With a record of 4-4, the Utah State Aggie basketball team already has as many losses as last season’s 30-4 team and fans are wondering what is wrong.
The Aggies have arguably been a powerhouse in Division I basketball with a streak of 12 straight 20-win seasons. USU has also won the Western Athletic Conference Championship four times in the last four seasons.
But the Aggies have not looked like a 20-win basketball team this season.
The Aggies have lost to non-ranked average teams like Texas A&M Corpus Christi 55-58, Pacific 57-65 and Denver 54-67.
So what is happening this season?
“Their biggest struggle this year as been their inexperience,” Jesse Parker, equipment manager for the Aggies said. “They are a young team and they just need to get used to playing with each other.”
Parker is right.
Senior guard Brokeith Pane is the only returning starter this season. It is the fewest returning starters since the 2001-02 season. Senior forwards Brady Jardine and Morgan Grim are the other returning senior players off the bench.
Another problem facing the Aggies is Brady Jardine’s possible season ending ankle injury that he sustained in the game against Southern Utah University.
Jardine is arguably the Aggies best player. Last season he was a key player coming off the bench. Jardine averaged 7.5 points and 21.4 minutes per game. He is a physical player and is ranked sixth all-time in blocks.
“It’s been hard playing without him,” Pane said. “We miss him out there, he was a big part of what we were doing coming in to this year. Not having him has hurt me a lot but injuries are something that comes along with playing ball so we have to move forward.”
Freshman guard Steven Thornton agrees.
“We took losing Brady very hard,” Thornton said. “We have lost a leader and our best post player.”
Other problems have been contentions between the USU student section and Campus President Stan Albrecht.
Students sat down and did not cheer for a portion of the USU-Denver game in protest of a controversial apology letter written by Albrecht for the way the student section acted after the Brigham Young University game Nov. 11.
USU lost the home game against Denver 67-54, which ended the third-longest home winning streak in the nation. It was the first home loss since Dec. 5, 2009.
“I know we have been hurting so far this season but I think the protest was necessary,” USU fan Steve Cannon said. “The basketball team needs us and we make the Spectrum such a hard place to play at for the other teams.”
The Aggies will need to find a way to overcome their problems by Saturday, when they face a very talented team, Wichita State.
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