As far as Nevada is concerned, the WAC basketball tournament begins March 4 and 6 when New Mexico State and Louisiana Tech come to Lawlor Events Center to finish the regular season. Those two games will be crucial in determining the Pack's confidence level heading into the tournament March 11-13. Yes, they are 12-1 at home, but much of that dominance will be wiped away if they lose either game next week. The Wolf Pack cannot show any vulnerability at home so close to the tournament. The best thing this team has is an abundance of swagger and confidence there. Nevada does not want to destroy that heading into the most important three games of the year. They win a couple games next week and you can pencil them into the WAC title game.
WAC commissioner Karl Benson this week told ESPN that “any Pac-10 movement will certainly affect the WAC and the Mountain West Conference.” By movement, he was talking about possible Pac-10 expansion and Boise State's possible jump to either the Pac-10 or MWC. The most important bit of information to come out of that let's-state-the-obvious story was that he also said he'd like the WAC to become a 10-team league. That's great news. So, instead of sitting around and waiting for the Pac-10 and MWC to pick the WAC's carcass clean, he needs to go out and recruit new WAC members and be ready to announce a stronger 10-school WAC as soon as this mess all shakes out.
The Nevada baseball team is 3-1 for the first time since 2004. Does this mean that they are headed to a 35-win season and ready to compete for the WAC title? Well, let's wait on that prediction for a while. The WAC coaches predicted the Pack to finish sixth, but if this fast start continues anything can happen. The schedule is very forgiving over the first 21 games. There's no reason this team should be anything worse than 13-8 heading into a big eight-game homestand on March 26.
Mark McGwire's bodybuilding brother Jay is coming out with a book that details Mark's performance enhancing drug usage. Isn't he a little late? We needed that book five years ago. Jay is supposedly going to detail what drugs Mark used and when, how and why he used them. Mark told us a few weeks back that he used PEDs, but they didn't help him hit homers. That's sort of like the USA saying that the atomic bomb didn't help them win World War II. However, if Mark McGwire says it, Tony La Russa will believe him. The Cardinals should be embarrassed for hiring him as their hitting coach.
Should college athletes be allowed to tell the world every little thought that passes through their heads on Twitter, Facebook and whatever social media has just been created? Of course they should. Media access to college athletes is restricted and controlled more than ever. The universities don't think the media is all that important anymore. College athletes can do little more than spew overused cliches told to them by their coaches in the few media opportunities they do get. They need an outlet for their creativity and thoughts. Tweet away, boys and girls.
ESPN suspended Tony Kornheiser from his PTI show this week because he criticized an outfit of Hannah Storm. Really? Couldn't they have just taken away his parking spot for a period of time? His value to ESPN is his willingness to poke fun at everything in the sporting world. He's paid to be outspoken. Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon are a breath of fresh air on the network that gives us the bimbo team of Dana Jacobson and Jay Crawford every morning. What else can't he talk about? Chris Berman's sportswriter gut?
- Josh Newman - RotoKingdom Staff Writer