If the NAU men's basketball team was stationed in just about any of the other Big Sky Conference towns, the Lumberjacks would have taken the court last night, one night after a 12-point win over Idaho State.
The Jacks would have some instant momentum, not only coming off a big home-court win, but also facing today's opponent, Weber State, without the Wildcats having a day to prepare for the Jacks and having to travel to face NAU.
Weber State, Idaho State, Montana, Montana State, Portland State and Eastern Washington are all hosting back-to-back conference games this year because of a decision the conference made in the offseason to try and save money for opposing teams by eliminating a day of travel.
The league decided not to put that in effect for NAU and Northern Colorado though because of the difficulty of getting from Greeley, Colo., to Flagstaff and vice versa. However, when teams do the Weber State-Idaho State trip, Montana-Montana State trip or the Portland State-Eastern Washington swing, they'll barely have anytime to prepare for the home team.
But, when teams make the trek to Flagstaff, they get the day in between to prepare for the Jacks. An advantage NAU isn't given when it's home.
"I don't know how you say that's equitable," said NAU coach Mike Adras, who doesn't think any of the conference teams should host back-to-back games. "The athletic directors and the league office think that it is, so, it's what we're doing.
As a result of the scheduling, Weber State had Friday to travel and prepare for NAU, however the Lumberjacks won't have that luxury when they hit the road.
Either way, NAU (7-8, 1-3 Big Sky) will welcome Weber State to the Skydome tonight for a 6:35 p.m. tip. Weber State (9-7, 3-1) suffered its first conference loss on Thursday in an 84-75 setback to perhaps the hottest team in the league, Northern Colorado.
Before that, the Wildcats were on a bit of a roll, picking up four wins in five games including a pair of league wins over Montana State and Montana. They also picked up a league win in early December, winning at Sacramento State by 15 points.
The Wildcats boast one of the top players in the conference in sophomore point guard Damian Lillard. Lillard, a 6-foot-2 sophomore from Oakland, Calif., comes into tonight's game averaging a league-high 19.1 points per game and is fourth in the league with 3.6 assists per game.
Weber State's Steve Panos and Kyle Bullinger are both averaging in double figures with Panos averaging 10.5 points and Bullinger at 10.3. The other two starters, Nick Hansen and Franklin Session, are averaging 9.1 and 8.8 respectively.
"They have some very good athletes," Adras said. "They are a veteran group that can shoot and can get inside. They are very confident when they get into Big Sky play. They turn it up a notch. It's almost like a whole different mental approach for them."
For NAU, the Jacks are still trying to get healthy and have their main producers match Weber State's. DeAngelo Jones most likely won't play again today with a groin injury after not participating in practice on Friday and Eric Platt, who scored 13 in the win over Idaho State, will continue to have his minutes monitored as he recovers from shin splints.
Platt played 26 minutes on Thursday and Adras said that number is still a little high and he'd like to get that down a bit.
