Nevada athletics is having a good week. The softball team is on a rampage, the basketball program is getting some exposure without even doing anything and former star Nick Fazekas is proving that addition by subtraction really is possible.

Oh, and baseball is back at Peccole (despite a 6-0 loss to UC Irvine) and we’ve got BracketBusters action coming up tomorrow.

-Wolf Pack softball coach Michelle Gardner’s team looks like it’s going to spend some time in the top 25 this season.

The team is already 3-2 against top 25 teams, and that includes a win against then-No. 1 Arizona (one of the biggest wins in school history, regardless of sport).

A lot of people can complain about the lack of home games, but the Wolf Pack is playing the toughest schedule in program history. It’s going to be tough, but the ladies have a chance to make some real noise this season.

The Pack has games against a few more top 25 teams, including Washington, Ohio State, and a doubleheader against current No. 1 Alabama, and against a bunch of top 25 contenders.

And that’s before you consider that UNLV and Hawaii are both ranked, and Fresno State is on the doorstep. The WAC season should be amazing.

-Luke Babbitt is officially a McDonald’s All-American, the Wolf Pack’s first. Mark Fox and Co. should get tons of props during the nationally televised game in March, Babbitt is the only mid-major kid in the game. If he can do some damage in the either the dunk or 3-point contest, there will be even more buzz around next season’s team than currently exists.

-Nick Fazekas got cut by the Dallas Mavericks to help facilitate the Jason Kidd trade, but he’ll catch on somewhere else soon enough.

Faz was tearing up the D-League before getting called up. He stands to actually get more money and more playing time out of this deal.

San Jose State just ruined my night.

The Spartans just took down Utah State in a performance that would have made Gerard Butler proud, and now I’m not sure what to do.

I was going to write a blog about the Nevada men’s basketball team being buried behind three teams and explore how the Wolf Pack could still claim its fifth straight WAC championship.

Now the Aggies have dropped back in line with the Wolf Pack, I’m sitting at the computer making fart noises with my mouth.

Want a prediction?

Fresno State is going to edge my mom and four of her Pinochle partners from Wells for the Western Athletic Conference Tournament title. How’s that?

The WAC is so damn screwy this season it wouldn’t be that big of a surprise (plus, can you imagine the look on Hector Hernandez’ face upon lifting the hardware over his head? Would he abandon the “you don’t know whether I’m pissed off or just trying to read a small sign” look? Oh, the drama).

Nevada can’t beat Boise State, Boise State can’t beat New Mexico State and New Mexico State still can’t find a way to beat the law. Oh, and the Spartans are capable of beating anybody. The Spartans. Seriously?

Right now Boise State looks to have a firm grasp on the title, but you could have said the same about Utah State a week ago, and look how that turned out.

For the moment, the Broncos and NAggies are tied in the loss column with three, and Utah State, the Pack and Hawaii are one game back with four losses.

If the Broncos can get through the now dreaded Hawaii-San Jose State road swing and then finish of Utah State at home, they deserve the title. But I don’t think they can do it.New Mexico State still has to come to Reno, Hawaii has to go to New Mexico State, and, as stated, UtAgs still have to travel to Boise.

What’s this all mean?

In a muddled conference, the Wolf Pack still has a shot to hang another banner. But so does Hawaii and its 11-12 record.

Too bad none of this really matters - we all know the only thing that really matters this season is who wins the tournament.

When the Wolf Pack shares the ball, they’re the best team in the Western Athletic Conference.

The Wolf Pack was as dominant in wins against San Jose State, Hawaii, and Utah State as last year’s team ever was.

The reason - the Wolf Pack dished out 24 assists in all three games.

No team in the league can match up with the Wolf Pack one-on-one when the offense flows as a unit.

Marcelus Kemp, Brandon Field, Armon Johnson and JaVale McGee are all too explosive to guard with a single man. The raw talent on the floor is ridiculous.

The only time that gets neutralized is when the Wolf Pack becomes more interested in winning battles individually instead of making defenses try to guard everyone.

The Wolf Pack played horribly in the first game against Utah State, and it was because of poor shot selection and horrible ball movement in the opening minutes.

