Who will replace No. 20? – Wilkinson, Wesley, Newbold and Williams offer answers
Next season the Aggie men’s basketball team will take the floor without Jaycee Carroll. What is a team to do when they’re forced to move on without their all-time leading scorer and backbone of the offense? What about replacing the experience and leadership in running a complicated offense like the one Stew Morrill runs? With so many questions about how to replace a superstar like Carroll, the Aggies will look within themselves for the answers. Those answers may lie in the names Gary Wilkinson, Tai Wesley, Tyler Newbold and Pooh Williams. Each of these four were regular contributors to the eight-man rotation used by Morrill this season-with three of them starting for the majority of the year. Not only would these four alone be more returning players than the Aggies had total returning into the 2007-2008 season, but Wesley, Newbold and Williams would be just the fifth, sixth, and seventh high school recruits to play as significant contributors for Morrill at Utah State. Up until this past season, Morrill had relied almost exclusively on recruiting junior college players to come in and contribute year after year while rarely signing players out of high school. Wesley, Newbold and Williams stand to be the next three high school recruits to return to continue their impact for their sophomore seasons. Only four other players have come to USU to play for Morrill out of high school. Those players were Tony Brown, Spencer Nelson, Nate Harris and Carroll-all of whom have career statistics littering the record books at Utah State, and all of whom rank in the top 20 in school history in career scoring. Each of the previous four high school recruits under Morrill have averaged more than 10 points per game in their sophomore seasons. On top of that, Brown, Nelson and Carroll each helped lead the Aggies to an NCAA tournament berth in their sophomore campaign, while Harris was a first team All-Conference performer on a Top-20 team in 2004 that didn’t make the NCAA Tournament. Given that each of the past four high school recruits have all had the success they’ve had, as well as the success of past junior college recruits to make immediate impacts, much like Wilkinson did in 2008, the Aggies shouldn’t suffer much drop off in production next season with the development of their returning key contributors.
Gary Wilkinson
Wilkinson wasted no time making his presence known at USU, earning a starting spot from day one and steadily improving his overall game all the way to a second team All-Western Athletic Conference selection.
Wilkinson is the first junior college transfer to come to USU and garner all-conference honors during his first year in Logan since Desmond Penigar was a first team All-Big West selection in 2002.
With the entire 2008 All-WAC first team graduating and the recently announced departure of Nevada’s second team All-WAC player JaVale McGee for the NBA draft, Wilkinson is one of just two players total from the first or second teams eligible to return next season with Idaho’s Jordan Brooks.
“He showed a lot of leadership qualities this year as a first-year player,” USU assistant coach Tim Duryea said of Wilkinson. “He set a tone of accountability and hard work.”
That hard work seemed to pay off as Wilkinson finished the season logging a double-double in four of the Aggies’ last eight games. He missed two more double-doubles by just a single rebound in that same timespan.
Tai Wesley
Wesley averaged 11.9 points per game as a starter in 2008, while shooting 64.9 percent from the field.
Wesley’s 11.9 points per game as a starter ranks as the second-best output by one of Morrill’s freshman, behind only Jaycee Carroll’s 14.7 points per game in 2005.
Wesley’s shooting percentage would rank No. 1 all-time on the career list at USU if he were to qualify for that statistical category.
Morrill has compared Wesley’s style of play to Harris. The similarities weren’t quite as apparent on the stat sheets by the end of the season, as Wesley’s numbers as a freshman far exceed those of what Harris accomplished in his first year at Utah State.
Aside from being a reliable option offensively, Wesley also made very noticeable strides defensively in 2008, leading the team with 33 blocks-including six in the Aggies’ victory over San Jose State in the first round of the WAC tournament.
Duryea said he is optimistic at the prospects of seeing Wesley play after a full offseason to work in the strength and conditioning program. Duryea also praised Wesley as a vocal leader on the team.
Tyler Newbold
Before Nick Hammer’s career abruptly ended just before the start of the season, Newbold was set to redshirt the 2008 season.
Without Hammer, Newbold was the only choice to fill that void left by Hammer. He did just that and a little more.
Newbold was thrust into the starting lineup along with Wesley after the team’s 5-5 start to the season. The team righted the ship by winning their next 10 games.
While his freshman season wasn’t entirely comprised of lighting up scoreboards and stat sheets, Newbold made a solid impact all season on the defensive end of the floor. Offensively, Newbold was a fourth offensive option who got his fair share of open looks from the 3-point line. He capitalized on his opportunities by hitting 52.3 percent of his shots from behind the arc while averaging 7.3 points per game as a starter.
“He’s a guy who showed remarkable maturity and remarkable poise,” Duryea said. “He has a tremendous basketball IQ and a tremendous work ethic.”
Newbold finished 2008 looking more than ready to shoulder a bigger role offensively next season and, with an entire offseason of conditioning, should return as an even better defender in 2009.
Pooh Williams
Much like Newbold, Williams made the majority of his impact felt on the defensive end of the floor.
He was a key contributor in USU’s home victory over Nevada, in which he helped hold the Wolf Pack’s Marcelus Kemp to just 16 points on 5-of-16 shooting.
Duryea said he felt Williams was the only one of the freshman on an up-tick as the season ended, evidenced by Williams playing his best game of the season in the Aggies’ first round NIT game against Illinois State.
Duryea said one thing that can’t be denied is Williams’ athleticism, which he has shown to be very valuable defensively for the sake of both keeping up with players driving to the basket and elevating to contest and/or block shots.
“He’s so athletic that he really gives us a different dimension,” Duryea said.
Maybe Williams’ most capable offensive asset was his ability to edge around defenders as he drove to the basket to create scoring opportunities around the rim. As the season progressed, so did Williams’ first step around defenders, making him a real threat offensively.
Such is the case with the entire team. All of the shots that will no longer be taken by Carroll will have to be distributed among the rest of the players.
-matt.sonn@aggiemail.usu.edu
Tyler Newbold dunks against Boise State. (Patrick Oden)
Tai Wesley vs. San Jose State.
Freshman Pooh Williams smiles after making a big play in the Spectrum against Louisiana Tech. (Cameron Peterson)