COLUMN: Aggie basketball is in the air
The weekly Section F balancing act between football and basketball is officially on. At this point in the year, each sport is going to have plenty to talk about, and this column does not plan to miss much of anything.
So let’s begin.
Hawaii’s win over Nevada last Saturday tells me two things. One, Nevada isn’t as unbeatable as they had previously appeared, and while they’re still a stellar football team, that road game against the Wolf Pack suddenly looks a little bit less like a sure loss.
On the flip side of that, Hawaii has been impressive pretty much all season, which means that this Saturday’s Homecoming football game will be that much more difficult for the Aggies. With the loss to Louisiana Tech two weeks ago, the Aggies are now faced with a do-or-die scenario in which they must beat all four of Hawaii, New Mexico State, San Jose State and Idaho to gain bowl eligibility. A loss in any of those games would require a win against either Nevada or Boise State on the road to make up the ground lost. No pressure or anything, right?
The problem with all of this is that Utah State tends to play relative to its perceived competition, whether that be playing up or playing down. The competition hasn’t always proven to be what it was perceived to be though, with La-Tech being a shining example. The Aggies played a far less impressive game against the Bulldogs than they played just a week earlier in the blowout of BYU. A few weeks before that, San Diego State, a team that not many people expected to be as explosive as they have been, blew the Aggies out of the water by playing much better than they had been perceived to be.
This leaves fans to hope that the Aggies are treating this Hawaii team like a powerhouse and will play as such, or in other words, play up to their competition rather than playing down. Some responsibility also falls on the fans as well though, to keep the attendance numbers high despite the loss at La-Tech that seems to have sucked a lot of air out of the excitement surrounding the 2010 USU football season.
On a brighter note, news broke Sunday that the Utah State coaching staff’s No. 1 recruiting target for this 2011 class, quarterback Chuckie Keeton, committed to play for the Aggies. Keeton conveniently made his recruiting trip to Logan during the weekend of the BYU game and obviously came away impressed. Given the turmoil surrounding the future conference situation for USU, as well as a football season that looks unlikely to meet many people’s expectations after the onslaught of injuries to the team, Gary Andersen and company still managed to land a player that could turn out to be the heir to Diondre Borel at the quarterback position.
On the basketball front, the Western Athletic Conference preseason basketball polls and all-conference teams were announced Tuesday, with Aggie forward Tai Wesley named the preseason WAC Player of the Year and a first team all-WAC selection.
It didn’t stop there either. Seniors Nate Bendall, Tyler Newbold and Pooh Williams filled out three of the five slots on the all-WAC second team. Rounding out Utah State’s projected starting five was likely starting point guard Brockeith Pane, who was selected by the WAC media to be the league’s Newcomer of the Year.
In other words, Utah State’s entire starting five are all-WAC players. Oh, and the Aggies were picked to win the WAC yet again in both the media and coach’s polls, earning essentially a unanimous selection as the WAC’s top team from the coaches.
Even though basketball will be underway next week when the team takes the floor for the annual blue and white scrimmage, the football team still has an excellent shot at making its first bowl appearance since 1998. It certainly is that time of year where it no longer feels too soon to be talking basketball, but it isn’t time for the fans to totally shift gears just yet. Football has gutted out the toughest parts of its schedule, and is at the point where four of the last six games should be very winnable.
It’d be a tragedy if those record student turnouts that packed the stands for the first three games weren’t there to see it if or when the team earns eligibility for a bowl game.
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.