COLUMN: Aggies let performance talk
I feel like it would officially be redundant for me yet again to state that respect is something you have to earn rather than just simply receive. But is it not completely applicable yet again for the Utah State Aggies?
At 30-3, Utah State’s record on the season is better than all but three teams in the nation, and with an RPI of 15, one would think that USU’s tournament resume would land them somewhere in the range between a five and an eight seed. Though, the selection committee are the same people who somehow found logic in making Utah State the first ever top-25 team to be excluded from the NCAA Tournament back in 2004, so it is important to keep in mind who we’re dealing with here.
This is where it’s Utah State’s time to continue doing what they’ve been doing all season, and that is letting their performance on the court do the talking for them whenever doubts surround them.
When there were questions early this season about how good Utah State might be following a three-game stretch where USU struggled to beat Northeastern at home, were given fits on the road at Denver and capped it off with a disappointing loss at Georgetown, the Aggies responded to those questions by running off 17-straight wins and climbing their way into the top 25.
After the loss on the road to Idaho on national TV, the Aggies bounced back with the win on the road at St. Mary’s 10 days later, coming back from a huge deficit in the process.
In other words, when thing have looked down for this year’s Aggie team, they have found themselves a sense of swagger and stepped up their game to a higher level in response.
While it might be tough to find examples of things looking down for a 30-win team, the reaction of USU players and coaches upon hearing their school called as a 12-seed definitely appeared to be one of those rare letdowns this season.
The lack of respect from the selection committee only speaks to how difficult things are for programs playing outside of the power conferences. Teams like Utah State, Belmont and Long Island get buried deep in the seedings despite impressive showings all season long while the Big Ten Conference lands three teams in the tournament with less than 20 wins on the season and higher seeds than any of the mid-majors behind them. Those three Big Ten teams were all seeded at a 10-seed or better, despite the fact that the best of their RPI ratings is 24 spots below Utah State’s.
It’s a rut that the little teams will seemingly always be stuck in, which puts the pressure on USU right away to perform at their best to even advance past the first round against Kansas State.
The silver lining to getting a 12-seed is that should USU advance past the first round, the road immediately in front of them is much easier than what they’d face if they’d gotten a seven or eight-seed. Rather than facing one of the top two seeds in the first round, USU would be facing the winning of Wisconsin and Belmont, making the worst-case scenario going against a four-seed.
From there, nobody is going to complain about advancing to the sweet-16, but it also provides the chance for USU to make some major noise in the tournament if they can knock off the No. 1 seed in that spot.
That is of course, if the one-seed makes it that far. Last year, ninth-seeded Northern Iowa shocked Kansas in the second round of the tournament and showed that the little guys can still knock off the big boys in the early rounds of the big dance.
But lets not get ahead of ourselves here. One game at a time. Utah State has a tough match-up ahead against Kansas State, and another one in front of them if they can win that one. Every game is the biggest game of the season from here on out. The respect obviously won’t be given, but if USU finds itself among the remaining 32, 16, eight, four, two, or one teams still standing over the next few weeks, that respect will definitely have been earned.
In other words, with six seniors, a 30-win team, and more NCAA experience than any Aggie team ever, this is Utah State’s best chance during Stew Morrill’s tenure to show that the Aggies are top dogs rather than underdogs.
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.