On Monday, it’s the reason the Pack won. Utah State shot a better percentage from the field and rebounded better than Nevada, but the Wolf Pack managed 24 assists with only four turnovers.

That shows real growth, because there’s no way this team was capable of that even a month ago.

Kemp and Armon Johnson has six assists each and only one turnover combined on Monday, and backcourt efficiency like that is pretty hard to beat.

Kemps’ 35 probably didn’t hurt either.

And damn do those silver uniforms look good.

I have no idea how Kevin Hart thought his lie wouldn’t blow up.

For you sports fans who haven’t been following sports news this week, Hart, a 6-foot-5, 290-pound guard out of Fernley High School, held a big to-do of a press conference last week where he committed to play Division-I football with a cliche hat choice of Cal over Oregon.

The problem is that neither Cal or Oregon ever recruited him. At all.

And from what I’m told, schools don’t hand out many pity scholarships these days, so Hart’s lie was destined to be exposed in quick fashion.

Hart has since admitted to making the whole thing up, duping his classmates, town, and local media in the process.

Now the story is buzzing all over America. Sports Illustrated and The New York Times put it on net. On Friday, Hart’s mug was on ESPN.com’s front page with video links to discussion of Hart from mega-popular television shows Pardon the Interruption and Around the Horn.

Needless to say, Hart’s new stigma is going to be “that kid who lied about playing football in college.” And that’s unfortunate.

I don’t mean to excuse Hart’s lie, he should be held accountable and punished for his actions - that’s life. In the grand scheme of things, though, this lie is pretty meaningless in the long run.

Yet this kid has been vilified in the media and by message board posters, and he’ll have tough time every finding a place to play college football.

Poke fun if you must, but Hart is 17 years old and he doesn’t deserve to have his future ruined by one mistake.

Utah State coach Stew Morrill is the most underrated coach in America.

He wins every season despite Logan’s recruiting downfalls. He also owns Nevada.

The Aggies have beaten the Wolf Pack each of the last two seasons, including twice last season. Upset about the Pack getting in Memphis’ pod in the NCAA Tournament last season?

Blame Stew.

Combine the Wolf Pack struggles against the Aggies the last few years with the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum’s status as the toughest place to play in the WAC, and Nevada is going to have to play nearly perfect to win.

On paper, the Wolf Pack is superior to Utah State athletically and size-wise.

Fox should really consider the tape from the New Mexico State game where Utah State lost by 30. Yeah, Stew’s boys were missing some key players, but that doesn’t change Utah State’s lack of athleticism.

The Aggies really have problems dealing with pressure defense, which the Wolf Pack can definitely bring.

Nevada coach Mark Fox needs a big game from center JaVale McGee on both ends. If McGee imposes himself on offense, the Aggies don’t have anyone that can guard him one-on-one.

On defense, McGee’s length in the post is going to allow the perimeter defense to play tighter because the Aggies will struggle to finish over McGee.

The biggest concern for the Wolf Pack has to be containing All-American candidate Jaycee Carroll.

Fox didn’t put much stock into Brandon Fields’ guarding Fresno State’s Eddie Miller as good preparation for Carroll, but there are similarities in how the two shoot the ball very well and run off a lot of screens.

Fields was very good hounding Miller in the first half, but let up a bit over the last 15 minutes or so. He’ll need to be at his best defensively to slow down Carroll.

This game is tough to call. The Wolf Pack is a better team and should give the slower Aggies all kinds of problems - but that should have been the case against Boise State and look what happened there.

The Aggies have the experience edge and are playing at home, so they have to have the advantage.

But the Wolf Pack is capable of winning if they can bring the pressure defense and create some easy baskets while forcing the Aggies to take tough shots.

6:59 p.m.: We’ve got about five minutes to tip-off. Looks like the crowd is going to be about the norm - full upper bow, lots of no-shows among season ticket holders.

As far as the game, Nevada is much more talented than Fresno State. The Bulldogs have some nice pieces, and coach Steve Cleveland has them running more offense, but losing players like Ja’Vance Coleman, Quinton Hosley, and Dominic McGuire from last year has left the lineup a bit bare. Damn, I can’t believe they never competed for a conference championship with that lineup.

