One of the reporter’s on Monday’s Mountain West Conference coaches teleconference brought up an interesting fact.
Eight of the nine MWC schools have at least one player from Las Vegas on their rosters. Utah is the only one not in the mix.
Many of them are really good players, too:
BYU senior forward Jonathan Tavernari (went to high school in Las Vegas), San Diego State junior forward Billy White and New Mexico junior wing Darington Hobson.
“It beats me. You go where you think players are,” said San Diego State coach Steve Fisher on why so many MWC teams look to Las Vegas for recruits.
Hometown UNLV has two natives on its roster: Junior guard Tyler Norman (a transfer from Iowa State) and freshman guard Anthony Marshall.
“There are a lot of good high school players in Las Vegas,” UNLV coach Lon Kruger said. “You expect other teams in the league to come in. It’s not a surprise. It’s natural for players in Las Vegas to go to other schools in the league.”
Wyoming has one player from Las Vegas: sophomore guard James Dean. He is a walk-on who transferred from Wisconsin-Milwaukee and it not playing this season.
MWC men’s basketball players from Las Vegas
Air Force: G Jon Atkins, So.
Brigham Young: F Jonathan Tavernari, Sr.; G Michael Loyd Jr., So.
Colorado State: F Andre McFarland, Jr.; G Harvey Perry, Sr.
New Mexico: G/F Darington Hobson, Jr.
San Diego State: F Billy White, Jr.
TCU: G Hank Thorns, Jr. (transfer from Virginia Tech, sitting out this season)
UNLV: G Anthony Marshall, Fr.; G Tyler Norman, So. (transfer from Iowa State)
Wyoming: G James Dean, So. (transfer from Wisconsin-Milwaukee)
UW (8-10 overall, 1-3 MWC) plays at No. 14 BYU (18-1, 3-0) Wednesday. See Tuesday’s paper for what Cowboys coach Heath Schroyer had to say about the Cougars, as well as from the coach whose team just got waxed by the Cougars: CSU’s Tim Miles.
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