Ag men open with two in-state games
Aggie basketball Head Coach Stew Morrill knows with coaching, he sometimes has to coach against friends and family.
Morrill gets to do both this weekend as Utah State opens up the 2007-08 basketball regular season with a home game against Southern Utah University Friday at approximately 7 p.m., and then on the road against Weber State Saturday night.
Southern Utah is coached by Roger Ried, who Morrill coached against when he was coaching at Colorado State. Weber State is coached by former 13-year Morrill assistant Randy Rahe.
“I hate coaching against friends, and it’s even worse coaching against family,” Morrill said.
Morrill said Ried is a friend and Rahe is family after 13 years together.
“Both of these games are tough from an emotional side,” Morrill said.
The last and only time a Morrill-coached Aggie squad started the season with back-to-back in-state games was in 2000-01, when they began the season playing at the Top of the World Classic in Alaska against Weber State.
“It’s unique for us,” Morrill said. “It really is something I would prefer not to do. You would like to have prep time for each team.”
Preparation time in between games will limited for the Aggies, but Morrill said in order for the Aggies to make their schedule work, they had to do it.
“With us getting into the South Padre Island event, that is what had to happen,” Morrill said.
With eight new players to the program and three returning redshirts, Morrill said he wished he had more time to prepare but knows the players are excited to get out and play for real.
“I have my apprehensions as to whether we’re ready or not,” Morrill said. “We have got so many new people and so many new players. The kids are excited, coaches are apprehensive.”
Leading the way for the Aggies is senior guard Jaycee Carroll, who will be the starting shooting guard for the fourth consecutive year.
Last year Carroll averaged 21.3 points per contest, which was good enough for 10th in the nation. He was named the WAC preseason Player of the Year this year, as well as named to several preseason lists, including the John R. Wooden Award and the Naismith Trophy, which recognizes the top player in the nation.
With the departure of Nick Hammer, seniors Kris Clark and Stephen DuCharme are the only other returning players from last year’s squad. With so many new faces, Morrill said he expects to play 10 or 11 guys in each of the games over the weekend.
“We gotta have guys coming of the bench playing hard,” Morrill said.
One of those players will be freshman Pooh Williams.
“I fully expect Pooh to come of the bench and be ready to go,” Morrill said. “He does have some potential.”
Carroll should see extensive playing time. Morrill explained some players in the exhibition games were only able to play 20 minutes a game, but Carroll is the only guy who can play at such a high level for the entire game.
“The only guy that could play as hard as we want him to play and physically able to do it probably is Jaycee Carroll,” Morrill said. “I have never had as fine a conditioned athlete as he his.”
The opening-night game against Southern Utah will be the second time these two teams have faced off. The last time they met was in 1994, when the Aggies beat the Thunderbirds, 76-63.
Southern Utah returns three starters and four letterwinners from last year’s team that went 16-14. After watching tape, Morrill said the player to watch is 6-foot-7 forward Geoff Payne.
“Geoff Payne can play anywhere,” Morrill said.
Saturday night the Aggies travel to Weber State in a game that will be Weber’s season opener. Last year Rahe guided the Wildcats to a 20-12 record and a first-place finish in the Big Sky Confernece, as well a trip to the NCAA Tournament where they lost to UCLA.
This year Weber State is picked to finish first in the Big Sky with three returning starters and seven letterwinners. Utah State is 13-14 all-time against Weber State in Ogden but has won the last two meetings in the Dee Events Center.
-sam.bryner@aggiemail.usu.edu