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Show UVU REVIEW SPUR B1 Storied senior careers end in first-round NIT loss Two of the top scorers in UVU history wrapped up their careers in green and white By Kyle Spencer Sports Editor @kyledspencer Seventh-seeded Utah Valley ended its season Wednesday night with a 77-64 defeat to 2-seed California in the first round of the National Invitation Tournament. The loss marked the final game in the storied careers of seniors Holton Hunsaker and Ben Aird. Hunsaker and Aird go down as two of the three most prolific scorers in UVU history; Hunsaker is second only to Ryan Toolson in career points and Aird sits right behind the coach's son. Twelfth-year head coach Dick Hunsaker holds his star players and reserves to the same standard, and he isn't shy in pulling his leading scorer because of a mistake. The pair of soon-to-be graduates actively embodied the philosophies Coach Hunsaker tries to engrain in his players on and off the court. "Holton and Ben were fouryear starters and their contributions will certainly set a standard for the program in the future," Dick Hunsaker told the media after UVU's 77-64 NIT first-round loss Wednesday night. "They know how to win and both were able to make big shots throughout their careers." Hunsaker had 22 points, hitting 5-of-8 3-pointers, and finished with four assists, and Aird added 19 points and nine rebounds. The Wolverines were within nine points at halftime in Berkeley, Calif., 43-34, following redshirt freshman Zach Nelson's tip-in to beat the first-half buzzer. UVU got within six less than 5 minutes into the second half, but Cal used an 11-0 run to stretch its lead to 60-43. Five second-half 3-pointers helped the Golden Bears pull away to spoil the Wolverines' first-ever NIT game. Junior Mitch Bruneel had seven points and eight rebounds, and Nelson chipped in six points, six rebounds and four assists. Senior Keawe Enos had six points. The preseason accolades have continued to pile up for the Wolverines, following their regularseason Western Athletic Conference championship in their inaugural year in the league. Dick Hunsaker won WAC coach of the year, and Holton Hunsaker and Aird landed on the first team all-WAC. Bruneel made the all-defensive team, while Nelson represented UVU on the all-newcomer squad. A well-rounded team that puts the group before the individual gave UVU a much earlier-thanexpected chance to grab the Western Athletic Conference's automatic bid in the NCAA tournament. In their first year competing for a guaranteed spot in March's big dance, the Wolverines were the WAC regular-season champions and locked up the NIT bid with 13 league wins. Holton Hunsaker and Aird constantly preached humility to their teammates, despite boasting heroic efforts on the hardwood that pushed a team that lost three rotation players from last season to its full potential. Both players topped 1,500 career points while donning the green and white, topping NBA guard Ronnie Price and only finishing behind Ryan Toolson, who once scored 63 points in a game at Chicago State. Prior to exiting the WAC tournament in the semifinals, Holton Hunsaker and Aird contributed to UVU's record-setting 70.5 percent shooting in an 83-63 quarterfinal win over Texas-Pan American. The historic afternoon outdid marks achieved by BYU and Utah, who competed in that league from 1984-1999. Despite falling short of every collegiate basketball player's goal to play on the big stage in March, and eventually being outmatched against a Cal team that beat NCAA tournament No. 1 seed Arizona, the leaders of the Wolverines can walk away from their final game with their heads held high. Aird's outing was highlighted by his steal on the perimeter in the first half that he dribbled past a guard and raced past his defender for a dunk. Hunsaker showed his versatility by burying deep threes and sacrificed his body on defense to break up passes. Their legacy will be one of champions. The entire senior class of Keawe Enos, Taylor Brown, Hunsaker and Aird won three regular-season championships — two in the now defunct Great West Conference. And whatever success is to follow, whatever overlooked athletes walk through the doors of the UCCU Center where they will find the chance to excel, the 2013-14 UVU senior class will be one to thank for laying the foundation. COLUMNIST Evaluating the WACmosphere '4'• . N. By Garrett Coleman Assistant Sports Editor @legendgary62 BROOKE MORRILII/UVU REVIEW Zach Nelson breaks through California's defense to score at UVU's ill-fated NIT game. The first-round loss marked the end of a record breaking season. Mark Kreuger scored one of UVU's three runs in the game as teammate Zach Slesk cheered him on. The Wolverines struggled on the plate as they fell to the Running Utes. PHOTO COURTESY OF UVU ATHLETICS Utah Valley men's and women's basketball teams recently went to the conference tournament with an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament on the line. During my time spent at this tournament, I was able to reflect on the season the teams had, how I had a distain for the conference tournament and how the WAC can do better. The conference tournament took place at the Orleans Arena, just west of the famed Las Vegas Boulevard. The tournament had just started, as the West Coast Conference had ended in the same arena, with the Pac-12 and Mountain West tournaments going on at the same time. Vegas had been taken over by college basketball. Because there were so many games and tournaments going on, priority to watch WAC basketball fell to the bottom; even local news outlets went to other conference games instead of UVU's. Since the WAC is looking to remain legitimate, they should consider hosting the tournament at an arena that they will fill out. It was embarrassing looking around a mostly empty arena that has a capacity of 7,471 and maybe 1,500 in attendance. The WAC actually thought they would sell the place out. For me to have been at every home game for UVU and seeing that it took a good portion of the season to pique the interest of the people, I imagine it was the same at the other schools, if not worse, because some of the teams have really small arenas and subpar teams. Sure, Vegas is a great place to be with a lot of things going on, but making the trip can be costly, long and a distraction for the players. There should be some sort of reward for winning the conference trophy. My suggestion to the WAC would be to host the tournament at the regular season champs arena. Many conferences that are known as the "mid-major" conference do this and have much success, including, here locally, the Big Sky Conference that helped the Wildcats of Weber State go dancing in the NCAA tournament. The regular season champ should have an advantage. As a conference, you want to send the best team from your conference to the big stage. By having an automatic bid attached to the conference tournament, it almost makes the regular season pointless. What is the point of playing 16 conference games to see who was the best just to have all teams equal again at the end? This format is just not exclusive to the WAC, but all conference tournaments. The tournaments themselves make the regular season pointless. A team can have a terrible season and make the prestigious national tournament. For example, Cal Poly went 10-18 in the regular season, won the Big West Conference tournament with a 6-10 conference record and went dancing. UVU went 19-10 in the regular season, 13-3 in conference, won the conference championship and still ended in the NIT. One other small gain for those schools that would potentially host a conference tournament would be getting some revenue from the event. That is a small contribution to the best team of the conference in a small and possibly significant way. Something definitely needs to change to get the best 68 teams in the national tournament. I don't think the automatic bid from a conference tournament really helps get the best teams there. It says to the teams: have a bad regular season and get on a hot streak and make this "prestigious" tournament and make your team known. Cater to the best team in your conference and get them to the tournament and make it mean something to be a conference champion. |