WAC primed for march to March

Steve Carp

Thursday, Oct. 31, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

There were no surprises to come out of the Western Athletic Conference's Media Day at the MGM Grand hotel-casino. Jerry Tarkanian is expected to have another big season at Fresno State, as is Rick Majerus at Utah.

And there's still a raw nerve that acts up every time you mention March Madness.

As expected, the big topic of discussion Wednesday at the MGM was what's going to happen come mid-March. Even though it is the end of October and the regular season is still three weeks away, everyone's mind seemed to be on March 9, 1997, better known as "Selection Sunday."

With the WAC now the nation's largest conference with 16 teams, the concern is the number of NCAA bids it receives next March may not reflect the conference's growth. Last year, only Utah and New Mexico went to the Big Dance as Fresno State, despite 22 wins, got relegated to the NIT.

This year, the Bulldogs are the favorite to win the Pacific Division while Utah and New Mexico were picked 1-2 in the Mountain, according to the preseason media poll released Wednesday.

But the WAC appears stronger than a year ago, at least on paper. Tulsa, which was in the field of 64 last year, is expected to be a contender in the Mountain, while Wyoming, which came on strong at the end of the season, was picked second to Fresno State in the Pacific.

Then there's UNLV, which is expected to make a quantum leap, and Texas Christian, which should continue to improve under Billy Tubbs.

"You've got five or six teams that can make a legitimate case to go (to the NCAAs)," said San Jose State's Stan Morrison, whose team got into last year's NCAA Tournament by winning the Big West Tournament. "I look at the teams in the WAC and I see a lot of quality."

UNLV coach Bill Bayno said the WAC is definitely worthy of additional consideration.

"I've said it many times that this is the toughest travel league in the country," he said. "A lot of teams have attempted to upgrade their nonleague schedule to improve their RPI (Ratings Percentage Index). I think we can definitely get three or four teams this year."

Colorado State coach Stew Morrill is pushing for the WAC to receive a second automatic bid. His logic is that given the size of the conference, its overall power rating and the number of quality teams, the WAC is worthy of such consideration.

"I don't know how you do it," Morrill said, "but it's something that has to get done.

"If the WAC's supposedly on par with the Pac-10 and the Big Ten in terms of power rankings, and those conferences are getting five or six bids, with 16 teams, we should get two automatics."

But Tarkanian, who got squeezed in the numbers game last spring, said that's not likely to happen.

"I think their minds are made up when they go in," he said of the basketball selection committee. "The Pac-10 will get five -- their fifth-place team may be 14-14 and they'll get in.

"We just have to go out and play and hope it's good enough."