Wolf Pack men's basketball team is on the rise

There were tears, and you expect that.

There was disappointment, and you had to expect that.

There was even some satisfaction for a job well done, and there should have been plenty of that.

There was a little bit of everything when I visited the Nevada locker room after the Pack's 71-59 loss to top-ranked Illinois Saturday at the RCA Dome.

While coach Mark Fox and stars Nick Fazekas and Kevinn Pinkney visited with the national writers, the rest of the team conducted interviews with the three Reno TV stations and other media members.

The tears and disappointment came from the realization that the season was over, and that the six months of basketball was over, far sooner than anybody wanted it to be. Whether the odds are heavily stacked against you or not, no athlete wants to lose. Every athlete goes in thinking his team can win no matter who they are playing.

The satisfaction comes from having posted a second consecutive 25-win season, and winning the WAC regular-season title, which is something many media members, including myself didn't think would happen. The Wolf Pack had seven new players, and no Kirk Snyder or Todd Okeson. They lost two players before the season started, and that left the Pack with no real depth.

Nevada equaled its win total from last year, and since the team loses only Kevinn Pinkney and Jermaine Washington, the future looks good.

"If we make the committment as the group that we made this year then we'll be good," Fox said. "We expect to be good next year. We expected to win tonight. If our players will commit like our two seniors have this year to leadership and to caring to the group more than themselves, then hopefully we'll be back."

Nevada has signed two recruits for next year - 6-10 Jeremy Mayfield from Irving, Texas and 6-7 Richie Phillips from Seattle - and Marcelus Kemp (injury) and Lyndale Burleson (grades) come back from being off this year.

Mo Charlo or Kemp can slide into the No. 3 spot, leaving Nevada trying to fill Pinkney's shoes. Massive Chad Bell and slender David Ellis are the candidates right now unless Nevada signs somebody this spring. Bell made tremendous strides this year, and Ellis needs to bulk up to become a better player.

As good a season as Nick Fazekas had, it was apparent that the broken nose was a problem. Save for the San Jose State game, his shooting tailed off considerably. Hopefully he'll get the stroke back.

The biggest thing he needs to do is put on another 25 pounds so he can bang with the country's more physical players which Nevada will continue to see as it attempts to upgrade its schedule. Texas' Jason Klotz and Illinois' James Augustine had no problems using their weight advantage against the slender Fazekas.

Nevada needs to find consistent outside players; guys that can shoot 35 or 40 percent from beyond the 3-point arc. They are out there. If guys can knock down enough outside shots, it will take pressure off the inside players.

Nevada needs to continue to upgrade its schedule. I'd love to see the Pack take on somebody from the Big East when they go back to play Vermont next year. Sure it will be tough, but it looks good to selection committee members.

I think the Pack should look into playing the departing WAC members like Tulsa, SMU, Rice and UTEP on a semi-regular basis. And, if that can't happen look at some of the WCC schools. Heck, what's wrong with playing UNLV twice in one year?

Sure I felt bad for Nevada on Saturday, but it was a good year. The program is on the rise, and save for not winning the WAC tournament, there wasn't much the Pack didn't accomplish.