU: 1-2 all-time Undergraduates: 18,027 Postgraduates: 6,065 Location: Albuquerque, New Mexico Conference: Mtn West Colors: Cherry and Silver Famous Alumni: Brian Urlacher, Luc Longley UNM Schedule Nov 9 at Colorado W 54-47 Nov 12 Eastern Washington W 92-57 Nov 16 Presbyterian W 88-57 Nov 17 St. Bonaventure W 81-54 Nov 18 Loyola Marymount W 86-58 Nov 21 Hawaii W 89-60 Nov 28 Southern Utah W 57-48 Dec 1 at Mississippi L 85-77 Dec 4 at New Mexico State L 71-62 Dec 8 San Diego W 57-47 Dec 15 Texas Tech W 80-63 Dec 19 New Mexico State W 83-69 Dec 23 Weber State WSU 1999 highlight reel on youtube.com (Dec 19) Yesterday, the Weber State men's basketball highlight film from the 1998-99 season was uploaded to youtube.com. The reel is divided up into 3 parts. Part 3 shows the Big Sky Championship and the NCAA Tournament game where the 'Cats took down the Tarheels of North Carolina. The WSU upset over UNC is still considered one of the biggest upsets in NCAA tournament history. In 1998, UNC went to the Final 4. In 1999, UNC lost to WSU in the first round. In 2000, UNC went to the Final 4. Use the below link or at youtube's search type "weber state" or "weber state basketball" or even "cinderella upset". http://youtube.com/results?search_query=weber+state+basketball 'Cats run past Roadrunners (Dec 19) Tuesday night at the Dee Events Center, Weber State beat CS-Bakersfield 74-43. Great shooting (53%) and low turnovers (11) adds another W to the 'Cats' record. Similar to the UMW game the 'Cats shot over (12-23) 50% from Arc. The player of the game was WSU Senior Dezmon Harris who scored 16 points and was 4-4 from the Arc before leaving the game with 4 minutes left due to a hard foul that kept him on the floor momentarily. Harris also shot 5-6 from the field. At half-time, the 'Cats went into the locker room with a 15-3 run during the final 6 minutes to lead it 29-20. To help out the 'Cats, the Roadrunners didn't make a single FG in the last 8:36 of the half. The biggest lead of the game was when Freshman Danny Johnson sinked a jumper with just over a minute left in the game which gave the Wildcats a 31 point lead. Box Score Dez: 16 pts, 4-4 three-ptrs McCoy: 13 pts, 3-4 three-ptrs Davis: 13 pts, 2 blks, 2 dunks Van Brock: 7 assists, 4 steals Johnson: 4 pts, 2 rebs, 2 steals, 4 minutes Billings: 2 blks, 2 steals Tues: CSUB vs WSU (Dec 16) Tip-off: 7:00 PM Dec 18th Listen live on the Internet at http://www.kloradio.com/ California State University-Bakersfield, is a public university located in Bakersfield, California, and was founded in 1965. The school has an enrollment of 7,700 students. 2007-08 marks the first year of competition in the Division I ranks for CSUB. Up until last year CSUB competed in the Div II ranks except for wrestling which competes in the Pac-10 conference. CSUB is looking to join the Big West Conference, an all-California conference that includes several former rivals of the Roadrunners. CSUB Schedule 11/9 at CS-Fullerton L 92-75 11/13 at Saint Mary's L 94-66 11/17 Fresno State W 65-64 11/19 Weber State L 61-56 11/21 at CS-Northridge L 92-76 11/25 Pepperdine L 90-80 11/30 San Jose State L 78-63 12/8 Utah State L 88-66 12/11 Oregon State L 77-53 12/15 at Cal Poly L 66-56 12/18 at Weber State 'Cat win 94-84 (Dec 15) In front of a small crowd of 2,021 in attendance, the 2 teams gave the fans a show they would remember. WSU ended a 4 game losing streak by scoring a season high 94 points to beat the UMW Bulldogs; the teams combined for 23 three-pointers and they both shot over 50% (23-45) on the game. The highlights of the game were great shooting (57% FGs & 50% from the arc), a season low turnovers (9), and once again a monster dunk by Daviin Davis. Even Dez had an opportunity for a dunk but missed in a questionable play that the officials probably should have called. Weber's team-high was Kellen McCoy who scored a career-high 19 points in just 19 minutes of play. McCoy: "I felt pretty good and tried to let the game come to me and tried to stay aggressive. But we've got to play better defensively. I've got to play better defensively. There's no reason for us not to play good defensively. We practice well, but we've just got to bring it to the games." Box Score McCoy: 19 pts, 7-9 FGs, 3-3 three-ptrs Arturas: 13 pts, 8 rebs JP: 11 pts, 4 ast, 3 three-ptrs Panos: 10 pts, 5-7 FGs Dez: 10 pts, 4 stls, 4 asts Next game: Tues, Dec 18 CS-Bakersfield @ WSU Q&A with a real McCoy (Dec 14) wsubball: The season is 8 games in and you are one of the most productive players on the team, maybe even the most productive per minutes played. Is it safe to say that right now you are the 6th man? McCoy: I do not know if i would call myself the 6th man, we have some veteran guys that come off the bench as well like D-Will and Tyler, so any night one of us may be the first off the bench, we just all look to contribute as much as we can. wsubball: You have the highest average minutes per game after the 5 starters. You are averaging 6.9 ppg and 3.5 