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Preseason Sweet 16: Nevada Wolf Pack

Clark Kellogg

Editor's note: With the men's college basketball season starting to ramp back up, Yahoo! Sports analyst Clark Kellogg picks the teams he thinks have the best shot at making it to the Sweet 16 in 2006.

Each pick is listed alphabetically. Check back during the week for his latest selections.


Other Sweet 16 teams:
Arizona | Boston College | Connecticut | Duke | Gonzaga | Iowa | Kentucky | Louisville
Michigan State | Oklahoma | Stanford | Texas | Villanova | Wake Forest | West Virginia

THE REST OF THE WAC

BOISE STATE
Three starters return from a team that made it to the WAC conference tournament championship game last season.

FRESNO STATE
First-year head coach Steve Cleveland takes over a team that returns top scorer Ja'Vance Coleman, but won't be eligible for postseason play.

HAWAII
Matt Gibson and Julian Sensley should be able to lead the Rainbows to a much better conference record than 7-11 this season.

IDAHO
The Vandals will find the going tough in their first season in the WAC.

LOUISIANA TECH
Junior forward Paul Millsap has led the nation in rebounding the last two seasons.

NEW MEXICO STATE
First-year head coach Reggie Theus has the talent to improve dramatically on last season's six wins.

SAN JOSE STATE
With eight returning letter winners and eight newcomers, first-year head coach George Nessman will look to employ an uptempo style.

UTAH STATE
With four starters returning from an NCAA tournament team, the Aggies should challenge for league supremacy in their first year in the conference.

Nevada Wolf Pack
News | Schedule | Roster

Things look good for Nevada this year. Six of the top eight players from last season's WAC regular-season championship team have returned, including three starters.

The most prominent returnee is Nick Fazekas. One of the country's outstanding big men, Fazekas had a terrific sophomore season, averaging 20 points and nine rebounds per game and leading the team in blocked shots. He is also the consensus choice by WAC coaches as the conference's preseason Player of the Year.

Complementing Fazekas is sophomore point guard Ramon Sessions, last season's WAC Freshman of the Year. The other returning starter, Kyle Shiloh, was second on the team in assists and steals. These three players give second-year head coach Mark Fox a strong nucleus to build around.

The Wolf Pack were a very good defensive and rebounding team last season, holding opponents to 39 percent from the field and outrebounding them by eight per game. But with the loss of all-conference forward Kevinn Pinkney, grabbing rebounds might not be so easy this year. Pinkney averaged nine boards per game last season and led the team on the offensive glass. Now that he's gone, Chad Bell and Mo Charlo will be expected to pick up the slack.

Despite the potential rebounding problems, Nevada should again be a solid defensive team. The perimeter players have excellent size, speed and strength, and they will match up well with almost any team they face. Up front, Fazekas and Bell will provide resistance at the rim.

After losing to Illinois in the second round of the NCAA tournament, Nevada has set its sights on a deeper run next March. But if that's going to happen, the Wolf Pack will have to improve on offense and start making the deep shot – they converted just 27 percent from beyond the arc last year. They'll also have to take better care of the ball, having committed more turnovers than they forced last season. Only Fazekas and Pinkney averaged double figures in points, so someone else must emerge as a consistent scorer to make sure Fazekas doesn't have to go it alone.

Advancing in the NCAA tournament is certainly not guaranteed for Nevada. But with some improved efficiency at the offensive end and more confidence from three-point land, the Wolf Pack could find themselves in the Sweet 16. And if they can handle the pressure of greater expectations and notoriety that come with their recent success, 2005-06 could be another good season for Nevada.