COLUMN: Will we see another Aggie squard as good as this one?
For the past two years, head basketball coach Stew Morrill has said several times his group of seniors are good kids.
Yeah, coach, that sounds good. At first the media, myself included, were a little skeptical – what else is he going to say, he recruited bad players?
But it didn’t take long for us to respect Morrill and company’s ability to recruit players who are coachable and have good character.
We’ve been spoiled.
The fans, the community and the media very well may never see a team like this again. Despite that, we have now come to expect top-notch success – and success with such grace as this team has demonstrated.
In his weekly press conference after the team lost two (gasp!) in a row on the road to Long Beach State University and Boise State University, Morrill had to remind us that teams are not supposed to win all their road games – winning more than half used to be considered a successful season.
Did you hear that?
Now do you know how special these past two years have been and how they will help the program – and the rest of the Athletic department? Now do you know how cool it would be if we had to put up with him, as he puts it, for the next 10 years?
I’m going to miss this team. In all my (scant) years of covering sports, there has never been a team so eclectic, so talented and so well formed as this team. Congratulations should be given to Morrill and his assistant coaches for finding and gelling a team that comes from eight different states and two countries.
The team’s backcourt is made up of a tattoo-covered player who grew up in New York City, NY. (Bernard Rock), and local hero from Hyrum (Tony Brown). Morrill said they get along great, even when they differ in leading styles – Rock is very vocal, while Brown is much quieter.
The Aggie center hails from Theux, Belgium, (Dimitri Jorssen). Though English is his second language, he is one of the most personable players on the team.
The team has no go-to player – all of them average more than eight points a game. But the media had to chose somebody to represent the team for individual honors and they choose Shawn Daniels – a player who isn’t that quick, isn’t that tall (6-foot-6) and can’t jump very high. But he has the best timing of anybody in the Big West and loves to play the game like nobody I’ve seen.
Watching the Ohio State University-USU game on TV, I needed one of those new wide-screen televisions to see his whole smile. He just has fun out there.
Joining him up front was Colorado-native Curtis Bobb, who improved remarkably from last season where he was only brought in to rain 3-pointers. This year, he was one of the top rebounders and hustlers on the team.
That reminds me of the bench. Buddies Brennan Ray and Dion Bailey were pure adrenaline and energy. Not one minute passed by when they were on the court that Bailey wasn’t snatching a rebound or Ray taking yet another charge (I wish the NCAA kept track of those).
And the future still looks bright, even though the team is losing five seniors (four starters, plus Bailey). Jeremy Vague, Thomas Vincent, Toraino Johnson and Chad Evans all showed improvement as the season progressed.
Cheer them on next year; they have a tough act to follow.