The Wolf Pack’s biggest advantage is inside. Demarshay Johnson and JaVale McGee are the two best post players on the floor. Fresno forward Hector Hernandez is OK, but he has little to offer except for his outside shooting and some rebounding.

Actually, the most interesting matchup of the night might be who has the better facial expressions between McGee and Hernandez. Both of them spend most of games looking like they just got hit in the groin.

15:22 First Half - Wolf Pack leads 9-8. McGee hit a big three early, then grabbed one of Hernandez’s floaters out of the air to start a fastbreak that ended with a layup by Marcelus Kemp.

Speaking of McGee, I saw one fan walking around down here wearing a t-shirt with a photo McGee’s infamous ball kick in San Jose State with the words “Kickin’ it with McGee” around it. Brilliant.

14:09 First half

Wolf Pack leads 14-8 after two Kemp free throws. Hernandez got whistled. Needless to say, he’s winning the facial expression battle at the moment.

The Bulldogs might have to play more zone as the game continues. They have Hernandez at the 3 because he can’t guard McGee. He’s much to slow to guard Kemp, though.

11:48 First Half

The Wolf Pack just took a double digit lead after a Kemp 3-point play. He’s got 12 already. The Bulldogs don’t have an answer for him. Eddie Miller is too small and the aforementioned Hernandez is too slow.

Wolf Pack coach Mark Fox has already played 10 guys. He got a lot of heat for last year’s liberal rotation, but that was trying to get the Wolf Pack 5 freshmen ready to play this season.

His rotation this season is sort of baffling. The Wolf Pack really struggles finding a rhythm because nobody stays on the floor for extended minutes.

7:40 First Half

Nevada’s up big, 29-18. Kemp picked up his second foul early and had to go to the bench, but Brandon Fields grabbed a couple layups to make up the difference.

Fields is also doing a nice jobe on Miller defensively, he’s got six points on 3 of 7 shooting. Fields is going to have to guard Utah State star Jaycee Carroll on Saturday, and Miller is a fantastic warmup.

Cleveland runs Miller off a ton of screens to get him open looks, which is pretty much Utah State’s entire offense with Carrol. Miller’s not nearly the shooter Carrol is, but he’s much more athletic and going to the basket.

4:06 First Half

Blood on the floor. Timeout. Nevada leads 35-24.

Coach Fox is rocking a black suit with a silver tie tonight. He’s definitely the best-dressed coach in the WAC. Either he’s got impeccable fashion sense for a Mid-Western boy or his wife, Associate Athletic Director Cindy Fox, dresses him.

He looks much sharper than Cleveland, whose wearing a more conservative grey suit.

The Sagebrush has a longstanding tradition for evaluating coach fashion that stretches back to Trent Johnson. Fox and former assistant Dedrique Taylor, who is now at Arizona State, had some epic duels.

Half Time
The Wolf Pack dominated the last few minutes of the first half and leads 44-28. Kemp, Fields and McGee are already in double figures and the team is shooting 55 percent from the field.

The Bulldogs two stars, Kevin Bell and Miller, have 12 points combined on 6 of 18 shooting. Bell has torched WAC defenses for almost 18 a game this season, but he doesn’t shoot the ball all that well and the Wolf Pack’s size pretty much keeps from getting any easy layups. The Bulldogs have also missed all seven 3-pointers.

20:00 Second Half

I swear the athletic department picks the most unathletic people they can find to do the shooting and putting games. The shootout guy’s jumper looked like a combination between a back spasm and a car accident and the putter didn’t even hit the ramp.

I’m surprised they haven’t picked me for anything yet.

17:16 Second Half

The Wolf Pack’s up 52-37. Armon Johnson just delivered a Ramon Sessions-esque assist. He took the ball to the rim, went up for a layup, then ducked under Hernandez to throw a perfect pass to set Kemp up for a 3-pointer.

Kemp already has seven in the first three minutes of the second half. Hernandez just can’t guard him. He can look like a kicked puppy, though, and he’s doing a really good job of that.

11:59
Little Hector and LaGrone got tangled up in the post, which quickly turned into a shoving match, ending with LaGrone giving LH a big push.

