Weber St

Daily Dribble: Monday Report Card

Shawn Siegel — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 09:19:54 -0800

The Report Card

A new series, the Daily Report Card tells you all you need to know about the day in college hoops. From good to bad and bad to worse, I'll be laying down the law.

A - New York Giants

Seriously, who saw this coming? After the Big Blue started 0-2, I figured they had the same chance to make the Super Bowl as Eastern Washington has of winning the national title. Somehow a close loss to New England gave them a new sense of focus and purpose.. and the rest is history.

B - Weber State

The Wildcats are a highly unlikely 4-1 in Big Sky play after beating Montana Sunday night. After a less than impressive 5-7 record in non-conference play, including an embarrassing 62-32 loss to New Mexico, and then a loss to Northern Colorado to start conference play.. you figured their season is done. But somehow Weber has run off four straight wins, including two in a row on the road to find themselves in the Big Sky mix. Assuming they can beat lowly Sacramento State at home on Wednesday, next Friday's game against Northern Arizona will have first place implications.

C - Miami (OH)

Early in the season, it looked like Miami might be one of the year's surprise teams. They beat current CHN Top 50 teams Xavier, South Alabama, and Mississippi State and had down to the wire losses to USC, Louisville, and Dayton. Michael Bramos was shooting the lights out from three, and the Redhawks defense was stifling. But despite beating Buffalo last night, all Miami has to show for their early efforts is a 7-9 overall record, and they're just 1-3 in MAC play. Lingering ankle issues from Bramos have hurt, but also the defense hasn't been quite as tough. No one could break 63 against Miami in their first 10 games, but early MAC foes all put up near 70 or above.

D - Barry Hinson

I like coach Hinson, so I hate giving him this grade. But lets be honest, Missouri State's loss to Northern Iowa yesterday drops the Bears to 10-9 overall and 3-4 in the Valley. Records that scream mediocrity. Barring some kind of epic MVC tournament run, Hinson's tenure (an underrated one in my opinion) is coming to a close.

F - Marquette

Two Report Card's ago, I railed on Marquette for losing to Louisville by 20 and West Virginia by 15 on the road. Even though it's a bit repetitive to rip the team every time they lose a road game, falling by 16 at UCONN last night is another awful effort. To begin the season, Marquette was a fringe Top 10 team, but right now they're barely even Top 10.. in the Big East.

Previous Best / Worst

January 20th - Maryland / ESPN.com editors

January 18th - Cleveland State / Marquette

January 17th - Drake / HP Laptops

January 14th - Roy Hibbert / Michigan State

January 10th - Tony Bennett / Saint Louis

January 9th - DJ White / CSTV

January 8th - Robert Morris / Schedule Makers

January 7th - Wayne Ellington / Illinois

January 6th - Herb Sendek / Kentucky

Three Stars of the Day: Harris, Neitzel, Johnson

Shawn Siegel — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 08:27:23 -0800

Three Stars of The Day

We handpick the best performances of the day, whether it be stat lines that make you drool, or clutch performances. Either way, its our way of showing the love:

Dezmon Harris - Weber State

Made five threes for 17 points, including the game-winning free throws down the stretch

Drew Neitzel - Michigan State

Hit five threes, all in the second half, as the Spartans held off Minnesota's upset bid

James Johnson - Wake Forest

The freshman forward scored a career-high 26 points as the Deacons pulled away from Florida State

Other Top Performers

Da'Sean Butler - West Virginia - In a 14 point win over South Florida, Butler had his first double-double (15 & 12)

Derrick Low - Washington State - The Cougars beat Oregon for the first time in years thanks to Low's 27 points

* Yesterday I somehow missed an all-time great performance.. George Mason's Dre Smith hit 10 of 10 3-pointers!

Previous Stars of the Day

January 19th - James Gist, Maryland

January 18th - Abbott/Harden, Arizona State

January 17th - Dionte Christmas, Temple

January 14th - Roy Hibbert, Georgetown

January 11th - Lester Hudson, Tennessee-Martin

January 9th - DJ White, Indiana

January 8th - Lester Hudson, Tennessee-Martin

January 7th - Wayne Ellington, UNC

January 6th - Shan Foster, Vanderbilt

January 5th - Damon Huffman, Brown

January 4th - Luke Harangody, Notre Dame

January 3rd - Damon Huffman, Brown

January 2nd - Martin Zeno, Texas Tech

November/December Star of the Day Archive

Daily Poll: Who Will Win the Big Sky?

