Bracket buster schedules to be announced Sunday

Matchups for ESPN's third annual Bracket Buster Saturday on Feb. 19 will be announced on Sunday, according to WAC commissioner Karl Benson.

Eleven games will be announced Sunday, and those will be the official bracket buster games. All 11 games will be televised either on a national or regional basis, according to Benson.

The rest of the field (21 other games) will be announced on Monday. All 10 WAC schools will be participating in the 64-team event, which features schools from all the mid-major conferences. Nevada, Boise State, Fresno State, Hawai'i, Louisiana Tech, Rice and Tulsa are all guaranteed home games.

Benson said he's still hoping that the WAC gets four or five of its schools selected to be in the field of 22. One would think that UTEP (16-3), Nevada (14-4), Rice (10-5) and Fresno State (11-5) have a good shot.

The Mid-American Conference also is also well represented with Miami (Ohio), Akron, Kent State, Ohio, Western Michigan, Bowling Green State, Ball State, Toledo, Eastern Michigan and Central Michigan in the field.

n Benson said he's had ongoing talks with ESPN about the WAC replacing the Mountain West Conference on Big Monday as early as next season.

The MWC recently signed a television contract with College Sports Television, which would create an opening in the 9 p.m. slot (Pacific, midnight on the East Coast).

"I think it would be an ideal experience for us," Benson said on the weekly WAC teleconference."

Benson said he wasn't sure if the conference might go to a Saturday-Monday format, or if the two schools involved on Monday would just get a couple of extra days to prepare. He admitted that he hadn't looked at that possibility yet.

The WAC boss said the MWC plays a Saturday-Monday schedule in order to "create a competitive balance."

n Coaches around the conference talk about parity, and last Saturday's games drove home their point.

All five men's games were decided by four points or less.

Nevada was the only road team to post a victory, 62-59 over Rice, snapping the Owls' nine-game home winning streak this year. UTEP edged San Jose State 69-65, improving to 16-3 overall. The Miners have a conference-best nine-game win streak. Boise State edged Hawai'i 80-76, Tulsa edged Fresno State 68-65 and Corey Dean hit a game-winning basket in Louisiana Tech's 58-57 triumph over SMU.

n Tulsa, under interim coach Pooh Williamson, finally broke through for its first conference win last week when it shocked Fresno State 68-65.

"It's good for our team," Williamson said. "It's only one (win). There are plenty more out there to be had, You hope so (the win jump-starting the team). We'll see today how they respond at practice."

Williamson was impressed with the play of 6-foot freshman guard Brett McDade, who along with redshirt freshman Deion James, has energized the Tulsa offense.

"Obviously Brett is high energy and Deion always has played that way," said Williamson, who liked the way the freshmen played in transition situations. "Brett has become a real good on-the-ball defender. Deion still has to work on it."

n Louisiana Tech's Paul Millsap and Rice's Lauren Neaves were named the WAC's top players after sparkling efforts last week.

Millsap, a sophomore forward, scored 25 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and blocked three shots in the Bulldogs' 58-57 win over SMU last Saturday. Millsap was 10 for 15 shooting. It was the second time he's been honored this season.

He beat out Boise State's Jermaine Blackburn, Fresno State's Mustafa Al-Sayyad, Nevada sophomore Nick Fazekas, SMU's Eric Castro, UTEP's Jason Williams and Tulsa's Jarius Glenn for the honor.

Neaves won the honor for the first time after averaging 15.5 points and 10.5 rebounds per game for the Owls, who swept Fresno State and Nevada on the road. She had a tremendous double-double against Fresno State with 18 points and 13 rebounds - both season highs. She added 13 points and eight boards against Nevada.

She beat out Amy Sanders of Hawai'i, Louisiana Tech's Tasha Crain, San Jose State's Jessica Kellogg, SMU's Katy Cobb and Tulsa's Megan Moody for the honor.

Darrell Moody can be reached at dmoody@nevadaappeal.com, or by calling 881-1281