COLUMN: Weber State will be first test
The beginning is finally upon us.
We’ve seen the little tastes of action from the blue and white game, the first game action versus Laval and the slightly refined product of the team against Grand Canyon.
We’ve seen that Tai Wesley is even more of the unstoppable force that we remembered. We’ve seen that Brockeith Pane looks like he is going to live up to every bit of the hype generated around him over the past year. We’ve seen that Brady Jardine is more than ready to play starters, with a double-double in each of the exhibition games.
Questions remain about things such as Nate Bendall’s foot injury, and the impact that will have on the season, but given the stellar play of Pane and Jardine thus far, this year’s team appears to be plenty capable of picking up where they left off a year ago. My bet is still on them going plenty above and beyond last year’s success.
Despite Jardine going from superstar off the bench to the team’s starting power forward, my bet is on this year’s bench being among the best the head coach Stew Morrill has had in his tenure at Utah State.
Leading that charge is the other superstar off the bench from a year ago, Brian Green. True to form, Green shot exactly 50 percent from behind the 3-point line in the two exhibition games so far, equaling the same percentage he shot a year ago. Aside from shooting alone, Green’s game just looks more polished and more refined after another offseason of work.
Down low there are two players, Matt Formisano and Morgan Grim, in the mix to fill in for Wesley and Jardine. With Formisano, you know what you’re going to get. There’s nothing flashy about Formisano’s game, but it’ll bring solid defense, above-average rebounding and some decent scoring presence, all while being relatively mistake-free.
Grim, on the other hand, is a wild card. After being highly recruited out of high school, he played through two dismal years at the University of Utah before joining the dark side up in Logan. If his 10-point, four rebound average in playing reserve minutes during the two exhibition games is any indication, Grim’s two years in Logan most definitely will not be described as dismal.
Lastly, there is the point guard position, which doesn’t seem to be carrying too much of a need for any kind of scoring punch given the weapons that this team has in its arsenal. As the old saying goes though, it’s better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it. Pane has shown that he can be a major threat in essentially all aspects of the game as the starting point guard, but freshman James Walker has not looked at all bad himself.
Seeing his first action at the college level, Walker busted out an impressive effort that consisted of six points, seven assists, two rebounds and two steals. All of that was while committing just one turnover. In the team’s second game, against Grand Canyon, Walker scored three, assisted three and rebounded three for another solid effort. All of this from a player sure to progress as the season goes on.
Also waiting to make its impact on the team from somewhere outside of the starting lineup is none other than the 4,000 students who will pack the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum for every USU home game. The exhibition games were a nice tune-up to the season, but now it is time to bring back the same intensity from the crowd that got the USU student body mentioned among the nation’s elite a year ago.
There are several aspects of Utah State that stand out and excel on a national level. The basketball crowd very well could be leading that charge.
Like I said, the beginning is finally upon us. We’ve gotten our taste of what is to come, but Saturday it is finally here.
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.