rbg. You are 4th in points and assists on the team. Considering your size and how often it is talked about, what are your thoughts about being 2nd on the team in rebounds behind Arturas? McCoy: I try not to listen too much of the talk about me being small, and if I do, it motivates me to prove people wrong. I love to rebound the ball because it starts the fast break that much faster, I don’t have to wait for an outlet pass I can just go with it. wsubball: What do you think about playing Div I basketball for Weber State at this point now that the season is 25% over? McCoy: It was a big transition for me and I still learn stuff everyday in practice. But I like it here, I love my team and the coaches. There were a lot of expectations coming into this season and I feel like we are going to be a really good team come conference time. wsubball: What do you think the team needs to do to make the adjustment to become the team it is capable of being as compared to how the team is currently playing? McCoy: I think we are making steps everyday, we are sharing the ball and playing together. But we need to continue to play really good defense, rebound the ball and take care of the ball. The last few games we have had a lot of turnovers. So i feel like if we take care of those things we will be right where we need to be. Fri: UMW vs WSU (Dec 13) Tip-off: Fri, Dec 14th in Ogden 8PM, KLO 1430 AM Listen live on the Internet at http://www.kloradio.com/ Friday night the 2-6 'Cats will take on the 5-7 Bulldogs at the Dee Events Center. The game will be the 9th ever meeting between the schools and WSU is 8-0 all-time. Weber is 5-0 at home and 4-0 in Montana. This season the Bulldogs lost to USU 77-58, WSU beat USU 78-71. The Bulldogs beat Lethbridge 76-44 and WSU also played Lethbridge in a tournament in September and the 'Cats won 97-31. All-time scores 1962-63 Dillon W 83-73 1963-64 Ogden W 105-71 1963-64 Anaconda W 101-81 1964-65 Ogden W 83-55 1965-66 Dillon W 79-72 1974-75 Ogden W 103-69 2001-02 Ogden W 90-62 2005-06 Ogden W 77-66 Who is UM-Western? (Dec 12) Weber's next game will be this Friday against the Bulldogs of UM-W. Who and where is UM-W? There is a small college located in Dillon, MT, known as The University of Montana - Western. Western recently (2005) developed Experience One, a scheduling model which emphasizes hands-on experiential learning. Part of this is having the semester divided into four, month long blocks in which students focus on one course at a time. Western is the only college in America offering this scheduling model. Founded: 1893 Location: Dillon, MT Enrollment: 1,176 NCAA Status: NAIA Conference: Frontier Record vs WSU: 0-8 Big Sky recap (Dec 10) WSU (2-6) lost a close one to USF on Saturday. Friday night will be Weber's first home game in over 2 weeks. With the "death march" finally over for the 'Cats, they will have the opportunity to get some W's in before conference starts up. Weber's final 4 nonconf games are UM-Western, CSUB, & San Fran at home and just one more road game - New Mexico. EWU (3-8) has probably played the toughest schedule of any 'Sky team thus far. They have only won 3 games but they have 2 top ten losses, and 6 more losses to top 100 teams. ISU's (2-6) only wins were Div II MSU-Northern and Idaho who happens to be one of the top ten worst teams in Div I right now. With a ten day layoff, the Bengals head to LA to take on #7 UCLA then come home and play #8 Wazzou. Montana (5-4) started out hot winning their first 3-4 games. Since then they have lost 3-4. They will head out for a 3 game road trip Dec 15th to take on Pacific, Santa Clara, & CS-Fullerton. The good news is the Griz have to good wins beating 2 Mountain West schools - Colorado State & Air Force. Montana State (4-4) is in the middle of a 3 game road trip, they just lost at Nevada, next they will play at Wyoming and then Arizona State. A notable win for the Bobcats was beating Boise State (5-2) in Bozeman 86-84. NAU (5-4) just demoralized Cal Poly in Flagstaff this weekend. The 'Jacks started the season with a close one that went down to the wire losing at #17 Arizona by 7. They have been in every game this year except for a blow out loss by #4 Kansas. On Dec 15th, the 'Jacks will play at San Jose and then come home to host non Div I Haskell, afterwhich they will come to Logan for the Gossner Foods Classic. At USU, they will play Furman and then either USU or UVSC. Northern Colorado (5-3) is the most exciting thing happening right now in Big Sky basketball. The Bears had only 4 wins last season and only 2 in the Big Sky. With wins over VMI (#1 scoring team 2nd year in a row), Colorado State, & Bowling Green, the Bears have a bright future this season for Big Sky play. It will be interesting to see what they can do as they finish out the nonconference schedule with 3 road games - #17 Gonzaga, Oregon State, & Portland. PSU (6-4) is winning but they do have 3 losses, 2 of which were to 2-5 UC-Davis and Colorado State who lost to 2 Big Sky