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Show 8 THE DAILY UTAH CHRONICLE Friday, January 17, 200 Lonj erence reason .Liirrur. u'i h i.u,i,.iJj.j ijL n j.l ii jj i wju .jiiii. ip. i"im ui. i.i.ii.pi.hi hjih" m ; r :, " '" ' "'" " r: Begins For Utah RORY BRUNNER Chronicle Sports Editor Men's Basketball Standings llm mum 'T' W I W I 1 0 0 0 0 12 4 10 4 12 4 12 3 0 12 3 1 11 3 5 Colorado St. San Diego St. 1 BYU 1 Utah 0 0 0 0 0 Wyoming UNLV Air Force New Mexico 19 15 8 This Week's Games Jan. Utah 9 Sin New Mexico Air Force 9 ce 1 1 -0 4, 63-4- 18 Diego Stale, 12 p m. 9 The U men's basketball team passed its first test of the season: its schedule. With wins against No. Alabama, Massachusetts, Arizona State, Pepperdine and San Diego, the Utes have quality wins that will assure them a spot in the NCAA's , granted they can put together a typical record throughout the MWC regular season. That journey begins Saturday at p.m. with a road game at San Diego State (10-MWC). The game will be shown on ESPN and on the radio at KALL 910. The Aztecs are already one game into their conference schedule a 8 win at Air Force on Jan. 11, but the team had pulled off some wins prior to that. The Aztecs have won 10 straight games against teams, including Hawaii, Loyola Marymount Wyoming, 4 p.m. Colorado State, 7 p.m. times local to site ho-hu- m non-rank- IWWk l,.iil..,in.'-..m,.J.- ipwii i BYU i 10-- 85-7- 4-- TRENT TOONE m nnx. ed 1 0-- er said Utah has won 14 straight over the team that won the MWC postseason tournament last year. The Aztecs haven't beaten Utah since Jan. 22, 1994. Given Utah's current success in the Aztecs will be ready and waiting. "Utah is, arguably by some, not by me, the best team in the conference right now, based on what they did in play," SDSU coach Steve Fisher said. rbrunnerchronicle. utah. edu ""- m.,,,,.,.., " a w,J-- f ce Lmvn-- n, The Utes Tml rtlTI,,r. performed well in their , r r ,1r - r schedule with an ce 12-- 3 mark. Air Force 1.1.,, Last year's regular season conference champs are aiming for their second title in a row, and they could be right on track heading into conference play. The Wyoming Cowboys won an 11 of 14 conference games last season before falling to San Diego State in an upset in the Mountain West MWC-be- st tourney. Wyoming won nine in a row earlier this year before their winning streak got snapped by No. 12 Kansas. Despite having to overcome the loss of forward Josh Davis, who contributed 12 points and eight rebounds per game on last year's championship team, the Cowboys have compiled a 12- 3 record thus far and are still considered one of the top teams in the con- ference. Wyoming boasts an experienced starting lineup, led by senior swing-ma- n Marcus Bailey. Embarking on his final season, Bailey has already been a selection twice, earning the in honor each of the last two seasons. He is a Wooden this year. Defense of the Cowboys' title begins this Saturday at home against New Mexico, and they will play their first conference road game against Colorado State on Oct. 25. CHRIS BELLAMY First-Tea- All-MW- m The Falcons have always been the of the Mountain West Conference, and this year should be no different. There is never a standout player on the squad, but a group of disciplined soldiers that play well as a team. Air Force is 5 overall, 1 in the MWC and has certainly had its problems. The Falcons lost their conference opener against San cellar-dwell- C Pre-Seas- er 0-- 9-- Diego State, 63-4- 8 Among others, the Falcons are g dealing with a streak against conference opponents that doesn't look like it will change soon. But the program could be chang 20-ga- UNLV The UNLV Rebels 1 in the MWC) started the MWC season off last night with a loss against BYU in (11-- Provo. UNLV was picked to 3, 0-- finish second in the conference, with seniors Marcus Banks and Dalron Johnson chosen preseason and Georgetown transfer Demetrius Hunter picked the top newcomer. Thus far, the trio has not disappointed. Banks averages 19 points, 5.5 assists and over three steals per game and has twice been named the MWC's player of the week. Johnson, a forward with handles, averages 15.5 points C and 6.3 rebounds per game. Hunter, who started as a freshman at Georgetown, is averaging 9.8 points and leads the team in three pointers made. senior guard Additionally, Jermaine Lewis leads the team in rebounding (7.1) and is fifth on the team with 9.5 points per. Lewis red-shirt- ed last season to rehab a summer knee surgery in 2001. The Rebels own victories over Washington, Bradley, West Virginia, Santa Clara and DePaul, and their only two defeats have come at the hands of Wisconsin and Stanford. RORY BRUNNER - Moore is leading the team in assists (4.8 apg)- - The other two new starters are junior forward Aerick Sanders, and sophomore guard Travis Hanour. Sanders has been playing very well down low, as he is leading the team in rebounding (8.7 rpg). One newcomer that has been performing very well is freshman guard Steve Sir. He is the team's top three-poithreat and is curfrom rently shooting 40 percent long range. Head coach Steve Fisher is hoping to take the Aztecs back to the Big Dance for a second straight year. The Aztecs have already opened league play with a 8 win over Air Force. nt 63-4- ASAD KUDIYA