COLUMN: Is something wrong with Aggie basketball?
Well. That was embarrassing.
In case you missed it, consider yourself lucky. Utah State lost on Wednesday night at San Jose State 64-62 in what might have been the worst loss in the history of Aggie men’s basketball, almost certainly within the last decade. USU shot a school-record 43 3-point attempts in the game, converting only 12 of those opportunities, and all but ensured the team’s second straight losing season.
The last time the Aggies had a losing record in two straight seasons? 1991. Stew Morrill was still coaching at Montana. Even Morrill’s predecessor, Larry Eustachy, had yet to coach at Utah State. I wasn’t even conceived yet. It’s been that long since we’ve seen this level of futility with USU men’s hoops.
Something is wrong with Aggie basketball. Reviewing the losses of the season makes that apparent. Weber State, Portland State, Valparaiso, Air Force, and now San Jose State. That’s bad. The team has a combined five true road wins in the past two seasons. That’s worse. Even with two likely All-Mountain West players in the backcourt, the team can’t even muster the consistency to handle the cellar-dwellers of the conference. That’s the worst.
It’s the worst because we know there is a good team somewhere in this roster. We’ve seen it this season and last. Remember that time they stomped Nevada at the Spectrum? Or when they went toe-to-toe with Chandler Hutchison and Boise State to get the win? Or how about that time the swept the season series with Fresno State? Remember those first 20 minutes at Gonzaga when we thought we might be seeing the birth of something really special at Utah State?
Gonzaga was followed up by a no-show versus Portland State. An impressive two-game winning streak over UNLV and Fresno State was immediately followed by a loss to a Colorado State team that has gone only 2-11 since (but even they managed to beat San Jose State, so kudos to them). And that Boise State win that felt like such a turning point less than three weeks ago has been decimated by a four-game losing streak that includes two of the worst teams in the entire country, let alone the MW.
Maybe we’re all expecting a little too much out of the Aggies? USU was, after all, predicted to finish eighth in the conference in the MW preseason poll, and they’re right on track to fulfill those low expectations. All it would take is a final loss at home to UNLV, which is easily within the realm of possibility. Maybe us Aggie fans are being a little too greedy about our basketball?
Or on the contrary, maybe we’re actually not expecting enough? This is the 113th season of Utah State men’s basketball, but we’ll most likely go down as only the school’s 37th losing season. More two-thirds of seasons have ended in a winning record for USU. That’s a better percentage than San Diego State, Boise State and Nevada. Utah State has a clear history of winning, and the previous two seasons are a massive aberration. How long are fans supposed to remain quiet while waiting for the team to make noise? Put another way, does anyone feel better about Aggie basketball now than they did three or four years ago? And does this season make you feel like anything different is on the horizon?
Wednesday night might have been the breaking point. Throughout the season, I have defended the team’s results as a product of injuries. Losing to Air Force and San Jose State in back-to-back games cannot be explained away by injuries, however. That is an unforgivable stretch for any program attempting to assert itself as the cream of a conference’s crop. There is no credible way to look at those two losses and see a program with a bright future. Something needs to change, and something needs to change quick.
I am not the one to say what that change is, though. Even at our most outraged, we still have to remember that these are actual people and that if anyone wants USU to win more than us, it’s the coaching staff and the athletes who actually play the game. I don’t think at any point we should be demanding or rooting for someone to lose their job.
That being said, the name of the game is to put the ball in the basket more than the other team, and when that doesn’t happen, adjustments need to be made for the team to bounce back. I would love for that to happen next week in Vegas at the MW tournament, but the events of the past week give little hope that’s possible.
This team has made me look dumb several times before, though, so I’ll be watching, offering my heart on a sleeve to (probably) be crushed once more.
Man, sometimes it sucks being a sports fan.