All Eyes on Sam – BASKETBALL PREVIEW 2018

A cell phone buzzes.

The phone’s owner, a young man with slicked back blonde hair, pulls it out of his pocket and reads the words he’d hoped to never see.

Sam Merrill was less than a month removed from the loss to New Mexico in the Mountain West Conference Basketball Tournament that had sent him and the rest of the Utah State Aggies back to Logan.

The Aggies had made the semifinal of that tournament for the first time in program history thanks in large part to Merrill. That performance, and the rest of his strong sophomore campaign, had pushed Merrill forcibly into the minds of Utah State and Mountain West basketball media and fans. However, despite leading the team in points and assists that season, the label of “best” and “face of the team” still eluded the young shooting guard.

It was Merrill’s backcourt partner, Koby McEwen who had garnered outside attention last season and Jalen Moore — an Aggie legend — the year before that. McEwen was a four-star recruit out of Canada who had played his high school ball at a basketball academy. And it was from him that Merrill had just received a text. McEwen was letting his teammates know that he was transferring from Utah State.

Merrill stared at the message displayed on the screen. That short burst of words carried a lot with them. It meant more than just USU losing the 15.6 points, 3.2 assists and 5.4 rebounds per game McEwen brought to the table. More than losing a backcourt partner. It meant that for the first time in Merrill’s career, his teammates and the Utah State program and fans would turn to him, a 22-year-old kid who grew up two hours south of Logan in the Salt Lake City suburb of Bountiful.

To this point, the young man felt he hadn’t received all the recognition he probably deserved. But that wasn’t what had carried him this far. The former two-star recruit had only one goal through high school and heading into college: to win on the biggest stage, the NCAA Tournament.

“I think I have been a little bit overlooked,” Merrill said. “But I’m not really concerned about it. I’m not really trying to prove anybody wrong. I’m just trying to win games, just trying to be the best that I can be. I have my own expectations which are higher than most people’s expectations for myself. When I hear people talking about this guy or that guy, it doesn’t really concern me because I’m just focused on what I can do.”

Merrill may have been passed over for media attention, but McEwen’s departure would change that. Getting overlooked was a luxury Merrill would no longer have. He knew there would be more pressure on him. Last season, most people’s eyes were on McEwen as he dazzled fans with his flashy dribble moves and acrobatic drives to the basket. Now those eyes would be on Merrill. Every step, every shot, every postgame press conference. All eyes on Sam.

Sliding the phone back into his pocket, Merrill likewise put away any resentment he may have felt for McEwen. He respected the decision of the now former starting point guard. The team had under-performed for a second straight year, resulting in head coach Tim Duryea, who was the coach when McEwen was recruited out of Toronto, being fired with one year left on his contract.

Though Merrill’s choice to calmly accept what his former teammate had done was automatic, it wasn’t the easy one. Late in McEwen and Merrill’s freshman season, the former had declared he wanted to be “the greatest basketball player to ever play” at Utah State. Fans ate it up. Better than Wayne Estes or Jaycee Carroll? It was a declaration of commitment to the fans and program, a promise. A promise that was now broken.

McEwen’s lofty goal and high recruitment rank were the things that had elevated him above Merrill from a media perspective. Kyle Cottam, the Utah State basketball sports information director said the media will focus on the “perceived team leader” which tends to just be the highest rated player.

“Koby and Sam came in at the same time,” Cottam said. “But Koby was rated as the higher recruit. So, media tend to lean towards that.”

Under the eye of scrutiny, McEwen made his strides to becoming an Aggie great, but Merrill was right there with him. Through two seasons, Merrill recorded more than 800 points, 200 rebounds, 200 assists and 60 steals. No one in Utah State history had done that through their freshman and sophomore seasons. Jalen Moore didn’t do it. Neither did Jaycee Carroll, Tai Wesley, nor even the great Wayne Estes. And not Koby McEwen either. No one did it except this kid from Bountiful.

“He’s an all-around player and I think that’s what he’s been since he’s gotten here,” USU senior forward Quinn Taylor said. “It’s just taken a little time for everyone else to see that.”

It didn’t take USU’s new head coach Craig Smith long to see Merrill for what he was. He knew some of his history but has been blown away by the commitment from his top player.

“He’s committed, he’s all in and he’s an Aggie through and through,” Smith said. “He’s lost 15 pounds since the day we were hired. He’s working his tail off in the weight room, conditioning, and he’s even watching his diet.”

Smith said he has yet to see Merrill have a bad practice or workout, and that he leads the team by example in that regard. However, Smith had to urge Merrill to be a more vocal leader on the court, especially since the team only returned three players besides Merrill.

“The first practice we had this summer I didn’t think he was talking enough,” Smith said. “ So I pulled him aside after practice and said ‘Sam this team really needs your voice, you’re our best player.’ Ever since that point, he’s like ‘Alright guys, let’s huddle up’ or he could be guarding a guy in the corner and there’s a ball screen in the middle of the floor and he’s yelling out the ball screen.”

Merrill knows he will have to take center stage if he ever wants to achieve his goal of making it to March Madness and winning at the illustrious tournament. And he knows he will have to be the catalyst for the team’s success.

Matt Halton

“That’s pressure that I put on myself,” Merrill said. “I expect to have a good year and I know that I have to have a good year for us to have a good year. I’ve put in the work this summer and I’m still putting in the work so I can live up to my own expectations.”

In addition to pushing himself, Merrill has been pushing his teammates to meet his standards of excellence as Taylor attested to.

“One of the good things Sam has done is he’s gonna work as hard as he can and he’s gonna make sure everyone else is also,” Taylor said. “He’s willing to get on people for not going hard and really hold everyone to the same standard that he’s performing at.”

With the offseason nearly over, Merrill has had sixth months to acclimate to his new role. He works as hard as ever. Meanwhile, McEwen puts in his reps in the practice facilities at Marquette University. Nearly 1,500 miles apart, a quiet trade-off has taken place between the two, a passing of the torch.

Utah State is Sam Merrill’s team now.