The top of the Western Athletic Conference standings has had either Utah State or Nevada at the top for every one of the last eight seasons. Anybody want to take bets on if this will be year No. 9 of that run?
So far this year, Nevada has been the best, most consistent team in the WAC. With that in mind, it's no surprise that they're carrying the best record in non-conference play of anyone in the conference either, even if their strength of schedule is the weakest of the WAC's top four teams. They've only lost to good teams, and it's been a month and a half since that last happened.
After opening the year with a blowout loss to Missouri State (who is a solid team despite their record), Nevada went on the road to UNLV and took them to the wire, eventually losing 71-67. The Wolf Pack's only other loss came on a neutral court where BYU handed them a 21-point loss. Since then, Nevada has ran off eight-straight wins. On the flip side of that, they haven't faced a real test in a month now.
But enough about their schedule... Regardless of that, Nevada has some serious weapons to work with, primarily in the coaches pick for preseason WAC Player of the Year, Deonte Burton. While he hasn't exactly put up numbers that would earn him that same award at the end of the year, he's still been pretty excellent. He's one of the best scorers in the WAC, shoots well from the field, has nearly a 3-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio, and gets to the free throw line better than all but one other player in the conference (and that other player is Hamidu Rahman and his 47.7 percent free throw shooting, so teams only foul him a lot because he sucks).
Burton is far from the only threat though. The last we saw of Malik Story, he was more potential than production, and while he could get hot from deep and hurt you, he much more often was cold in that department. Not really the case anymore as he is shooting 51.9 percent from behind the 3-point line this year.
Forwards Olek Czyz and Dario Hunt are both studs as well, and either one is capable of going off for 20+ in a game.
What's going to be interesting is how USU's athleticism and scoring from the wings matches up this time around. For the past three years Utah State has had toughness and experience as a major advantage over some young Nevada teams, despite not being very athletic at some positions and not having much scoring punch on the wings.
Either way, this game is huge as far as an early jump in the WAC standings. USU will need to keep from getting out of sync, because if the Aggies give Nevada a chance to make a big run, they're likely to capitalize. On the downside for Nevada, they haven't been tested in a month, whereas the Aggies have had two very good tests in their last three games. Utah State would do well to use that to build an early lead and hopefully get the crowd into the it and Nevada's spirits out of it.
Just be ready for a hell of a game.
No comments:
Post a Comment