The Week in 1,000 Words: Has Nevada athletics turned over a new leaf this spring?
Nevada Sports Net columnist Chris Murray is known to be a bit wordy, so we're giving him 1,000 words (but no more than that) every Friday to share his thoughts from the week that was in the world of sports.
* SPRING HAS SPRUNG, and that appears to be a very good thing for Nevada. The Wolf Pack struggled through arguably the worst fall and winter sports season in its history. It was, at minimum, the worst Nevada athletics has performed in the fall and winter since moving to the MW in 2012. The revenue sports — football and men's basketball — struggled, and the rest of the sports on campus didn't do much better. But Nevada has turned over a new leaf this spring with three of its sports first or second in the MW standings, a rather rare development in recent seasons.
* THE THREE-YEAR anniversary of Nevada's last conference title is just 27 days away (May 1, 2022), but the Wolf Pack looks like it will break that skid sooner rather than later. Softball, baseball and women's tennis are first or second in the MW, and it doesn't seem like a fluke. Nevada softball has been a top-40 RPI team the entire season. Yes, it has struggled with top-75 RPI opponents out of conference, but the Wolf Pack has been the better team on the field against MW powers San Diego State and Boise State and can take control of first place in the MW this weekend with two games at Fresno State.
* NEVADA BASEBALL enters its series Friday against UNLV tied for first in the MW against New Mexico, which the Wolf Pack beat in a three-game series earlier this season. Nevada baseball being near the top of the MW isn't a surprise as that team's three conference titles in the MW era are the second most of any program behind men's basketball four, all under Eric Musselman. Nevada baseball has won titles under Jay Johnson and T.J. Bruce and now tries to do so under Jake McKinley, whose team can hit. The question is the starting pitching, but that's looked better of late.
* MOST SURPRISING has been Wolf Pack women's tennis, which had been anchored near the bottom of the MW for the majority of the last decade. But that program played better last season, finishing fifth in the MW, before stepping into contender status this year. Nevada has ranked as high as 55th in the nation, its highest rating since 2009, and is 14-2 overall and 5-1 in the MW after Friday's win over rival UNLV, putting it second behind San Jose State (6-0 in the MW). Nevada hosts the Spartans later this year and has a realistic shot of its first conference title since 1992, the school's last season in the Big Sky.
* THE REMAINDER of Nevada's spring sports — there are five more — aren't expected to be in title contention. But having multiple Wolf Pack teams fighting for conference championships at the same time feels like foreign territory, and I've been covering Nevada athletics in some form or fashion since 2002. Whether the Wolf Pack can seal the deal and end the title drought it too-be-determined, but baseball, softball and women's tennis will each get two cracks at it with regular-season and tournament championships on the line. One of those programs should get across the finish line with a trophy, if not two. I'll set the over/under at 1.5 championships.
* NEVADA HAS TO hope this truly is a turning over of the leaf. The Wolf Pack athletic department has always had great potential given its location, its academic facilities (not so much on the athletic side) and the potential donor base (there's a lot of money in Tahoe). But Nevada has never funded its athletic department like it's trying to be great. That has changed in recent years with the university kicking an extra $10 million annually into athletics. For that investment, you want to see some results, and Nevada is starting to see some this spring. Stringing together a couple of titles this spring and a few more next fall/winter could put the Wolf Pack in shape to be one of the MW's better departments in the post-2026 version of the league.
* KRYSTA PALMER BEINGhired as Nevada diving coach this week was one of the cooler full-circle moments in recent Wolf Pack history. The Douglas High grad walked into Lombardi Pool to see if she could join Jian Li You's club program in 2012 and 13 years later takes over one of the crown-jewel programs on campus. In a fun twist, Nevada's swimming coach, Brendon Bray, a Reno High graduate, and Palmer are both alums of Northern Nevada high schools. Beyond those two, the last time a local was hired to run a Wolf Pack program was when Carson High product Chad Stoloff was hired as Nevada's men's tennis coach in 2005.
* PEOPLE ARE LOSING their minds over major-league players using the so-called "torpedo bat," with that storyline catching fire after the Yankees bludgeoned the Brewers with said bats. The torpedo bat moves the meat of the wood toward the label a little, and, yes, it could help some hitters who tend to hit the ball lower on the bat. But this bat has been around for a long time. Former A's outfielder Ben Grieve used it decades ago, and it's been a staple for some major-league players the last couple of seasons. It's not going to change baseball. Something that will last forever, apparently, is the Dodgers, whose 8-0 start is the best for a defending World Series champion. And the Dodgers haven't even played that well. That's a scary proposition.
* MY STORY ONOregon State and Washington State not dominating the West Coast Conference as it rebuilds the Pac-12 hit a nerve, especially with Beavers fans. I simply pointed out how both schools fared as WCC members this season, which was OK but not great. You'd think dumping a power-conference school into a mid-major conference would lead to better results. Apparently they don't sell mirrors in Corvallis because Oregon State fans can't see they're a mid-major school now. Same with Washington State.
Columnist Chris Murray provides insight on Northern Nevada sports. Contact him at crmurray@sbgtv.com or follow him on Twitter @ByChrisMurray.
