3A teams shouldn't have to travel so far

By Darrell Moody

Appeal Sports Writer

I know what the NIAA was doing when it allowed Spring Creek to host the Northern 3A playoffs this week at Elko High, but it doesn't make it right.

The NIAA was throwing Spring Creek a bone. It was a way of paying the school back for all the travel that it has to do to during the regular season. Save for the journey to Lowry, everything is a major excursion for Spring Creek.

This was one time where I think being politically correct backfires. In the two six-team tournaments that are/were contested, only Spring Creek (one team) and Lowry (two teams) didn't have to travel a huge distance to play a game. The other six schools had to travel.

The Dayton girls and the Incline boys win the conference titles, and they have to travel? What does winning the conference do for a school? Not much, judging by this decision.

And, who says that the tournaments have to be held at the same site? It makes it easier for the fans and the media, I'll be the first to point that out.

I know, it's not Spring Creek's fault or Lowry's fault where they are located, but wouldn't it be easier to make two schools travel rather than six?

I remember one year when the North Coast Section decided to let Eureka host the setion track meet. Oh my, what a disaster. Eureka didn't really have the hotel space to house 20-plus teams and spectators. There was plenty of disgruntled people.

The 3A in the state of Nevada is like the red-headed stepchild. Neither Northern Nevada or Southern Nevada have many 3A schools. At least in the Vegas area they are pretty close to each other. In Northern Nevada however, Lowry is probably two-plus hours from Reno and nearly three hours I would imagine for Incline and Truckee. Add another 45 minutes to an hour to get to Elko.

Sometimes I think they should abolish the 3A and make the 2A and 4A bigger. Or, Elko and Spring Creek could play in another state like Idaho or Utah. It's certainly a problem that won't be resolved anytime soon.

•••

Have you ever seen a race as tight as the one going on in Western Athletic Conference men's basketball?

It's a logjam that reminds me of the Spaghetti Bowl at rush hour.

It could very well come down to whoever has the most home games and whoever gets to play the most second-division teams.

Let's take a look at the top four teams and their remaining schedules starting with tonight's games.

Utah State - The Aggies have six games left, four on the road and two at home. They are at Hawaii tonight and at Boise State on March 6. On paper, those are the toughest games. They have a trap game at home against Fresno State, whose athleticism always gives the Aggies fits.

Boise State - The Broncos have four games left starting tonight, two at home and two on the road. Boise has tough home games left against Fresno State and Utah State, the latter to end the season. The tough road game is at Hawaii.

This is a pretty difficult finishing test, especially because of Utah State and the trip to Hawaii.

Nevada - The Pack finishes up with a road game at Idaho, home games against New Mexico State and Louisiana Tech and a road game at Fresno State to finish the season.

Obviously the toughest game is against New Mexico. The Pack should be favored in all four games. This is one of the easier finishing schedules.

New Mexico State - The Aggies have four games left, two on the road at Nevada and Fresno State, and two at home against San Jose State and Hawaii.

The Aggies might be the deepest team in the WAC, but at times the Aggies have chemistry issues because there aren't enough minutes or balls for this team. This is a semi-difficult finishing schedule because the first two are on the road.

Boise State coach Greg Graham is lobbying for two teams in the WAC to make the NCAA Tournament, but it's not going to happen. The conference RPI is horrible this year and the teams aren't playing enough difficult games.

Some of the schedules could be referred to as "cupcakes."

I'd like to see schools in the WAC play some tougher schools in the non-conference. I know schools, because of their geography, have to get anybody they can for home games.

I know schools have budgets and you need to play a certain amount of home games to make money, but don't play cupcakes ALL the time and then get ticked when you don't make the NCAA.

Schools like New Mexico, UNLV, BYU, Air Force and San Diego State are solid hoop programs, and they would help anybody's RPI. I was happy to see Nevada and New Mexico agree to start playing each other in different sports besides football.