teams before the PSU game. Of the 6 wins they include Div III Linfield and Div II Lewis & Clark. The Vikings' next 2 games will be against Cal Poly and Washington. Sac State's (2-6) two wins are against non Div I schools (William Jessup & Simpson). Things won't get any better for the Hornets as they start a 5 game road trip that spans almost an entire month. When they finally play their next home game, Jan 10th, they will have played 8 of their last 10 games on the road. One month and 6 days will pass between home games during this time. Dons win by 2 (Dec 9) In front of 914 in attendance, WSU lost 67-65 to the Dons of San Fran. The 'Cats won in every stat colum except turnovers which was a season high 25. Weber shot a season high 20-35 (57%), hit 8-15 (53%) from the arc and even made 17-22 FTs. Rebounds were WSU 26, USF 24. Rahe: "It was a game we had for the taking and couldn’t finish. Plain and simply we didn’t take care of the ball and gave them too many opportunities to score. We did everything else as well as we have all season." Box Score Art: 13 pts, 9 rebs, 2-2 3-pointers, blk JP: 12 pts McCoy: 12 pts, 5 rebs, 17 min Davis: 2 blks, steal, 12 min Next game: Fri, Dec 14 UM-Western @ WSU Sat: WSU @ USF (Dec 7) Tip-off: Sat, Dec 8th WSU @ USF 3PM, KLO 1430 AM Listen live on the Internet at http://www.kloradio.com/ On Saturday the 'Cats will try and put this current 3 game losing streak to an end. Last season around this time we had a 3 game stretch of losses as well, we lost to USU, Utah, & BYU. Then our next game was on the road at a WCC school much like this year. This time we will be heading to San Francisco to take on the 3-5 Dons. The Dons lead WSU 2-1 alltime and the only other WCC team with a winning record vs the 'Cats is St. Mary's 2-0. Overall WSU is 53-19 against WCC teams (Weber is 29-14 against Gonzaga). In the 1950s the Dons won 2 NCAA national championships with Bill Russell and K.C. Jones both former NBA players. Also, Bill Cartwright played his college hoops at USF. Dons Bio Roman Catholic private school Undergraduates: 5,248 Postgraduates: 3,199 Location San Francisco, California Conference: West Coast Conference Colors: Green and Gold Dons Schedule 11/08 at Oklahoma L 71-55 11/09 East Cen W 87-70 11/17 Sac St W 93-63 11/20 at UC Santa Barbara L 74-69 11/24 at #11 Oregon L 110-79 11/28 Utah Valley State W 69-64 12/01 Boise St L 91-81 12/05 Pacific L 84-57 12/08 Weber St 'Cats lose to Cougars (Dec 6) In front of a half filled house (11,459), BYU beat WSU 74-57. Similar to the Illinois game the home team came out on a scoring rampage to have a big lead at the half and then WSU would go on to out score the home team in the second half and not lose by as much as it could have been. Weber was down 42-21 at halftime and then scored 36 to BYU's 30 in the final 20 minutes. Weber 24 points in the paint, BYU 20. WSU 29 bench points, BYU 12. The 'Cats only turned the ball over 15 times which was very impressive considering the season average of almost 19 as well as BYU being ranked 21st, but the problem was BYU scored 20 points off those turnovers. Shooting for the 'Cats was 20-60, 33% from the field which wasn't enough to get it done in Provo. Box Score Morris: 12 pts, 5 rebs, blk, 17 min McCoy: 9 pts, 6 rebs, 22 min Davis: 8 min Next game: Sat, Dec 8 WSU @ San Francisco Wed: WSU @ #21 BYU (Dec 3) Tip-off: Wed, Dec 5th WSU @ BYU 7PM, KLO 1430 AM Listen live on the Internet at http://www.kloradio.com/ Since 1973, the 'Cats and Cougars have played each other 32 times. WSU is 10-22 overall and 10-6 at home which means 0-16 in Provo. Can Weber get its first ever win in Provo this year? The following stats are since 1964 which was the first year WSU competed as a 4-year institution as well as WSU's first year in Division I basketball.
Oquirrh Bucket update (Dec 6-Updated) BYU: 1-0 (WSU: W 72-57, SUU, & Utah twice) SUU: 0-1 (BYU, USU: L 60-49) Utah: 2-0 (WSU: W 72-52, USU: W 72-48, & BYU twice) USU: 1-2 (WSU: L 78-71, SUU: W 60-49, Utah: L 72-48) WSU: 1-2 (USU: W 78-71, Utah: L 72-52, BYU: L 74-57) 'Cats fall to Illini (Dec 2) Unusually, the 'Cats couldn't get any shots to fall in the games 1st half, making just 6 of 22 FGs (27%) while the Illini were 19 of 31 (61%) and lead 47-22 at the half. Illinois' 7 of 10 3-pt shooting didn't make it any easier for the 'Cats to catch up either. Leading scorer and rebounder, Arturas Valeika committed his second foul in the second minute of the game and sat out most of the half. He finished the game with 2 pts & 2 rebs. JP: "We were doing everything we could on defense but they weren't missing at all. They got their confidence up when they kept getting shots and we couldn't buy a bucket so it was kind of hard to get back in the game." WSU turned the ball over 21 times, however the 'Cats outrebounded Illinois 33-31 with a 21-16 advantage in the 2nd half. Also Weber outscored Illinois 39-31 in the final 20 minutes of the game. "The kids played together and kept fighting and I think we're