COLUMN: Batman, Robin and the Aggies
Going into this basketball season, nobody doubted that Utah State would be a good team. Plenty were willing to speculate that the Aggies could even be called a great team. Then there were the most hopeful of optimists who believe that this year’s USU team could go down as one of the greatest in school history.
Whether or not to say that will be, or was, the case, we will not know until March rolls around.
As of right now, we know that the floor for this Aggie team appears to be very low, and the ceiling is not yet known. It seems that on any given night, Tai Wesley is going to get his. He’ll be good for around 15 points and eight or nine rebounds, but probably more with his new habit of staying out of foul trouble.
After that, it’s been an adventure as to who will step up on any given night. Recently it seems like Brockeith Pane has assumed the role of Robin to Wesley’s Batman, averaging nearly 14 points per game over the last seven contests.
From there, the roles of Alfred, Commissioner Gordon and Harvey Dent (prior to the burn incident obviously) are up for grabs when it comes to bringing justice to the basketball court for the Aggies. Pooh Williams, Tyler Newbold, Brian Green and Brady Jardine have all pitched in at least five games apiece in which they scored in double-figures this season. Not only that, but this season, each of them has had at least one massive impact on a game that, without the kind of stellar output they provided, the Aggies would have had another loss under their belts.
Now, with that said, this is normally the time of year when Stew Morrill’s basketball teams have traditionally hit their stride into becoming something special. If the big-time games from players other than Wesley and Pane become more and more frequent and occur more and more on the same evenings, this team could indeed live up to all the hype that it carried into the season.
The team’s play has already been nothing short of impressive, and if evidence is needed of that, look no further than the games this season against Weber State, Northeastern and Hawaii. In each of those games, the Aggies either shot remarkably poorly, the opposing team was shooting lights-out or it was a combination of both. Yet each of those games has a W next to it on the Utah State schedule. Winning those kinds of games despite those off-nights is the kind of thing that a great team can do.
So imagine what this can be as the team continues to progress and those off nights become less and less frequent.
If the team effort the Aggies showed off last Saturday at Nevada is any indication of what’s to come, then USU is hitting their stride at just the right time as they get ready to travel to Boise State Thursday for what should be the team’s toughest test since Georgetown.
The Broncos are 4-0 in WAC play and have a core of players who are all prone to go off for a big game at any point, much like the Aggies. A win against Boise State would give every WAC team but USU at least one loss in conference play, with two of the toughest road games out of the way already for the Aggies.
In other words, it may be just the first week of school, but the Aggies are already facing a pretty tough mid-term test as far as the basketball season goes.
Matt Sonnenberg is a senior majoring in print journalism. Matt is an avid fan of Aggie athletics and can be found on the front row of every home football and basketball game. He can also be reached at matt.sonn@aggiemail.usu.edu.