OUR VIEW: Postseason woes plague USU

The temptation to skip classes may never be higher for some USU students than today. No, it didn’t snow 10 feet at Beaver. It’s March Madness, a time eagerly awaited by college basketball enthusiasts across the country. Bracket challenges are more common than stock exchanges, and the profits may even be higher. It’s an exciting time to watch the dominating teams show off their skill and hope for the underdogs to give the game everything they have and pull for an upset.

Yet, March Madness often brings some bitter feelings and resentment to teams who barely miss out on the Big Dance, particularly those mid-major schools. Looking at the bracket, it’s easy to feel there is an almost East Coast bias, with a toss of California and occasional Midwest teams rounding out the 65-team tournament. As a smaller school from a smaller conference, nestled in mountain-sheltered Logan, it’s easy for us to feel slighted as well. After all, the USU men’s basketball team has some amazing nationwide stats. How many other teams can match or beat these stats?

• USU hasn’t had a losing season since 1992-1993.

• USU is one of three teams in the country to win at least 23 games in each of the last nine seasons (the other two teams are Gonzaga and Kansas).

• USU has made nine straight postseason appearances, including five NCAA Tournament appearances and four NIT games.

• USU leads the nation in overall shooting at 51.5 percent and free throw shooting at 79.2 percent. It is ninth in the nation in assists with 17.9 a game. The Aggies place eighth in the nation in 3-point shooting at 40.4 percent.

Those are impressive stats for any NCAA team, let alone for a mid-major program. With all that going for USU, a commonly heard complaint is why doesn’t USU make the NCAA Tournament. After all, there are teams in the tournament with poorer records than USU’s 24-11. While the answers to this question are complex, involving a confusing RPI system and the opinions of the selection committee members, what it may boil down to is USU’s inability to perform well in the postseason.

Basketball is USU. That’s a given. The Spectrum is an extremely tough arena for any team to come to and win, as the 142-12 Spectrum record can attest to. But when it comes to playing on the road and especially in the postseason, the basketball team struggles. In addition to all the glamorous statistics are some painful ones to stomach, including going 2-8 in the NIT, losing seven straight NIT games. USU’s overall postseason record is 8-27.

When it comes to winning in the postseason, which is typically on the road, for some reason the magic of the season disappears and a first-round loss is more common than not. As much as we love the basketball team, the stats speak for themselves, and until mid-major schools like USU start consistently winning postseason games and knocking off traditional powerhouses, being relegated to the NIT will continue to be common practice.

This is to in no way take away from the talent and success of this year’s basketball team, or any other year. Very few get to play college ball and therefore, none but those who have played can accurately attest to the rigors of road and postseason play. We commend and applaud the success of this year’s team and for representing us well this season. Even against Illinois State, if a couple key plays had gone differently, the Aggies could have won.

When it comes right down to it, 65 teams go into the tournament and only one goes down in the record books. But success at home in the wild Spectrum atmosphere and the talent of top-notch players and recruits will keep Utah State a fiercely competitive mid-major school to deal with, and sooner or later the Aggies will break trends and make some upsets of their own.