going to build on that second half," Rahe said. Next game: WSU @ # 23 BYU, Wed 7pm WSU at Illinois (Nov 30) Tip-off: Sat, Dec 1 WSU @ Illinois 3PM on KLO 1430 AM and Big Ten channel Saturday's game at Illinois will be Weber's first contest vs a top 50 school. Illinois is currently 4-2 with losses to Duke and Maryland. Both teams will be coming off of a one game losing streak. Much like USU, Illinois is a Land-grant school. Unlike USU, Illinois played in the 2005 national championship and finished the season 37-2 which ties for the most wins in a season for Div I basketball. Illinois Bio Location: Champaign, IL Students: 42,728 Undergraduates: 31,472 Postgraduates: 11,256 The game will be held at Illinios' Assembly Hall which holds almost 17,000 and is one of the biggest college basketball arenas in the nation. Game time is 3 PM MST on KLO 1430 AM and also the Big Ten channel. Fighting Illini Schedule 11/11 N'eastern W 63-55 11/17 at Hawaii W 79-77 11/19 Arizona St W 77-54 11/20 #10 Duke L 79-66 11/21 Oklahoma St W 65-49 11/28 at Maryland L 69-61 12/01 Weber St Turnover plague continues (Nov 29) After leading and controlling the game for most of the first half, the 'Cats lost to the Utes 72-52 at home in front of 5,340. Before the Utah game the 'Cats were averaging 17.5 turnovers per game and the 18 against the Utes didn't make it any easier in trying to make a comeback late in the 2nd half. Utah committed just 11 turnovers. Highs and lows of game Highs: WSU out rebounded Utah 31-27. Arturas continues his double-double average, he has had a dub-dub in all 5 games this season. Lows: With 12:18 left in the first half Utah took their 1st 20 pt lead of the game which they basically maintained until the game ended. With about 8 minutes left Rahe cleared the bench, yet the Utes continued with most of their starters in until there was 59 seconds left. Utah's class act coach, Jim Boylen, managed to make a fool of himself complaining to the refs about every call he thought was questionable until the final seconds of the game even though he had a 20 pt lead. Of course we have got to mention the officiating. You know it's bad when cool, calm, and collected Randy Rahe gets a technical foul, which was charged to the team though. Rahe overall has only had one tech as a head coach. At this time wsubball.com would like to thank the officials (Mike Scyphers, Bob Vetkoetter, Mike Giarratano) for an outstanding job. Box Score Arturas: 15 pts, 10 reb, 3-4 3-ptrs, 2 stls Van Brock: 9 pts, 3-4 3-ptrs Next game: WSU @ Illinois, Sat 3pm 'Pak' the Dee! (Nov 27) Tip-off: Nov 28, Utah @ WSU 7PM on KJZZ Game time weather for tonight: 27 degrees and partly cloudy Students are getting excited for the big game. Utes vs 'Cats! Although the game is on Wednesday night the students are promoting the game to get a big crowd to push our team on to victory. So far WSU fans have seen only 1 home game which was against USU, the attendance was near 8,000. Some of the students at the game have said they would like to see 8,000 as the season average. Curtis Wilkinson, WSU junior: "We really need to school the Utes, I think we can do it! We beat USU by 7, and the Utes will be coming to The Dee with a 2 game losing streak, 1 of which was at home." James DeVuyst, WSU freshman: "I'm from Canada, eh, and I'm really loving this sport basketball! I can't wait to see us beatdown the Utes like we did the Aggies...what's an Aggie, eh? Go Weeeber!" Brandt "Hemi" Shaw, WSU junior: "This will be a tight game, and the key is going to be how well Valeika matchs up with Luke Nevill, and if Johny Bryant will disrupt his own teams offense by taking shots early in the O." Bring on the Utes (Nov 24) Tip-off: Nov 28, Utah @ WSU 7PM on KJZZ The 2007-08 marks Utah's 100th season of men's hoops. The 2-2 Utes will come to Ogden with a 2 game losing streak (Washington & Santa Clara) to take on the 2-2 'Cats. WSU Coach Randy Rahe was an assistant coach for the Utes under Ray Giacoletti from 2004-2006. Rahe is 0-1 vs Utah as a head coach. Ute bio: Enrollment of 28,619 10 highest winning % in NCAA Div I history 1998 NCAA champion runner-up 1944 National Champions Against WSU, Utah is 23-12 overall and just 7-9 in Ogden. The Utes are lead by first year head coach Jim Boylen Coaching Experience: Michigan State 1987-92 (under Jud Heathcote), Assistant Coach 2005-07, Assistant Coach Houston Rockets (NBA) 1992-94, Video Coordinator 1994-2003, Assistant Coach Golden State (NBA) 2003-04, Assistant Coach Milwaukee (NBA) 2004-05, Assistant Coach Interestingly, Jud Heathcote was the head coach for Montana (1971-76) for 5 seasons , he lead them to their first ever Big Sky championship in 1975. He became Michigan State's head coach in 1976 and 19 seasons later he would go on to lose the last game he would ever coach to 14-seed Weber State in the first round of the 1995 NCAA Tourney. Utes Schedule: 11/09 USC Upstate W 86-52 11/13 High Point W 77-64 11/14 at Washington L 83-77 11/19 Santa Clara L 72-57 11/28 at