road-losin- ing with the coach Joe Scott, now in his third season. Scott has the Falcons leading the nation in scoring defense at 53.6 points a game. They are also in the top 10 in the country in three pointers made per game (10.0), percentage (42.9) and turnovers per game (11.6). Concerning his players, Scott will look to Tom Bellairs, currently shooting 53.8 percent, to lead the team. The Falcons have beaten Georgia Southern twice, UTEP and Navy, but have lost against the likes of Tennessee Tech, Oakland and Alabama-Birmingha- TRENT TOONE Colorado State San Diego State The San Diego State Aztecs basketball team is going into the conference season as defending champs and have already started the season in impressive fashion. Riding a school record 10 game winning streak, the Aztecs hope to not only win the MWC tournament, but also the regular season title. The Aztecs return three starters from last years championship squad, including Tony Bland, Mike Mackell and Deandre Moore. Mackell is leading the team in scoring with 15.8 points per game, while Bland is second with 15.1. Bland is one of the most versatile players in the MWC, as he was the first player to rank in the leagues top 10 in scoring and assists and top 20 in rebounding last season. t .. Wyoming ff ..i.ni. Celebrating ioo years of Cougar hoops, BYU enters Mountain West Conference play with a 4 record and looking to prove it can win games away from the confines of the Marriott Center, where it owns the nation's longest home winning streak. For the past 44 home games, BYU has been invincible in front of the Cougar faithful. This proved true against a stingy UNLV Rebels squad who pushed the Cougars to the limit at home, but lost 7 But their chances for a MWC title rest on the ability to win on the road. So far this season, the Cougars are 4 away from the Marriott Center, with the only quality win coming over Arizona State. If this is to happen, senior Travis Hansen and junior teammates Mark Bigelow and Rafael Araujo will be the ones to make it happen. Hansen is averaging 15 points a game and Bigelow and Araujo both average around 12 points. BYU head coach Steve Cleveland has used a deep lineup throughout the season. Nine of the 13 players on the team are averaging double-dig- it minutes. Wisconsin transfer Ricky Bower, former Dixie College standout Kevin Woodberry and sophomore Jared Jensen should also contribute. If the Cougars can consistently put up the points, they might win half of their road conference games. But don't expect anyone to beat them at home. ce and Long Beach State. However, SDSU lost to Portland and Eastern Washington in the early going, and SDSU has also lost to No. Arizona and No. 23 Texas Tech. The Aztecs have historically been a good opponent for the Utes. "In my three years here, we're 6 against Utah. We played them pretty good part of the time and other times they pounded us pretty handily," Fish- - The Rams, 4 overall and in the MWC, already started off its conference schedule with an impressive 8 and convincing win in Fort Collins, Colo., over usually solid New Mexico. In that game, forward Brian Greene became the 13th player in school history with 1,000 points. Greene, along with center Matt Nelson and Ronnie Clark, might help the Rams establish themselves in the MWC this year, especially at home. With the win over the Lobos, the Rams have won 13 games in a row at Moby Arena. Clark and Nelson lead the team in scoring with 14 per game 12-- 1- -0 74-5- The New Mexico Lobos are looking for a n in 2003, which would mark their 19th appearance in the last 20 seasons. But to do so, it will take a much better performance in conference play than they have shown during the first two months of the seapost-seaso- son. After bowing out early on in last year's NIT, the school fired head coach Fran Fraschilla. The adjustment to new coach Ritchie McKay, now in his 18th season of coaching, has been slow thus far. The Lobos began the season winning just five of their 12 games, and again stumbled in their conference opener to Colorado State, a team formerly coached by ce McKay. TRENT TOONE New Mexico . return trip to the and Greene adds 13 per game and leads the team in rebounds. Nelson will be the key that holds the whole thing together. Asvhe goes, so go the Rams. Right now, he is the school's career leader in field goal percentage and ranks 10th nationally in the category at 64 percent. The Rams lost to Southern Illinois and Arkansas-Littl- e Rock in late November, but have defeated Washington State and South Carolina on the season. CSU has won eight of their last 10 games. The team traveled to Fort Collins, Colo., on Jan. 13 and, aside from 35 points scored by Ruben Douglas, were manhandled by the Rams, who prevailed New Mexico is in danger of dropping its first two conference games for the first time since 2 the season. The Lobos will next face off against the Wyoming Cowboys, last year's outright regular season MWC champs. The Lobos were not so lucky in as they went just 8 in conference play and finished with a 4 overall record. n They did qualify for the NIT but were Tournament, dominated by the Minnesota Golden Gophers in the tourney's first round, losing CHRIS BELLAMY 74-5- 8. 1981-198- 2001-200- 6-- 16-1- post-seaso- 96-6- 2. 2, |