LaGrone got double technicaled and booted and Hernandez just got a single technical. Seems like both players should have gotten booted.

Little Hector had a couple similar incidents with Nick Fazekas during Faz’s career.

7:07

Bulldogs just ran off a 9-0 run to get within eight. This game looked over about three minutes ago, but now the Wolf Pack has to finish the Bulldogs off again. That’s another mark of a young team, not playing with a lead.

6:33

Hernandez came back in at 7:07 after sitting for a few minutes and promptly picked up his fourth foul trying to keep Kemp away from the rim.

Kemp hit both free throws to put the Wolf Pack back up 10. He’s got 26 in the game, and he hasn’t even been on the floor a whole lot.

Final

The Wolf Pack seemed to lose composure after LaGrone’s shoving match, but then settled down to win 79-67. Kemp went off for 28 and he sat most of the first half with foul trouble. Fields and McGee both scored double figures, but Armon Johnson had his worst game in a few weeks.

So I’ve been absent for a while. My bad.

My hometown isn’t exactly Mac compatible, so I didn’t spend much time on the Net while I was home over break, and I’ve spent the last few weeks trying to plow through my honors thesis, AKA The Big Freaking Paper.

That’s not much of an excuse for not posting in over a month, but, well, stuff happens.

For the three people that read this site, especially you mom, I’m sorry. Plenty of important sports things have happened since my last blog post. Here’s a rundown of the big ones.

Luke Babbitt breaks state high school scoring record

Sure, Babbitt has a silky smooth jumper, he handles, passes, and rebounds extremely well, and he can probably cure West Nile with his off hand.

But you want to know what my favorite part of his game is?

The kid has phenomenally soft hands. I’m talking Nick Fazekas soft.

After watching half a season of perfectly good passes bounce off the mitts of JaVale McGee and Demarshay Johnson, I’m beginning to understand why Faz was so valuable to Ramon Sessions’ assist total. He caught everything.

Babbitt doesn’t have Fazekas’ size in the post, but he catches everything, too, and knows how to score from everywhere. Put him alongside McGee and all Nevada’s scoring options on the perimeter, and the Wolf Pack will be scary on offense next season.

Seriously, who honestly believes next year’s team isn’t winning the conference? 

Armon’s emergence

Nevada star Marcelus Kemp has been much more efficient offensively over the last month after struggling to begin the season.

Why?

Part of Kemp’s improvement comes from him not trying to carry his younger teammates anymore.

An even bigger part is Armon Johnson’s utter studliness of late.

Johnson started going all Tiny Archibald on opponents about a month ago, and Kemp’s numbers have been rising ever since.

After looking uncomfortable and lost at the beginning of the season, Johnson has scored in double figures in seven of the Wolf Pack’s last eight games. He’s averaging almost 17 points per game during that period and shooting better than 60 percent from the field.

His perimeter shooting is getting better, but he’s been unstoppable getting to the rim and finishing everything. Johnson’s production is forcing defenses to gameplan to stop him, which is creating more space for Kemp and Brandon Fields.

When you can score on UNC’s Ty Lawson at will, you can win pretty much any one-on-one situation.

Ault’s genious

I just knew it was coming. I think everybody did.

After the Pack’s previously nonexistent found some semblance of a pulse over the last few weeks of the season, Nevada coach Chris Ault was sure to spare buddy Ken Wilson and give him another shot at defensive coordinator next season despite a pretty strong body of evidence suggesting Wilson is better suited for something else.

So what does Ault do?

He moves Wilson back to more of a positional role and hires a promising young defensive mind to come in and replace him.

Nigel Burton comes to Nevada after coaching cornerbacks at Oregon State. Besides being a bright guy, he’s a tremendous recruiter.

Ault’s move makes sense in every way.

Wilson might not be a great coordinator, but does get things done on the recruiting trail. By keeping him around, Ault only strengthened his recruiting ties while also addressing his program’s biggest deficiency.

So the Ault haters need to quit yapping and give next season a chance.

The offense is absolutely stacked, and that’s before you consider the potential impact of playmakers like receivers Chris Wellington and Brian Fludd and incoming freshman running back Michael Ball.

