After a fabulous year in 2007, the WAC ranks 17th in RPI

Only a few months ago, things couldn't have been much more upbeat around the Western Athletic Conference offices.

In football, Boise State was coming off one of the great games in history, the see-it-to-believe-it 2007 Fiesta Bowl upset of Oklahoma to cap an unbeaten season. Running back Ian Johnson was coming back from that team, and the league was stumping for Heisman votes for him and Hawaii's Colt Brennan.

Then, as it often happens among the upstarts, reality bit. Brennan indeed finished third in the Heisman race, and Hawaii had an undefeated regular season.

But in the Sugar Bowl against Georgia, he looked like he wanted to be somewhere else. Hawaii was exposed badly, and the coach, June Jones, shortly left for Southern Methodist in a sequence Warriors administrators viewed as so badly bungled they immediately fired their athletic director, Herman Frazier.

Meanwhile, two other WAC bowl teams fainted on stage as well, Boise State losing to double-digit underdog East Carolina and Nevada getting shut out for the first time in 329 games against New Mexico. Fresno State was the league's lone pick-me-up, beating favored Georgia Tech in the Humanitarian Bowl.

Now basketball is offering no respite.

"It is what it is," WAC commissioner Karl Benson said philosophically earlier this week, poring over RPI conference rankings.

Those show the WAC at an unsightly No. 17 nationally, behind leagues like the Sun Belt and Southern. It's a decidedly uncomfortable spot for a league that has fairly regularly been a two-bid visitor to the NCAA tournament.

Not going to happen this year, barring something bizarre. Utah State (15-6) leads the league, but it just got pummeled by 30 at New Mexico State. Boise State (15-5) has the WAC's best record, while the conference's bell-cow, Nevada, is experiencing a down year at 12-7.

The Wolf Pack, like Fresno State, is dealing with a surprise early entry to last June's NBA draft. Guard Ramon Sessions came out of Nevada, as did Fresno's 6-foot-8 forward Dominic McGuire, who was third in blocked shots in the country.

Meanwhile, guard Lyndale Burleson, brother of Seahawks receiver Nate Burleson, was academically ineligible until late December for Nevada. Garfield grad Marcelus Kemp leads the team in scoring at 18.9.

The Wolfpack is a respectable No. 81 in the RPI numbers, but in too many other precincts, the WAC is wilting. Five teams are sub-190, lowlighted by Idaho at 319 and Louisiana Tech at 326.

Asked if he thinks it's merely cyclical, Benson says, "I certainly hope so."

Gators in a Groove

Billy Donovan's recruiting methods have been widely questioned, and he's surely not the most beloved guy in the coaching business. But once again, he's proving he can coach.

Last year, Donovan's Florida team won a second consecutive national title. Then he lost all five starters, three of which were in the top nine picks of the NBA draft.

That didn't augur well for a memorable 2007-08 season, but so far, so good. The Gators (18-3 overall, 5-1 SEC) are seemingly headed for another NCAA tournament after their latest effort, a 22-point knot put on the head of Vanderbilt.

"I'm one that is surprised," Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings said this week. "They lost more than anybody in the league, and they've obviously rebuilt it quickly. Their guys play with a lot of confidence, they play great together and they're an exceptional passing team."

Leading the Gators is 6-6 freshman Nick Calathes (16 points a game, five rebounds and six assists). Big man Marreese Speights and guard Walter Hodge are the next two scorers.

Florida'a assist-turnover ratio is 1.45, an uncommonly high number for a young team.

"Remembering the last couple of years, what we talked about was unselfishness," Donovan says. "Maybe there's been a carryover."

Overall, he says, "They're coachable, good kids, trying to become the best team we can become. I don't know where that's going to lead us at the end of the year."

Truth be told, Donovan, who agreed last spring to become the Orlando Magic head coach and then backed out, gave this team a soft landing with a kind nonconference schedule, and the SEC is widely thought to be down. He'll know more about his team in a week, after it visits Arkansas (14-5) on Saturday and Tennessee (17-2) on Tuesday.

No-Whining Zone

Mark Turgeon, the first-year Texas A&M coach, didn't gather any new friends with a recent comment on how he believes he's being perceived in the wake of Billy Gillispie's departure to Kentucky.

"I know no matter what I do, Gillispie is getting the credit if we win," said Turgeon, whose team was 16-4 before a Wednesday night game with Texas. "If we lose, it's my fault. I'm in a no-flipping-win situation this year, and that puts me in a bad mood."

And What's More ...

• Duke leads the ACC but doesn't have anybody in the league's top 10 in scoring.

• Saint Joseph's shot 54 free throws and made 39 in a victory over Massachusetts.

Rainier Beach grad Terrence Williams of Louisville had his second triple-double of the season Jan. 19 against Seton Hall — 10 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists.

• This is the weekend coaches chuck their Nunn-Bushes and wear sneakers on the bench in support of Coaches Versus Cancer.

• As of Monday, only 19 schools had six wins against the RPI top 100, and five were from the Pac-10 — UCLA (8), Washington State (6), Arizona (7), USC (6) and Stanford (6).

• You get a better feel for a five-overtime game when you think of it this way: In Baylor's 116-110 victory over Texas A&M last week, the Bears won the overtimes, 52-46.

Bud Withers: 206-464-8281 or bwithers@seattletimes.com