Warszawski: Giving ‘no credit’ to Nevada makes Rodney Terry sound like a sore loser

Enter the Warzone, springing into the middle of winter.

▪ What got stuck in Rodney Terry’s craw the other night in Reno?

Hint: It wasn’t an undercooked Awful Awful burger from the Nugget diner.

▪ Fresno State’s men’s basketball coach gave Nevada “no credit” for outlasting his short-handed Bulldogs 77-72 in overtime because he was angry over how the Wolf Pack – and specifically freshman forward Cameron Oliver – celebrated afterward.

Terry’s quote was odd for two reasons: 1) It’s college basketball, and his guys do the same thing. 2) Oliver had 20 points and 24 rebounds.

▪ The comment was pretty out of character for Terry, who usually (to borrow a phrase he himself used last week) “stays in (his) own lane.”

That was an unnecessary swerve.

▪ Despite the injury-ravaged frontcourt, Fresno State remains in good position to secure a first-round bye in next month’s Mountain West tournament.

The reason? Only one of the Bulldogs’ remaining six opponents (New Mexico) owns a winning record in conference play.

Nevada has two such remaining games (Boise State and New Mexico), Boise State has three (New Mexico, San Diego State and Nevada) and New Mexico has four (Boise State, Fresno State, San Diego State and Nevada).

Advantage, Bulldogs.

▪ Season-ticket renewals and sales for Fresno State football have begun. That’ll be the first sign if Bulldogs fans are buying into all the coaching changes.

▪ Every adult ticket for 2016 will include a $3 “contribution” to the athletics enhancement fund that supports facility improvements, cost of attendance stipends and “soon” the renovation of Bulldog Stadium.

How soon remains to be seen.

▪ The NBA should’ve just wrapped up All-Star Weekend after Saturday night’s three-point and dunk contests.

Sunday’s All-Star Game even made the Pro Bowl look like a defensive battle.

▪ Kobe Bryant is retiring from the NBA. He does not have a fatal disease, as far as we know.

▪ Until now we’ve mostly avoided giving serious consideration to whether the Golden State Warriors can eclipse the hallowed 72-10 mark set in 1995-96 by Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls.

Finish the month with 51 or 52 wins (by going 3-3 or 4-2 on a difficult trip), and it’ll be time to jump in with both sneakers.

▪ Commissioner Adam Silver expressed support for expanding the NBA Development League from 19 to 30 teams.

Hmm. There’s a recently refurbished arena in downtown Fresno that’s not getting much use.

▪ The story about a college-aged Peyton Manning and where he placed his privates in relation to that female athletic trainer at Tennessee isn’t new.

What’s new, or at least only coming into focus now, are details about how far Manning and his family went to protect his image and smear his accuser.

▪ If Manning hopes to continue life endorsing insurance companies and bad pizza, time to speak up.

▪ Four words we’ve longed to hear since November: Pitchers and catchers report.

▪ Mets reliever Jenrry Mejia became the first MLB player to draw a lifetime ban for a third failed test for steroids.

Don’t laugh. Not everyone gets to make baseball history.

▪ Hours after picking up his first Division I football offer (from Fresno State), Clovis West High School sophomore Adrian Martinez drove half the court and nailed a last-second jumper to beat Clovis East.

Someone’s been eating his Wheaties.

▪ Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards threatened to cancel LSU football next season unless lawmakers tackle the state’s budget deficit.

See what we did there?

▪ For no particular reason: Giannis Antetokounmpo

▪ That’s all you got, El Niño? Seventy-three degrees and sunshine in the middle of February?

Wimp.

▪ A Red Sox fan asked Giants manager Bruce Bochy (during a public Q&A) if he would take back portly third baseman Pablo Sandoval.

Bochy didn’t reply, but the cascade of boos said it all. Not for all the Panda hats on earth.

This story was originally published February 15, 2016 at 6:00 PM with the headline "Warszawski: Giving ‘no credit’ to Nevada makes Rodney Terry sound like a sore loser."