COLLEGE PREVIEWS

Men's basketball

> Idaho vs. New Mexico State

in WAC tournament

Tipoff: noon today, Orleans Arena, Las Vegas

Records: Idaho 12-17 overall, 7-11 Western Athletic Conference; New Mexico State 21-10 overall, 14-4 Western Athletic Conference.

Players: Senior post Kyle Barone (17.1 ppg, 9.9, .590 FG) on Sunday became the seventh player in UI history and the first since Orlando Lightfoot in 1994 to be named conference Player of the Year. He faces a heavy task against 7-5, 355-pound freshman Sim Bhullar (10.0 ppg, 6.1 rpg), who affects a game profoundly with his inside presence during the limited stretches he's on the court. The Aggies' leading scorer is sophomore guard Daniel Mullings (13.9 ppg).

Game themes: It's hard to say how good a matchup this is for the sixth-seeded Vandals, trying again to break their WAC tournament jinx. On one hand, they twice gave New Mexico State all it could handle, losing 71-70 at Moscow and 76-74 at Las Cruces, N.M. On the other hand, the third-seeded Aggies are the defending WAC tournament champion, and Bhullar is capable of overwhelming a team like Idaho that's short on posts. This UI season, with its repeated wheel-spinning, has been unlike any other during the Don Verlin tenure, so the Vandals can only hope that the league tournament, too, will play out differently. Verlin is 0-4 so far in this thing. In other quarterfinal games today, it's Denver vs. Texas State at 2:30 p.m., Louisiana Tech vs. Texas San Antonio at 6 p.m., and Texas Arlington vs. Utah State at 8:30 p.m.