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Whacking the WAC
Commissioner Karl Benson says the league
is not a "mid-major" conference
RENO, Nev. » You can criticize its ever-changing makeup, keep its football teams out of the Bowl Championship Series, even call it the wacky WAC.
MEMBERSHIP CHANGES
A chronology of the history of changes in the makeup of the Western Athletic Conference, as provided by the WAC:
» 1962: Western Athletic Conference established with founding members Arizona, Arizona State, Brigham Young, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.
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"The WAC is not a mid-major conference," Benson said at this week's annual gathering of league coaches in Reno.
"We have teams ranked in the Top 10 year in and year out," he told reporters.
"A conference that gets multiple bids to the NCAA Tournament ... and wins first- and second-round games, which we've done, is not a mid-major conference," Benson said.
"I don't know how we get rid of that tag, but this league has proven itself to be a major basketball conference. However you measure it -- Top 10, multiple teams in the tournament, NCAA wins, NIT wins -- we can back it up."
Nevada carried the league banner all the way to the NCAA's Sweet 16 last year, the 23rd team in the league's 42-year-history to advance that far.
The Wolf Pack, who finished the season 25-9, including a 15-0 mark at home, upset seventh-seeded Michigan State 72-66 in the first round and shocked second-seeded Gonzaga 91-72 before losing to third-seeded Georgia Tech 72-67.
Nevada's play bolstered the league's image, Benson said.
"We still are trying to make sure people know Nevada is in the WAC," he said.
"Leagues are judged by how many teams get in the NCAA Tournament and then how they perform in the tournament," Benson said.
"It's the one time I think the media recognized which league a team is in. It's a window of opportunity and every time you win you continue to be highlighted and the games are reviewed and analyzed."
UTEP, which shared the regular-season WAC title with Nevada, lost its first-round NCAA game to Maryland, 86-83.
Combined with Rice, Boise State and Hawaii in the NIT tourney, it marked the first time since 1999 that as many as five WAC teams qualified for postseason play.
Rice lost to Wisconsin-Milwaukee in the opening round of the NIT.
Boise State beat UNLV and Wisconsin-Milwaukee before losing at Marquette, and Hawaii beat Utah State and Nebraska before a quarterfinal loss at Michigan.
Rice coach Willis Wilson said the WAC deserved more invitations to the NCAA last year.
"This league is much better than people realize. We don't get the national level of exposure we deserve," Wilson said.
"UTEP and Nevada certainly were as good as a lot of teams ranked ahead of them. From top to bottom, it's one of the best leagues anywhere," he said.
The parity of the league makes WAC teams their own worst enemy when it comes to tallying victories at the end of the year, Wilson said.
"Anywhere you go in this league is brutal. We tend to beat up on each other," he said.
Overall, the WAC had five teams with more than 20 wins in the 2003-04 season -- Nevada (25-9), UTEP (24-8), Boise State (23-10), Rice (22-11) and Hawaii (21-12).
As far as national rankings, WAC teams frequently have cracked the Top 10, but only three have finished in The Associated Press Top 25 over the past four years -- Tulsa 18th in 2000, Hawaii 25th in 2002 and Nevada 21st last year.
UTEP is the favorite to win this year's title, but Miners coach Doc Sadler said, "Realistically, probably anybody could win it.
"You don't see that in any other league. That's the beauty of WAC basketball. You've got to bring it every night," he said.
That's apparent to first-year SMU coach Jimmy Tubbs before he even takes the floor with his Mustangs.
"I was really excited to take the job in March," Tubbs recalls. "Then I began to watch game tapes and I said, 'Boy, do you really want this job?' This is a great conference."
Tulsa coach John Phillips said the tough competition is one of the reasons WAC teams have enjoyed postseason success.
"They are not intimidated when they go to the NCAA Tournament. No matter who we send or how many we get there, they always do well," he said.
Wilson said the WAC is clearly better than the Mountain West Conference, which is home to several former WAC teams.
San Jose State Coach Phil Johnson doesn't think the Pac-10 is much better than the WAC from top to bottom.
"I've heard it said (the WAC) is the second-best in the West. We're at least that," he said.
The league will undergo changes again next year when UTEP, SMU, Rice and Tulsa join Conference USA and Idaho, New Mexico State and Utah State join the WAC.
Benson acknowledged that Tulsa has had a very successful basketball program over the years. But he said it's the only one of the departing teams that has ranked among the league's top four teams in wins the past four years: Hawaii (84-44), Tulsa (85-48), Fresno State (79-45), Nevada (70-54) and Louisiana Tech (66-52).
"I think we'll be an even better league in the future," he said.
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