Weber State Give thanks for Bob (Nov 22) WSU's #1 fan Weber's #1 fan of all sports WSU is the famous Bob Lewsen. Bob was and is an avid Wildcat fan while he lived in Ogden up until this past summer. He lived here for 14 years and didn't miss very many WSU basketball (men's & women's) and football games during the near decade and a half. He has moved to Cape Cod, MA for retirement. The legend of the Bob Bob was very well known in regards to WSU sports, at any given game fans could point him out with out even seeing him. He could be heard from any where in the stadium cheering on his 'Cats. Also, he was famous for dancing with Waldo during timeouts at basketball games. His last 4 or 5 years here, he sat on the front row on the court in the first seat on the South-East end in the Dee. Click here for rest of article Final: WSU 61, CSUB 56 (Nov 20) In front of 1,513 Bakersfielders, WSU gets win in first ever meeting with the CSUB Roadrunners in Bakersfield, CA. Final score 61-56. The 'Cats win a close one but a win is a win. They shot 56.8% from the field, 47% from the arc, and (12-16) 75% from the line. The only downside was the turnovers, most of which were in the first half - WSU 22, CSUB 12. The big men of Weber (Arturas, Panos, Billings, & Morris) combined for 13 TO's. Arturas has had a double-double in all 4 games this season. Rahe: “It wasn’t pretty but that’s the way I like it on the road." The 'Runners will get another chance at the 'Cats on Dec 18th in Ogden. Box Score Panos: 14 pts, 9 rebs Arturas: 12 pts, 11 rebs Dez: 9 pts (3-4 3-ptrs), 6 ast Davis: 3 blks, 3-4 FTs, dunk, 22 min Nov 19 - WSU vs CSUB (Nov 19) Tip-off: 8:00 PM MST Nov 19 Listen live on the Internet at http://www.kloradio.com/ CSU-Bakersfield, is a public university located in Bakersfield, California, and was founded in 1965. The school has an enrollment of 7,700 students. 2007-08 marks the first year of competition in the Division I ranks for CSUB. Up until last year CSUB competed as a Div II except for wrestling which competes in the Pac-10 conference. CSUB is looking to join the Big West Conference, an all-California conference that includes several former rivals of the Roadrunners CSUB Hoops: 11/09 at CS-Fullerton L 92-75 11/13 at St Mary's L 94-66 11/17 Fresno St W 65-64 Signing day (Nov 16) Three high school seniors just signed their national letters of intent to play for the ‘Cats in 2008-09. They are Nick Thompson, a 6-9 190 lb forward from Clearfield High, Terrance Dent , a 6-1 185 lb guard from Mullen High (Denver, CO), and Damian Lillard, a 6-1 165 lb guard from Oakland High (Oakland, CA). Rahe: "They each bring a set of skills to our program which will make us better. First off, they are all high character individuals and are solid students in the classroom. That is as important to us as their playing skills. They each fit nicely into our program and will be excellent teammates." Stats: Lillard as a junior: 20 pts, 4 assists, & 4 rebs. He has been selected as a preseason honorable mention high school all-america pick by The Sporting News. Thompson as a junior: 15 pts, 7 rebs. Dent as a junior: 14 pts, 5 assists, & 4 rebs. Valeika - POTW (Nov 14) After leading the ‘Cats to a “W” over Utah State and recording back-to-back double-doubles, Arturas Valeika has been selected as the 1st Big Sky Conference player of the week for the 2007-08 season. Now that WSU has completed 4 games on the nonconference schedule, Arturas has recorded double figures in points and rebounds in every game thus far. 'Guins get past 'Cats (Nov 14) WSU loses 69-66 to Youngstown in consolation game for final game at CBE Classic. YSU led almost the entire game. The ‘Guins went to halftime with a 12-point lead and even built up a 13-point lead in the second half before the 'Cats rallied back within 1 point by a Van Brock 3-pointer with just 25 seconds left. YSU scored on a fastbreak layup, then Davis got fouled and hit both free throws. Billings missed a 3 at the buzzer that would have forced overtime. Box Score Arturas: 22 pt, 11 rebs Silveira: 14 pts Nov 13 – WSU vs YSU (Nov 13) Tip-off: 5:30 PM MST Nov 13 Listen live on the Internet at http://www.kloradio.com/ Tuesday, Nov 13 WSU will take on Youngstown State University Penguins. YSU lost to UCLA 83-52 in the opening round of the O'Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic. Four Penguins scored in double figures, but it wasn’t even close to being enough to get past the #2 Bruins at Pauley Pavilion. YSU (0-1) was led by senior forward John Barber who had 12 points. The others reaching double digits were senior Byron Davis (YSU’s best player) who had 11, along with freshmen Vance Cooksey and junior Jack Liles who both scored 10 a piece. YSU Bio: YSU was founded in 1908 and is located in Youngstown, Ohio. Enrollment is over 13,000 students. Much like Montana, the ‘Guins have been very successful in Div I-AA football. They won 4 national championships (in 1991, 1993, 1994, and 1997) and were runners-up in 1992 and 