Nevada doesn't move up in polls

BY DARRELL MOODY

Appeal Sports Writer

RENO - Despite two victories last week, Nevada remained at No. 10 and No.11 in both national men's basketball polls.

Nevada, 10th in the ESPN/USA Today poll and No. 11 in the Associated Press poll, beat San Jose State 68-60 on Wednesday, and then knocked off Northern Iowa 79-64 in the ESPNU BracketBuster on Saturday.

In both games, Nevada used big surges at the start of the second half to wipe out small halftime deficits.

At 24-2, Nevada is tied with No. 1 Wisconsin, 26-2, for the fewest losses in the country. Wisconsin moved into the top spot in the AP poll after Forida was upset by Vanderbilt last week. Ohio State is No. 1 in the ESPN/USA Today voting.

"We've had success, and with success comes notoriety," said Nevada coach Mark Fox , whose Wolf Pack is closing in on its fourth consecutive Western Athletic Conference regular-season title (it has shared or won outright the last three).

Fox has stated numerous times this year that teams in the WAC, especially New Mexico State and Utah State to name a couple, don't get the recognition from the national media that they deserve.

NMSU has 20 wins this year as does Utah State, which has now won 20 games eight straight years.

Nevada, 11-1 in conference, leads New Mexico State, 9-3, by two games. Utah State is another game back at 8-4. Each school has four conference games left.

The Pack is on the road this week, facing cellar-dwelling Idaho and red-hot Boise State, which is in fourth place in the conference.

"They (Idaho) continue to get better," Fox said. "They have lost some close games. They had an overtime loss to Fresno State and a close loss to San Jose State. They have gotten better every week."

NEW BRACKETOLOGY OUT

Nevada, in Joe Lunardi's latest ESPN Bracketology, is a No. 4 seed and would play Vermont in Spokane, Wash. in a first-round game.

The game is part of the San Antonio Regional. If Nevada won its opening game, it could play Stanford, which is a No. 5 seed, in Lunardi's mock bracket. North Carolina would be the top seed in the region.

A Stanford-Nevada game is one everybody would like to see except the respective head coaches. Ex-Pack coach Trent Johnson and Fox are the best of friends.

In fact, Johnson said last summer that he would never schedule a game with Nevada because of his friendship with Fox.

• Contact Darrell Moody at dmoody@nevadaappeal.com, or by calling (775) 881-1281