Shawn Siegel — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 16:54:00 -0700

Weber State Signs Four to Letters of Intent

Press Release — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 17:16:32 -0800

OGDEN, UTAH - Weber State head men’s basketball coach Randy Rahe has announced the signing of four new players who will join the program for the 2007-08 season. They are: KYLE BULLINGER (6-6, 200 Forward) from Mountain View, Wyoming, JOSH COTTLE (5-9, 160 Guard) from Heber City, Utah, DARIN MAHONEY (6-8, 215 Forward) also from Heber City, Utah and TREVOR MORRIS (6-9, 230 Center) from Nampa, Idaho.

Bullinger and Morris are both seniors in high school this season. Cottle and Mahoney are each currently serving two-year LDS Church missions and will return next Summer.

“We are very excited about the four players who have decided to attend Weber State. All four of these players are exactly what we want our program to be about. They are excellent students, are high character individuals and extremely competitive on the court and will be great players and even better teammates,” said Rahe. “We thought that it was very important that after signing ten players last Spring, seven of them junior college ranks, that we built a little stronger foundation with high school seniors. That was our goal. We went out and tried to recruit a certain type of player for the positions we needed them and we feel we really got it with these individuals.”

Bullinger averaged 23 points and 10 rebounds last season under Coach Kevin Lueck. He helped his team to a third place finish in the state 3A tournament.

“Number one, Weber State is not only getting an outstanding player, they are getting an outstanding student and individual,” said Lueck. “Both of Kyle’s parents are teachers so he knows the value of getting a good education. He’s probably one of the four or five top players in the state and I know he will become a solid player on the collegiate level.”

Rahe echoed Lueck’s comments.

“Kyle is everything a coach could expect or want in a player. He’s tough, he’s competitive, he’s unselfish and is a complete team player. He’s been well coached and knows how the game is supposed to be played. We are extremely excited that he’s going to become a Wildcat.”

Cottle played his freshman season at Utah Valley State College in 2004-05 after a sterling prep career at Wasatch High School in Heber City, Utah. He played his freshman season at Utah Valley State College where saw action in all 28 games. He averaged 5.5 points and 2.8 assists per game and faced the Wildcats twice that season. He did not score in Ogden but had eight points in 21 minutes in UVSC’s win over the Wildcats in Orem. At Wasatch, he helped guide the Wasps to the 2003-04 Utah Class 3A state championship where he was teammates with Darin Mahoney.

“Josh is the ultimate competitor,” said Rahe. “He is a pure point guard. He knows how to pass the ball and when to pass the ball and doesn’t give ground on the defensive end. He contacted us last Spring about transferring so he kind of fell into our lap. Our fans will really enjoying watching him play.”

Mahoney originally signed with the Wildcats in April of 2005 but left to serve a mission in August of 2005 and thus his letter became null. He was the 2004-05 Class 3A Player of the Year and led the Wasps to the finals of the 3A tournament under Coach Lonnie Magnusson. He averaged 17.0 points and 9.4 rebounds shooting just over 65 percent from the field.

“Darin has the ability to bang inside or go out and take the 15-18 footer,” said Rahe. “He is a tough competitor, a good defender and excellent rebounder. He will probably play the four spot for us but is capable of playing both post positions.”

Morris was highly sought after by the likes of Bradley, Wichita State and Wyoming. This Summer at a camp in Kansas City with over 90 players he was named “the sleeper of the year” by the camp committee.

He plays at Nampa High for former Boise State University head coach, Bus Connor. Last year as a junior he averaged just over 18 points and 10 rebounds per game.

“Trevor is as skilled as any player I’ve had the pleasure of coaching on the high school level,” said Connor. “He’s obviously the target of a lot of zone defenses and mobbing man to man defenses in high school but he still plays within himself and doesn’t let it faze him. He comes from a tremendous family and is an excellent student. Having been in the coaching ranks on the collegiate level I’ve seen a lot of good high school players and Trevor ranks right up there with the best,”

Rahe says finding a good high school post player for the future of the program was a priority and getting Morris is really coup for the Wildcats.

“There aren’t a lot of high school players out there with the size and skill which Trevor possesses so getting a player of his caliber really gives us a solid base for the next four years.”