1999. Coyotes more like roadrunners (Nov 12) The 'Cats, after just beating USU on Saturday came up unsuccessful on Monday against the Cal State San Bernardino Coyotes. The Coyotes ran circles around the Wildcats and forced 20 turnovers which resulted in 24 points. Weber out rebounded the Coyotes 30-19, but the Coyotes scored at will and dropped in 12 three-pointers. Final Score 71-59. Weber's next game will be at 8:30 PM against the loser of the UCLA/Youngstown game. Box Score McCoy: 11 pts Billings: 11 pts Arturas: 10 pts, 14 rebs Johnson: 5 pts, 5 rebs (8 min) CBE Classic (Nov 11) This Monday & Tuesday (Nov 12-13) Weber State will be competing in the O'Reilly Auto Parts College Basketball Experience Classic which is an annual season-opening tournament. Sixteen teams are invited, the first 2 rounds are played at regional sites on back-to-back nights. Each regional site winner then moves on to the championship round in Kansas City, Missouri. Weber will take on Div II Cal State - San Bernardino on the 12th at 6:00 PM MST. The winner of that game will play the next day against either #2 UCLA or Youngstown State on ESPN2 at 8:30 PM MST. 2007 CBE Bracket For more details about this tournament see the link: http://www.gazellegroup.com/guardians/ Final: WSU 78, USU 71 (Nov 11) For the first time ever WSU had a home opener in the second week of November. For the first time in who knows how long WSU's home opener had nearly 8,000 fans in attendance. For the first time in 4 yrs WSU beat USU. For the 30th anniversary of the Dee Events Center, WSU was able to open the season taking down the Aggies of USU. In 1977 when The Dee first opened WSU beat the Aggies in Logan and in Ogden. From 1972-1992 the Aggies & Wildcats played each other twice a year. Weber is 332-91 at The Dee and 512-109 at home overall all-time. WSU played its first 15 seasons at the Swemson Gym and had an amazing home record of 180-18. Overall WSU is 817-470 all-time. In overall home openers WSU is 39-7 and 32-2 when opening at home. The last WSU home opener loss which is only 1 of 2 was to the '98 Utes who made it to the NCAA national championship. Back to USU, Weber is now 25-34 vs the Aggies and 149-109 against the WAC. The 'Cats only have losing records to 3 WAC teams - USU, Nevada, & LA Tech. Weber has never played San Jose State. The key factor in the game besides the home court crowd was the turnovers. WSU kept their turnovers to only 13 and USU had 23 turnovers which resulted in 25 WSU points. Box Score Arturas: 15 pts, 12 rebs, 3 blcks, dunk Panos: 13 pts Dez: 16 pts Van Brock: 4 steals Davis: 3 blcks Utah St @ Weber St (Nov 9) Tip-off: 7 PM Nov 10, USU @ WSU Game time is set for 7:05 p.m. at the Dee Events Center in Ogden, Nov 10th. Currently the 'Cats have lost 6 straight to the Aggies and look to end that streak Saturday. 2007 is the 30th anniversary of the Dee Events Center, in the Dee WSU is 13-9 against USU. From 1977 (first year of the Dee) the 'Cats beat down the Aggies consistently every year until 1984. The overall series is, WSU 24 wins & USU 34 wins. Against the Ag's, the 'Cats are 14-13 at home and 2-1 on neutral courts, and 8-19 in Logan. The first 2 games ever played between WSU & USU was 1971 & 1972, both in Logan and both won by Weber. There has been 5 overtime games and WSU has won 3 of them. The lowest scoring game between the 2 was 1971, WSU won 63-62. The highest scoring game was 1988, USU won 107-93. The series has gone back and forth and WSU has led in wins up until 1988 where the series came to a 17-17 tie. Since '89 the Aggies have led the series and the 'Cats kept within for 4 games until USU's current 6 game streak that has put them 10 ahead. Aggie bio (Nov 8) The Utah State Aggies will be led by one of the top guards in the country, senior All-American Jaycee Carroll. Carroll, was picked as the WAC's preseason Player of the Year, last season he averaged 21.3 points and 6.3 rebounds per game and finished the season first in the WAC and 10th in the nation in scoring. He was no Rodney Stuckey (EWU) but a great player. Two other lettermen from last season besides Carroll are senior forward Stephen DuCharme who started 30 games as a JC transfer and averaged 10.2 & 5.1 per game, and guard Kris Clark who started 33 games as a junior and averaged 3.7 & 4.2 assists per game. Three red shirts in sophomores center Brayden Bell and freshmen forwards Matt Formisano and Tai Wesley will compliment the aforementioned. Stew Morrill is in his 10th season as USU head coach, he is 7-3 against WSU. His 1st year was 1999 and his Aggies lost by 20 pts. Stew would lose 3 of his first 4 competitions against the Wildcats. Since then, the Aggies have won 6 straight, 2 of which were last season. USU beat WSU in Logan 77-68 (WSU missed 10 free-throws, 21-31) and also beat the ‘Cats in Alaska 68-55. Yesterday (Nov 7) it was announced that senior guard; Nick Hammer has quit the team. Hammer had played in 56 games during the last two years after transferring from Dixie St. With a roster with 4 seniors this will definitely hurt the Aggies this season having one of them quit. The Old Oquirrh Bucket (Nov 7) The Old Oquirrh Bucket is the symbol of in-state basketball supremacy in the state of Utah. Each year the trophy is awarded to the team (Weber State, Utah State, Utah, Southern Utah, & BYU) that has the best win-loss record against in-state competition. The trophy is named after the Oquirrh Mountains to the west of Salt Lake City. Following are the winners since the trophy started in the 1975 season.
