Who's Herb? I'm going to guess this is a crack at my consistently dry posts...

I love the Vandals, but I can joke about them. I graduated recently from the school - I was not around (even in the state) during Idaho's Big Sky championships in either football or basketball, or the extended winning streak against Boise State, so I don't have baggage from that [ex. overwhelming frustration at our current futility]. I sat through plenty of ugly basketball and football games in recent history, and while I think there's hope for the future (dependent on actually addressing facilities issues), I can't pretend that I didn't watch Idaho lose to Eastern Washington 8-5 in a football home game.

"I think the vandals need to add a womens gymnastics team....fun to watch....."

Yeah, but the school just added women's swimming and diving, so I think it will be a while before the Vandals pick up another Olympic sport. It would be nice to have the budget and women's scholarships (Title IX) at some point in the future to bring back baseball. Although the Palouse climate is wet during college baseball season, it isn't snow-covered, and Lewiston is even more mild (and has a nice venue). I know the WAC would appreciate getting a few more baseball teams...

tech should be the favorite for #2.


<a href='http://www.thedawgzone.com/preview.htm' target='_blank'>http://www.thedawgzone.com/preview.htm</a>

nvspuds Wrote:erdaggie..Excelent points..

Like I said my predictions are unscientific and poorly reasoned..I haven't seen USU play a game for 5 years so I am just guessing based upon the flimsiest of evidence.

I get most of my info on your team from your message board..

The consensus there seems to be that PaK and Huber are poor point guards and that you expect one of your JC's to replace them in the starting lineup.  If that turns out to be the case you will have two new JC guys in the starting lineup as it appears Sessions will start at small forward.

Two other JC's, Spicer and Peterson are regularly cited by you guys as potential key contributers.  Hammer as well.

Matheus is an important player for you and although he did emerge as a starter late in the season last year, he only averaged 15 minutes a game.  Whether he is ready to give you 30 minutes a night is still a question..I suspect he will make the adjustment and do fine but if not, then JC new guy Spicer will get a lot of minutes.  New guys Cobbley and Bendell have injury questions..

The only really sure things you have going in are Carroll and Hayes..Those guys are studs ..Elsewhere you  appear to have a lot of new players that will be in your rotation.  Your depth at guard will be experiencedwith Pak and Huber.  Small forward looks like it will be manned by 3 JC transfers with no D1 experience.  Your backup at the low post is also a guy with no D1 experience.

None of this means that you won't be a solid contender for the WAC title..I think any one of the top 6 teams in my silly little prediction thread can win the thing.

I just think that you have a tougher hurdle than usual because of the number of new guys to work in along with all the adjustments to a new league.

Huber and Pak are not starting guard material, you are right about that. Huber lacks speed, but will do an adequate job with decision making. Pak, well let's not go there. Matheus has improved from last year, that much is evident. As for the SF and PG it is still up in the air somewhat, but the guys can't be any worse than what we had last year. BTW Cobbley is out for good. He will never play again.

As I say I don't know what to expect from most notably the PG. But it should be an improvement simply with 2 new guys that were solid JC players. The SF's seem good enough (should be an improvement over last year as well) and there is more depth on the entire team this year than last year with the JC players.

As for Harris (not Hayes) and Carroll they will glue the team together.

Should be interesting and we may end up 5th. That is why they play the games.

oops..Sorry about Harris..My bad..I agree with you..It's all guessing at this point..Every team has question marks..Nevada has to figure out how to replace Pinkney and Wahington..No easy task there.

jay2000 Wrote:tech should be the favorite for #2.

I don't think Tech should be the preseason favorite for #2, but it wouldn't be a huge surprise if they finished there. IMO, Haskins is greatly underrated...maybe deserving of 2nd-team all-conference honors. With the JC transfers, they could be right in the mix. But I can't help but think they may be too undersized to mount a serious challenge. It doesn't look like they were able to replace the bulk that Wayne Powell gave them, so I wonder if they can consistently compete with the bigger teams (Nevada and Hawaii, mainly). What do Dawg fans think about this issue?

While we're doing name corrections...Chris Session plays for USU (no "s"). No big deal, but it could get confusing with Ramon Sessions playing for Nevada. BTW, Ramon is pronouced Ruhmawn, not the way you'd expect.

It looks like most USU fans call Chris Session "Sessions", but they'll probably get that straightened out once the season gets going.

Damn I am messing up a lot of names..just call me sputz...

Don't be so hard on yourself.

I screwed up Ingram. You can call me clsplat!

clpack Wrote:

jay2000 Wrote:tech should be the favorite for #2.

I don't think Tech should be the preseason favorite for #2, but it wouldn't be a huge surprise if they finished there. IMO, Haskins is greatly underrated...maybe deserving of 2nd-team all-conference honors. With the JC transfers, they could be right in the mix. But I can't help but think they may be too undersized to mount a serious challenge. It doesn't look like they were able to replace the bulk that Wayne Powell gave them, so I wonder if they can consistently compete with the bigger teams (Nevada and Hawaii, mainly). What do Dawg fans think about this issue?

I can only speak for myself but...

Wayne, who is from my home town, played much more like a small-forward than a center. He didn't use his size very well and was often beat on rebounds by smaller players. I love Wayne to death, but he was more interested in shooting threes than playing defense and getting rebounds. Wayne also failed to be a real threat on the low post...all the opposing team had to do was double (or triple) Paul and one man could usually handle Wayne. Where Tech finishes will have a lot to do with some of our Juco forwards. If we've got somebody who can draw the double team away from Paul, we should compete in the WAC tourny and possibly earn a spot in the NCAA tourny. Our OOC is tough this year, so we'll have to be lights out in conference to really make any kind of run. What's dangerous about this Dawg team is their depth. This is something we've been without for a very long time now. If we have guys who can give Haskins and Paul a breather, I think we could make a splash!!!!!!!