Thomason Should Be Coach of Year

It’s awards time again, Big West style.

Ballots are in the hands of the voters and candidates are waiting anxiously.

Coaches will soon vote for coach, player and freshman of the year, as well as select all-conference and all-freshman teams, which will be announced March 5.

“There are a lot of deserving people out there,” Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Coach Jeff Schneider said. “I think we’ve had a lot of coaches who did a good job and there are a lot of players who should make [all-conference]. Everyone who should make it probably won’t, though, and that’s too bad.”

Coach of the year is a no-brainer, according to several voters. The award will go to Pacific Coach Bob Thomason, barring a mass attack of stupidity by the voters.

“Yeah, I would go with Bob Thomason,” Schneider said. “You see how well they’ve played and they won the [Western Division]. He’s a good choice.”

Pacific is a Big West-best 21-4 overall and 12-3 in conference. The Tigers won 16 in a row after a season-opening loss to Fresno State and also defeated Georgetown on a neutral court.

In this conference these days, accomplishments don’t get any bigger. The award would be the second for Thomason, who also won it for the 1992-93 season.

Nevada (18-7, 12-3) is one game ahead of Utah State (18-8, 11-4) and New Mexico State (17-8, 11-4) in the Eastern Division with one game to play. Utah State’s Larry Eustachy and Nevada’s Pat Foster probably will round out the top three.

Picking a player of the year is a bit tougher.

Pacific junior center Michael Olowokandi (7-feet, 260 pounds) was an early favorite, but he’s missed most of the conference season because of injuries. Likewise with Cal State Fullerton senior forward John Williams (6-5, 205), whose season-ending wrist injury wrecked the Titans’ promising season. UC Santa Barbara junior swingman Raymond Tutt (6-4, 180) is an exceptional scorer, but the Gauchos haven’t won enough.

Long Beach State junior guard James Cotton and Nevada senior forward Faron (Meat) Hand are the leading candidates, many coaches said.

Heading into Thursday’s games, Cotton was averaging 23.5 points and has led the conference in scoring for most of the season, although Tutt holds the lead by a 10th of a point. Cotton led the conference in scoring last season and was chosen first-team all-conference, so he didn’t exactly come out of nowhere this season. He was also the conference’s freshman of the year during the 1993-94 season.

Big West observers expected Cotton (6-5, 200) to make a run at the award but his chances appeared to fade as Long Beach started horribly. His situation, and Long Beach’s, has improved recently.

Long Beach (12-13, 8-7) had won five in a row before losing Thursday to Idaho, 53-51. The 49ers have clinched second place in the Western Division. Schneider likes Cotton--a lot.

“I’d probably go with Cotton,” Schneider said. “When you see him first-hand, he’s really impressive. He was great against us.”

Hand also has lots of support. The burly Hand (6-7, 270) is the conference’s best post player and averages 19.4 points and 7.8 rebounds. He was a redshirt last season after five games because of a knee problem. No one is a bigger Cotton fan than Eustachy, but Hand is Eustachy’s man for this award.

“In my opinion it’s got to be Faron Hand--it’s not even close,” Eustachy said. “He’s a man out there . . . you just can’t stop him. He adds more to his team than anybody else. It would be a huge hit if [Nevada] lost Faron Hand.”

Freshman of the year is expected to go to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo sharpshooter Mike Wozniak (6-2, 180). He leads the Mustangs in scoring, averaging 15.4 points, and in three-point shooting 38.6% (78 of 202). He’s fast becoming a cult figure on campus, where students parade “Wizard of Woz” banners at games.

“I really didn’t know he would be this good,” Schneider said. “He’s stepped in and done a great job.”

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Dealing with it: Four teams in each division qualify for the Big West tournament in Reno, beginning March 7.

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (13-16, 5-10) is tied with Cal State Fullerton (12-13, 5-10) for fourth place in the Western Division, ahead of UC Irvine. But even if the Mustangs hold on to the fourth spot, they still won’t be tournament-bound.

The Mustangs aren’t eligible to earn the Big West’s automatic NCAA-tournament berth, awarded to the tournament winner, until next season because of an NCAA rule that prohibits teams new to conferences from receiving the berth. So to avoid any potentially embarrassing situations, such as the Mustangs winning the tournament, conference officials decided to make the Mustangs stay home.

Although disappointed, Schneider said things could be worse.

“We’re trying to have a real positive outlook about it,” he said. “We would obviously like to be there, but we’re very happy to be in the Big West. We’re a growing program and everything about this season has helped us.”

Big West Conference Notes

Here’s our picks for first-team all-conference: Faron Hand, forward, Nevada; Raymond Tutt, forward, UC Santa Barbara; Michael Olowokandi, center, Pacific; James Cotton, guard, Long Beach State; Marcus Saxon, guard, Utah State.