WSU 2-0 in exhibitions (Nov 6) The ‘Cats had a preseason scare against division II Skyhawks. With WSU turning the ball over consistently it kept Fort Lewis in the game up until the final minute of not just regulation but over-time. The Skyhawks converted the ‘Cats 22 turnovers into 35 points, however, by shooting 57% from the field WSU was able to get the win. JP Silveira, still unable to play due to knee tendonitis missed both exhibition games. He says he will practice with the team later this week and thinks he'll be ready to go this Saturday against in-state rival USU. Davis: 11 pts, 8 rebs, 5 assists, 2 steals, 2 dunks, block Dez: 17 pts Van Brock: 15 pts, 3-4 3-pointers McCoy: 14 pts, 6-6 FT’s, 2 steals, block (played only 23 min) Ready or not the fans say bring on the Aggies for the season home opener this Saturday, November 10 at 7 PM at the Dee. WSU vs Fort Lewis (Nov 5) Tip-off: 8PM Nov 5, WSU vs Fort Lewis Fort Lewis College (Skyhawks) is located in Durango, CO. The school has about 4,000 students; many of which are Native American. In 1911 in exchange for land, the government promised that Fort Lewis College would offer qualified Native Americans tuition-free education in perpetuity. This division II school competes in the RMAC and is picked to take the western division this year. Last season the Skyhawks opened up playing Dixie State and they won 79-57. Last season’s attendance in Durango ranged from 376-1,178. Durango is located about 3hrs south of Grand Junction, CO and about 3hrs north of Albuquerque, NM. 'Cats beat Rouge-et-Or (Nov 2) The ‘Cats beat down Jean-Philippe and company 77-55 Thursday night at the Dee Events Center for the first “W” of the year. Five players finished with double figures, Kellen McCoy came off the bench and in just 19 minutes finished with a team high 14 points. Don’t be deceived by his size, while standing only 5’6”, Kellen proved to be the real McCoy by grabbing 5 defensive rebounds, shooting 9-9 from the free-throw line, 2-3 from the field, and 1-1 from the arc. Rahe: "Overall I was pleased with our effort. We got a lot of looks in a lot of different combinations and 10 of our 11 players got double figure minutes played. We obviously still have a lot of things to work on but it was good to play against someone else in a different uniform." McCoy: 14 pts Harris: 12 pts Davis: 11 pts, 3 dunks Billings/Panos: 10 Due to knee tendonitis, JP Silveira sat out the game and likely will also miss the Fort Lewis game this upcoming Monday. Box Score Next game: Mon, Nov 5th 8:00 PM Fort Lewis @ Weber State WSU vs Laval (Nov 1) Laval's name is actually Université Laval since it is located in Quebec, home of the French Canadians. Laval is the oldest school in Canada, and it was the first institution in North America to offer higher education in French. The school was founded in 1663 and has a current enrollment of 30,000+. Laval’s sports teams are referred to as Rouge-et-Or (in english: Red and Gold). This will be the first matchup between the 'Cats and Rouge-et-Or, over the past year WSU has played 5 games against Canadian teams and the 'Cats are 5-1 thus far. Tonight's game at 8pm at the Dee Events Center will be WSU's first exhibition game of the '07-'08 season TV games (Oct 30) KJZZ Nov 10, Utah State @ Weber State Nov 28, Utah @ Weber State Jan 31, Idaho State @ Weber State Feb 21, Montana @ Weber State Altitude Jan 6, Weber State @ Northern Colorado Jan 20, Weber State @ Montana Mar 11, Big Sky Tournament Semifinal game ESPN2 Nov 14, UCLA or Youngstown St vs Weber State or Cal St-San Bernardino Mar 12, Big Sky Tournament Championship game Collegeinsider.com's top 25 (Oct 28) Collegeinsider.com's top 25 poll is a poll for the 25 best teams from the mid-major conferences. This poll didn't even have WSU on the radar last season until late February. Then again the 'Cats were picked to finish last season 6th in the coaches and 7th in the media polls. When the season ended we had a number of votes and ended 26th overall. On Oct 24th, collegeinsider.com announced their preseason top 25 with Montana and Weber both receiving votes top be in the top 35. The last time WSU was on collegeinsider.com's top 25 was in 2003 when the 'Cats were ranked as high as the top 5 and 35th in the AP poll. The conferences considered mid-majors are all conferences that either don't have football teams or have Division I-AA football teams. http://www.collegeinsider.com/mmpoll/ Coaches/media