COLUMN: The View from Section F
Ithink everybody had that one kid in their school classes growing up that was just straight-up spoiled. Every flashy new toy that he or she wanted, they got. If there was a new video game or video game console that came out, this kid had it first. Every time a new movie came out, this kid always bragged about how they had it before anyone else. They were spoiled in every sense of the word. On top of all that, they were never the least bit ashamed of how spoiled they were. Worst case, they might have just been in denial as to how spoiled they actually were.
For USU men’s basketball, I’m more on the side of not being at all ashamed of how spoiled I’ve been as a fan this basketball season. It’s the middle of February and Aggie fans just barely had to endure a loss for only the second time all year. For everyone scoring at home, the date of USU’s second loss a season ago was Nov. 15 – a day shy of three months earlier than this year’s second loss. On this date one year ago, the Aggies suffered their ninth loss of the 2008 season compared to 18 wins at the time. That is a two wins per each loss ratio compared to a 12-to-1 ratio this year. This is ignoring the fact that only one team in the nation currently has a better record than the Aggies of Utah State.
Safe to say, things are working out just fine for USU despite the recent loss to Boise State. Even with the Aggies’ dominance this season, it isn’t at all out of the ordinary for the No. 1 team in a conference’s standings to lose on the road to the No. 2 team. Even that top-10 ranked Nevada team in 2007 lost its two toughest road games in conference play. The same Nevada team that has seen three players from that squad see their fair share of time in the NBA.
If anything, this will likely serve as a wake-up call to the Aggies going into the final stretch of the regular season and into the postseason. Does anyone think that Stew Morrill won’t be using all that Boise State game film to analyze just how the Broncos were able to beat the Aggies who were previously undefeated in Western Athletic Conference play? Does anyone think that Morrill won’t work the team like crazy to patch up those holes for the Aggies’ last five regular season games?
With road games at Saint Mary’s and Nevada in the next two weeks, a loss like the one Saturday could turn into a blessing in disguise. Barring a national championship, the win streak had to end at some point or another and a new one had to begin. I’m not sure there could be a better time to get a team hungry for a bounce-back win than the week before Bracketbuster weekend where the Aggies will travel to Saint Mary’s for a game that will be nationally televised on ESPN2.
A win at Saint Mary’s would just about lock up a spot for the Aggies as an at-large team to the NCAA Tournament should they slip up in next month’s WAC Tournament and fail to get the WAC’s automatic bid.
Future speculation aside, I’m going to enjoy being spoiled by this team for the time-being. They could lose every one of their remaining five regular season games and still finish with USU’s best record in more than five years. Considering that three of those final five games are at home against teams who do not have winning records, I’ll go so far as to say the prospect of a 0-5 finish is unlikely.
If the Aggies kick right back into high gear for the final stretch of the season and win every one of these games, as we all know they’re capable of doing, this will still be the kind of season that most of the student body will likely look back on for the rest of their lives whenever someone mentions Aggie basketball. I’d recommend that everyone realize just how spoiled USU fans currently are instead of being like the kids in denial as to how spoiled they are.