COLUMN: The sky is not falling
Rumor has it that Kyle Davis is leaving the men’s basketball program. If he does, he will be the eighth player from the 2013-14 season who will not be on the roster come next winter.
The program announced last week that Jordan Stone and Danny Berger have left, and coupled with the departure of five seniors – Jarred Shaw, Spencer Butterfield, Preston Medlin, Tenale Roland and Sean Harris – the Aggies will have a very different look next season.
This does not mean the sky is falling.
I acknowledge that it hurts losing seven of the nine players who played 11 minutes or more last season. I acknowledge that losing five non-seniors in the last two seasons is questionable and concerning, but come on: The Aggies are not going to go winless next season, and at some point, they will be good again.
Ever heard of a rebuilding year? That’s what Aggie basketball fans are looking at for next season, though they may not be used to it.
The Aggies will be relying heavily on underclassmen next season, on 19- and 20-year-olds. If you haven’t noticed, that’s what is happening everywhere in college basketball. Most teams, both major and mid-major, are relying on increasingly younger and less-experienced players.
The major contributors next season will almost assuredly feature a handful of sophomores in Jalen Moore, JoJo McGlaston and Viko Noma’aea, a skilled freshman center in Elston Jones, and a couple of junior college transfers in Chris Smith and Darius Perkins.
So in short, next season’s Aggies on the hardwood will be young, inexperienced and athletic. Sound familiar? Almost every other college basketball team in the country has a similar blueprint. Kentucky sees this mass-exodus year in and year out. The most hyped players in the country every season are true freshman or sophomores.
USU fans may not be used to it, but young is OK. It’s even exciting. For most of the last few years, even the underclassmen have been in their early 20s due to missions. It’s widely acceptable to rely on teenagers.
I’m not saying the Aggies are going to go out and win the Mountain West. I’m not even saying they will compete, but I am saying the mass-fear from fans is too hasty. The Aggies are in the conference they need to be to improve and actually have some talent.
Now I’m all for re-evaluating programs when needed, and when a program that has been used to success has had seasons like the Aggies have seen the past two years, evaluation is needed. I’ve been a hard critic of the coaching staff this season too, before I really thought about the situation. One of these mediocre seasons was marred by injuries and the other was a major adjustment into a conference that was much better than USU had been used to.
So to all of the doomsday fans who think the program is on the cusp of a major abyss, you may be right, but just give it another year. Let’s see what happens. Who knows – maybe a younger, spunkier team is just what this program needs.
— Jeffrey Dahdah is a sophomore majoring in journalism. He is an avid fan of the Cardinals, Rams, Jazz and Aggies. You can email Jeffrey at dahdahjm@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter @dahdahUSU.