COLUMN: Success carefully measured

    Sometimes it’s difficult to know for certain how good a team really is.

    Look at the softball team. These women have played some of the best collegiate teams in the country, but have scraped out a meager five wins in the 28 games they have played thus far. 11 of those losses ended early in the dreaded mercy rule. To be fair, 17 of their losses have been decided by just three runs or less; it’s not like our girls are falling over dead every time they take the field. Besides, I doubt anyone else on the USU campus could do better.

    I’m not saying I’m an expert judge of talent. I didn’t pick a single final four team correctly and I don’t envy the job of those on the selection committee. There were no 1-seeds or 2-seeds in the final four this year. If people knew Butler would be in the championship game again, they would not have been ranked eighth. If people knew Virginia Commonwealth would be in the final four, they would not have been ranked 11th. Charles Barkley said something like that will never happen again.

    Is the success other mid-major teams have good or bad for Utah State basketball? Aggie fans everywhere remain ever-confident Stew Morrill’s crew is among the elite powers in college basketball year in and year out. Yet, year after year, we are disappointed when our boys almost pull off an upset to a team with a less-than-stellar resume. Butler and VCU have proven it is possible for a mid-major to cut deep into the madness, but will Logan ever get a chance to celebrate?

    I don’t mean to rub salt into wounds again and get another F on my report card (thanks a lot JFFR from Salt Lake City), but how good was the team this year? I know all the achievements and accolades; 30-plus wins, four conference championships in a row, 90-something percent home winning percentage … . I’m not saying the team is bad, I’m just saying Raegan Pebley has as many post-season wins at Utah State as Stew Morrill.

    Ok, time for all of Section F and Adam Nettina to calm down now, this is not about hating on the basketball players behind their backs. Like I said, it’s tough to tell for sure how good a team really is. I watched the games as closely as the next Aggie and I saw how good Tai Wesley was. I was there in Provo when Nate Bendall couldn’t play and the BYU win could have come down to one momentum-swinging flagrant foul called. I remember Stew talking about being lucky to play poorly in Boise and come out with a win. Yes, the WAC was bad this year but losing only three games over the course of an entire season is impressive in any conference.

    I have been an Aggie all my life, and it is painful to know the rest of the country judges the quality of USU basketball by the shortage of NCAA tournament wins. Unfortunately for you and I, the win/loss scale, specifically in the postseason, will ever be the be-all, end-all of determining the best of the best in any sport at any level. It’s up to us to support our teams when the rest of the county won’t.

Tavin Stucki is a freshman majoring in print journalism. He can be reached at tavin.stucki@aggiemail.usu.edu.