Speculation about Wolf Pack’s second-year coach to escalate this weekend My Twitter audience is resilient. It puts up with bad jokes. It tolerates far too many Seattle sports references. And every Thursday, it is witness to the same Tweet. In one way or another, I’ll ask for questions for the following afternoon’s radio show. Sometimes an unrelated gif is … [Read more...]
Shoup Shots: Reno’s raucous weekend, Ozoude chooses Colorado State
Reno needs to catch its breath, maybe let the resting heart beat come back down. It endured a marathon this weekend. I’m not convinced you can make argument it wasn’t one of the busiest in Northern Nevada sports history. For the second straight year, the Big Sky played its men’s and women’s conference tournaments at the Reno Events Center. Regular-season champion … [Read more...]
Shoup Shots: Nevada will try to make history on Saturday, All-league/all-participation, Gorman boys win sixth straight
Maybe the Mountain West knew what it was doing when it pitted Nevada and Colorado State against each other in the final game of the regular season. Maybe it just got lucky. While a much stronger argument can be made for the latter, the process doesn’t matter. On Saturday evening, Nevada will host Colorado State at Lawlor Events Center in the unofficial Mountain West … [Read more...]
Shoup Shots: Spanish Springs boys miss window
For the Spanish Spring boys basketball team, this was supposed to be the year. Led by Marcus Loadholt, who averaged 3.7 points per game as a freshman and 20.3 ppg this winter, the Cougars and their eight seniors were going to win the first regional title in program history. That’s the way it was written out, at least, for the team that won all 16 of its 4A North games … [Read more...]
Shoup Shots: Five fearless predictions for 4A North regional tourneys
One of the few ways to make watching postseason basketball more fun is to try to predict how it’s going to unfold. That’s why we fill out March Madness brackets year in and year out. Well, and in attempt to win a fraction of Warren Buffett’s fortune. It is unclear if Buffett is offering a billion dollars for perfect 4A North regional tournament brackets, but that’s … [Read more...]
Shoup Shots: Dear 4A North, time to be logical, not proud
Northern Nevada is on the brink of once again becoming relevant in the statewide athletics conversation, particularly football. In late March, the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association Board of Control will vote on a realignment that would create a 5A classification starting in the 2018-19 school year. Southern Nevada has grown so drastically that 25 schools … [Read more...]
Shoup Shots: Nevada, Oliver primed to run away with Mountain West regular season title
How do you forget a painful home loss to Fresno? Easy. You play your best basketball of the year, pick up the two biggest wins of the season, and grab sole possession of first place in the Mountain West all in a span of seven days. Nevada sits in the driver’s seat after convincing wins at Boise State on Wednesday night, 76-57, and at home against New Mexico on … [Read more...]
Shoup Shots: Spanish Springs boys in control, Pack running out of slack, Whitehead transferring to Nevada
The Spanish Springs boys basketball team has put itself in a pretty sweet spot. The Cougars cruised past Reno at home on Friday night, 73-58, and now own a three-game lead over the Huskies for first place in the High Desert League with just six games left. Barring an epic collapse down the stretch, the Cougs will also likely own the tiebreaker over Reno thanks to a … [Read more...]