Colin Kaepernick, or maybe Nick Graziano, will have nearly a full season of starting experience, the leading rusher and top two pass catchers return, and the offensive line will be even deeper. This season the Wolf Pack was one of the best offenses in the country – the unit should be scary next season.

If Burton can find a pair of cornerbacks to cover anyone, the defense should be formidable, too. Expect end Kevin Basped to be a terror coming of the edge and for linebacker Dontay Moch to replace some of the athleticism that Ezra Butler brought to the table.

I’m not going to predict another WAC BCS birth, but I’ve been saying for a few months that the Pack and Fresno State will both have chances in the coming seasons.

And both Ault and Bulldogs coach Pat Hill have tough schedules, so at least either team will deserve a birth if they can pull it off.

Gervasoni’s gals can play

For most of the decade, the Nevada women’s basketball team hasn’t mattered.

The losses stacked up without end, and there really wasn’t much of a reason to follow a team that made a habit of getting bounced in the first round of the conference tournament.

Then the team took a step into the top half of the conference last season with its first winning season since 2001, and now Nevada coach Kim Gervasoni’s program is set to win 20 games for the first time in school history.

The Wolf Pack is 14-5 and 5-1 in the WAC this season and in the hunt for the conference championship. Led by Dellena Criner, Brandi Fitzgerald, and Mikail Price, the Wolf Pack has an explosive backcourt.

Better yet, Gervasoni returns just about everybody again next season.

The day may be quickly approaching when Nevada fans have two NCAA Tournament teams to follow in March.

So the Aultenator didn’t exactly back me up for defending him yesterday against New Mexico. The loss was a mess and provided plenty of ammo for anybody thinking the Wolf Pack didn’t deserve a bowl game.

The team didn’t look like it was ready to play, especially the offense. Freshman quarterback Colin Kaepernick missed some touchdowns, but it’s not like he had much time sit back and throw in rhythm. The offensive line got owned.

At least the defense stepped up and made enough plays in the second half to keep the Wolf Pack in the game, but the offense was stifled by the Lobos 3-3-5.

The loss should provide plenty of motivation for the offseason.

I don’t understand the Chris Ault animosity.

Seems people want the College Football Hall of Famer’s head for the Wolf Pack’s 6-6 season, and the Wolf Pack’s bowl game appearance has become a popular .

Does the Wolf Pack deserve to be in a bowl game?

No, but it’s not the Wolf Pack’s fault the system is flawed.

And if you’re surprised by this season’s results, you’re either delusional or know nothing about football?

With all the Wolf Pack lost off last season’s team, you had to figure 6-6 would be right about where this team would finish.

The offense had to replace last season’s leading rusher, passer, and receiver, and the defense lost All-WAC players J.J. Milan and Joe Garcia. It’s impossible to replace that production without suffering a few setbacks.

The only frustrating part of the 6-6 season is the way it happened. The Wolf Pack should have beaten Northwestern, San Jose State, and Top 25 WAC teams Hawaii and Boise State.

If anything, the Wolf Pack was better than it should have been, but couldn’t find a way to make that translate to wins. Frustration is understandable, but wanting to fire a coach that could be building a BCS contender in the coming years is laughable.

The Nevada men’s basketball team earned its best win of the season on Saturday by beating Northern Iowa 55-52 in Cedar Falls. The Wolf Pack had been horrible on the road this seasons, but dominated a Panthers team that will compete for the Missouri Valley Conference championship.

JaVale McGee was dominant in the post with 12 rebounds and 7 blocks. I guess the Nick Fazekas comparisons are inevitable, but they’re not really fair. McGee is a defensive force while Fazekas, obviously, was an offensive player. McGee flat out owned the post today. Panthers guards were looking for him as soon as he penetrated.

Junior guard Lyndale Burleson played really well in his first game of the season after being ineligible this fall. Burleson made a couple outside shots and scored eight points, but his big contributions come on the defensive end. He really solidifies the Wolf Pack’s backcourt rotation, and freshman point guard Armon Johnson won’t have to log quite so many minutes anymore.