Utah State basketball teams host second annual Aggie Madness
The second annual Aggie Madness for the men’s and women’s basketball teams started off with the players introduced to the fans for them to see their new team for the season. With 12 women’s and five men’s transfers, both head coaches are looking forward to a successful season with lots of talent.
“You have kids that never really played together before, but we’re talented, and talent can cover a multitude of sins,” said women’s basketball head coach Wesley Brooks. “We’re getting together where we’re at.”
The players ran out of a tunnel created by cheerleaders with fog, blue lights and a spotlight to highlight each player as they ran through. Then the first competition began with Cameron Walker, vice president and director of athletics, missing a free throw shot for a student who won the drawing for a free season pass to Beaver Mountain Ski Resort.
The USU Gymnastics team came to throw free T-shirts into the crowd of home fans, which was made up of families, students and community members. Then began the next competition.
It was a relay race of students and basketball players in a shooting drill of a layup, 3-pointer and half-court shot. The winning team had basketball player men’s No. 8 Drake Allen and women’s No. 1 Marina Asensio.
The drawing also included a chance for a student to win free tuition by making a half-court shot, which was missed. They won a semester of free tuition instead. The final event of the evening was a dunk contest of men’s players No. 24 Kingston Tosi, No. 35 Adlan Elamin, No. 13 David Iweze and No.1 Elijah Perryman. The finalists were Tosi, who did a 360 through the legs dunk, and Elamin, who jumped over his teammate and dunked. Elamin took the win.
Looking at the upcoming season, there is already progress, but each team still has a long way to go, according to both coaches.
“The way we play, you have to be in shape. Everybody wants to play fast until you’re actually doing it,” Brooks said. “So, the kids [are] adjusting to that — really happy with our adjustment with pace of play and spacing.”
The event gave the opportunity for the players to get introduced to their fans.
“It’s important for the new guys to understand the tradition here and the fan base,” said Jerrod Calhoun, men’s basketball head coach. “I thought the dunk competition was one of the better ones I’ve seen. I love how we get the girls involved, too.”
The routine for these athletes is four hours of practice a day, split between the court and weight rooms. The girls and boys have scrimmaged together recently to prepare for the games happening this weekend.
“We saw some really good things. Need to clean up the turnovers this time of year, and our turnover is actually not from playing fast, which is very encouraging,” Brooks said. “We have a closed scrimmage and then we have [an] exhibition here, so we’ll get the wrinkles out even more here over the next three weeks.”
Elamin said he plays in a competitive place where each spot is won.
“Honestly, I feel it works perfectly,” Elamin said. “That’s how we grow close, competing hard every day in practice. We just want to push each other.”
Competition drives the women’s team as well, where each spot depends on how well each player does every day at practice. Asensio, from Spain, has become one of the top shooters on the women’s team.
“People have been amazing training for us. I think the team is ready to play in front of the fans and show what we have been working on,” Asensio said. “We’re getting close really fast, and that’s on and off the court. So, I think it’s going to make a big difference on the court when we play.”
The season schedule has been set with the goal of winning the Mountain West Conference tournament and making it to the NCAA championship for both men’s and women’s basketball. To see the schedule, visit utahstateaggies.com.