polls (Oct 26) The 2006-07 Big Sky Conference Champions, Weber State was picked to repeat in 2007-08 as conference champs by the coaches’ poll. The preseason polls were released by the Big Sky on Oct 25, the media poll picked Montana over Weber for 1st place with 14 votes to WSU’s 8 votes. Portland State and NAU also received 2 votes a piece. For more details about the 2 polls go to the Standings page. P vs W review (Oct 25) For the analysis of the Purple & White game see the article Purple Passion by Jasen Asay in the Standard-Examiner. http://www.standard.net/live/sports/117051/ Purple & White game (Oct 21) The WSU Men's and Women's Purple and White game will be this Wednesday, Oct 24th. The event starts at 7pm and the women will play first. The men will likely start about 8pm. Come support your Wildcats and meet the teams. Top 5 guard gives verbal (Sep 30) Damian Lillard, 5'11”, from Oakland, CA. Lillard is considered to be one of the top five point guards on the West Coast (according to scout.com). Lillard, will play his senior season at Oakland High. He is said to have had offers from many other bigger schools but has decided to go with Weber and has cancelled recruiting trips to those schools. UCLA coach in Ogden (Sep 22) Last Thursday night WSU celebrated its 38th annual Homecoming Awards Program - WSU Salutes. The awards show was directed by Willard Z. Maughan, President of the WSU Alumni Association and Rod Zundel (WSU class of '92), Master of Ceremonies. Each year 6 awards are given out to individuals who exceed and excel in life and in our community. Three notable recipients were Ben Howland, Alan W. Stock, and Olene S. Walker. Former WSU basketball player, Ben Howland (WSU class of '81), current head coach for the UCLA Bruins was awarded with the 2007 Distinguished Alumni Award. As head coach of UCLA he has taken his Bruins to the past 2 Final Four's, his team lost to Florida in 2006 for the national championship and again lost to Florida in 2007 in the Final Four. When asked by Zundel if he will do a home-&-home with the Wildcats, Howland said no jokingly. He said he is 0-6 in the Dee Events Center and doesn't want to make it 7. Howland is 3-9 overall as a head coach vs WSU. He is 1-0 with UCLA beating the 'Cats last season in the first round of the NCAA tournament. With NAU he went 2-9 against Weber and he even had three 21+ win seasons and 2 Big Sky titles with the 'Jacks. Alan W. Stock along with Howland also received the 2007 Distinguished Alumni Award, he is the current CEO of Cinemark. The 2007 Emeriti Lifetime Achievement Award was given to Olene S. Walker (WSU class of '50). Walker is the daughter of T.O. Smith and she is the only female governor the state of Utah has ever had. Tid bits (Sep 22) WSU's record for the most free throws made & attempted in a single game is 52-57 against Montana State back in 1977. The most rebounds in a single game by WSU was 101 against Montana in 1966. The most points scored by a WSU team in a single game was 128 against Chaminade in 1975. In 2007 WSU set a school record with 86 dunks. WSU has won 39% of all the Big Sky conference championships. The last 2 titles were in the past 5 seasons. WSU has the 24th highest winning percentage in NCAA Division I history, Utah is 10th and BYU is 39th. In 2005 Street & Smith Magazine came out with the 100 best basketball programs of all-time. WSU made #51, Utah #10, BYU #36, & USU #82. Clearfield senior gives verbal (Sep 21) Local Clearfield High senior, Nick Thompson, 6'9" gave a verbal committment to play basketball for the Purple & White this past Wednesday. He narrowed down his choices to WSU and Pacific. He then called Coach Rahe with the good news. Thompson: "He was really, really excited. He was yelling and all that. He was ecstatic." Last season Thompson put up 15 points and seven rebounds per game and was second-team all-state. He will likely sign his letter of intent with WSU November 14th. "I've been leaning toward Weber State, so I did not see any reason to wait any longer," Thompson said. "I wanted to commit before my senior season started so I could put a lot of focus into my last season of high school basketball." 'Cats win 3 of 4 (Sep 3) Game 1: Sat, WSU vs Lethbridge (W) The Pronghorns took a beatdown from Weber State losing 97-31. The 'Cats had 21 steals and forced 37 turnovers. In the 2nd half WSU outscored its opponent 48-7. Davis: 19 pts, 4 steals Panos: 14 pts JP: 13 pts McKoy: 11 pts, 4 steals Arturas: 10 pts, 3 blocks Van Brock: 4 steals Box Score vs Lethbridge.pdf Game 2: Sun, WSU vs Mount Royal All-Stars (W) In the first game of a Sunday double-header, WSU beat Mount Royal 85-42. The 'Cats had 19 steals and forced 31 turnovers. In the 3rd quarter WSU outscored the All-stars 33-4. Davis: 18 pts, 4 steals Arturas: 13 pts, 12 rebs JP: 11 pts Nance: 5 assists Van Brock: 4 steals Box Score vs Mount Royal.pdf Game 3: Sun, WSU vs Calgary (L) After just 5 hours re | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
