Bulldogs out The Fresno State basketball team's dreams of playing in the NCAA Tournament were dashed by the school's administration yesterday, and Hawaii could be in a position to benefit from the Bulldogs' misfortune.
of postseason
Hawaii could be able to avoid
a play-in game if Fresno State
is kept out of the WAC tourneyBy Jason Kaneshiro
jkaneshiro@starbulletin.comThe WAC's Board of Directors is expected to decide by tomorrow whether Fresno State, the conference's regular-season champion, will be included in next week's conference tournament. The decision of the board, made up of the league presidents, could shorten Hawaii's path in its quest for a third-straight WAC tournament title.
Fresno State president John D. Welty banned the team from postseason play yesterday based on the findings of an investigation into academic fraud involving former players. The Bulldogs will not be allowed to play in the NCAA Tournament or National Invitation Tournament this season, but hope they will still be a part of the WAC tournament even if they can't advance any further.
Fresno State (20-6 overall, 13-3 WAC) was considered a bubble team for an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament if it failed to win the WAC's automatic berth. If the Bulldogs didn't qualify for the NCAAs, they almost certainly would have been invited to the NIT.
"They had a great year," UH coach Riley Wallace said. "They won all their close games, they're leading the WAC and I think if they got to the finals (of the WAC tournament), they had a bid whether they won the tournament or not."
UH athletic director Herman Frazier declined to comment until the WAC comes out with a ruling.
Hawaii, the two-time defending WAC tournament champion, is fighting to stay out of the tournament's preliminary round March 11 as the conference's bottom four teams play for berths into the quarterfinals two days later.
But if Fresno State is eliminated, only the bottom two teams would be forced into a play-in game and Hawaii would be granted a pass into the quarterfinals regardless of how the Rainbows fare this week against Boise State and UTEP.
"Right now we don't know where we are and what we're doing until we play out this week," Wallace said. "But if they came out and said Fresno's not in the tournament, we would be playing Thursday, we'd know right now."
Staying out of a play-in game "is huge, because you'd have to win four (games) and because of travel," he said.
Welty announced the ban on postseason play yesterday after an investigation by the school confirmed allegations that a team statistician wrote papers for three players in exchange for cash during the 1999-2000 season. The fraud did not involve any current players and occurred during the tenure of former coach Jerry Tarkanian.
"I regret that this severe action will affect student-athletes, staff and coaches who were utterly unconnected to the problem," Welty said in a statement released by the school. "However, it is important that this institution guarantee its academic integrity. We simply will not tolerate academic misconduct in any form.
"Doing it now puts our program in the best possible position to enter next year with a clean slate. Most importantly, it demonstrates to the NCAA that we are dealing with this problem in the most serious manner."
It is not known whether the NCAA will pursue further punishment.
Fresno State, under first-year coach Ray Lopes, clinched the WAC regular-season championship with a 107-99 double-overtime victory over Nevada last Saturday.
WAC commissioner Karl Benson said the conference's presidents will meet via conference call to determine whether Fresno State will be allowed to play in the conference tournament in Tulsa, Okla. If not, the Bulldogs' season will end with games at Tulsa tomorrow and at Rice on Saturday.
"Their status in the WAC tournament has yet to be determined," Benson said yesterday. "The board of directors will review it and consider all the factors and make a decision that's in the best interest of the Western Athletic Conference."
Benson said Fresno State's fate will not affect the WAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, annually awarded to the tournament champion.
"The NCAA does allow a conference to have a secondary plan should the tournament champion be ineligible for the NCAA Tournament," Benson said. "There is a provision that does allow the conference to select another team. I don't want to elaborate now, but there is a provision that would protect the WAC's automatic qualifier."
Should Fresno State be allowed to play and win the tournament, Wallace said the conference's NCAA representative would likely be the second-place team in the regular season rather than the tournament runner-up.
"If they play in the tournament and they win it, then the tournament has no significance, because nobody else goes," Wallace said. "We have an automatic bid, but it wouldn't come from second place in the tournament, it would come from second place in the WAC during the year."
Tulsa, Rice and Nevada are tied for second at 10-6, while Southern Methodist is a half-game behind them at 10-7. If a tie exists after this week's games and the tie-breakers come out even, the NCAA berth could be decided by a coin-flip.
Hawaii split its games with Fresno State this season, winning 88-77 in Honolulu on Jan. 13 and losing 56-55 in Fresno on Jan. 23.
Former Fresno State team statistician Stephen Mintz told The Fresno Bee in February that he wrote and delivered 17 pieces of course work in 2000 for three players -- Courtney Alexander, Terrance Roberson and Dennis Nathan -- and was paid $1,500 for his work.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
UH Athletics
Fresno State Athletics
