Spectrum magic

The Dee Glen Smith Spectrum has been home to Aggie Basketball since 1970, and with a capacity of 10,270 people, the great part about The Spectrum is that 4,400 of those seats are reserved for students.

With more than 40 percent of its seating dedicated to students, Utah State boasts one of largest basketball student sections in the country.

In comparison, other top student sections like Kansas (25 percent reserved for students) and Duke (12 percent reserved for students), set aside a significantly smaller share of their seats for the student body.

Known as the HURD, the one thing that separates Utah State from other student sections, is the overwhelming organization of the cheers. ESPN has called Utah State ‘the nation’s smartest crowd’ and a lot of that is thanks to the Bangarang game day newsletter written by Kyle Heywood, Steve Schwartzman, Lance Rasmussen, and Matt Sonnenberg for every game.

It’s easy to ignore thousands of people yelling different things at you all game, but when 4,400 voices simultaneously call you “stupid” or collectively remind you that you had an air ball in the first half, that is when the crowd really impacts the game.

In the past, there have been many fans trying to standout in the crowd, rather than coming together as one.

“It got away from the we’re here as an anonymous force of awesomeness to let’s see if I can find myself on the telebroadcast later,” Rasmussen said.

According to Schwartzman, the only time that it’s appropriate to stand out of the crowd is “during opposing free throws only, when you can break the visual scheme of the blue with some distracting look.”

Being a unity of fans that are all fighting towards the same goal is what Utah State is best at and it all starts with the basics.

Rasmussen said the four essential parts of going to a basketball game in the spectrum are to “sing the fight song, sing the Scotsman, wear blue, and be loud.”