LOGAN — A year ago, Utah State basketball coach Stew Morrill took an unproven group of players who barely knew each other to hot and humid Hawaii to be sacrificial lambs to a big-name Maui Invitational field.
By coming within two points of upsetting eighth-ranked Florida and then beating Southern Cal and host Chaminade, a soon-to-be-legendary Aggie team first hinted in Maui of what was to come—a school-record 28-6 mark with a 19-game win streak that tied for the nation's longest, a Big West championship and an NCAA Tournament berth.
This weekend, an Aggie team that starts out as an almost polar opposite of the 1999-00 club, one with veterans everywhere and a reputation to uphold, opens its regular season in a far different clime — Fairbanks, Alaska — hoping for the same kind of results its humble predecessor forged.
USU has four starters (Shawn Daniels, Tony Brown, Bernard Rock and Dimitri Jorssen) and four veteran reserves (Dion Bailey, Brennan Ray, Dan Stewart and Curtis Bobb, who takes Troy Rolle's starting small-forward spot) back.
Add some impressive newcomers (6-foot-4 true-freshman guard Mike Stowell, 6-4 sophomore forward Toraino Johnson, 6-9 junior forward Jeremy Vague and 5-10 true-freshman guard Thomas Vincent), and USU is the odds-on favorite to repeat as BWC champion and is ranked 34th and 37th in the national polls.
Even Dick Vitale, baby, has taken notice of the Aggies. Last week in USA Today, he counted them among "three teams the big boys will want to dodge come tournament time." The others were College of Charleston and Detroit.
Yes, the Aggies, who never lost a game they led at halftime last year (26-0), are a target in 2000-01.
Their season opener, and their first game in the Top of the World Classic Friday night at 11 MST in the Patty Center, is against a contender from a league rated a bit higher than the Big West Santa Clara of the West Coast Conference, which includes recent NCAA darlings Gonzaga and Pepperdine.
Morrill shivers a bit at the Ags' new reputation. They not only topped league coaches' and media polls but were named first on six preseason-magazine polls, most of which selected Aggie power forward Daniels as the league's preseason player of the year.
A cautious coach looks back at New Mexico State last year, when those Aggies were favored to win the Eastern Division and got the most preseason votes. NMSU bowed out 11-5, 22-10, beaten 71-66 by USU in the BWC tourney championship. It was a good season but disappointing in light of early expectations.
Morrill worries about that sort of thing, calling a 19-game win streak a once-in-a-lifetime thing, especially since 12 of the 16 BWC wins were still in doubt with five minutes left. "That doesn't happen," Morrill said. "The thing that concerns me is that things be kept in perspective."
It came through tremendous chemistry and selflessness, which could be hard to recapture, as well as belief in the system and strong play from All-BWC first-teamers Daniels and Rolle and honorable mentions Rock and Brown. Daniels and Rolle were co-MVPs of the BWC tournament. Morrill was BWC coach of the year.
USU lost only Rolle to graduation, but, at 6-2, he was a tremendous athlete who could effectively take the last shot and defend the other team's top perimeter player every game. Not drafted, Rolle stuck with the NBA Orlando Magic until the final week of training camp last month. "Troy would just go make a play when we had to have one," Morrill said, wondering who'll do that now.
Bobb, a long, athletic 6-5 senior, won Rolle's spot over energetic 6-3 senior Bailey. The ability of those two to provide Rolle-like contributions is a key. Redshirt freshman Chad Evans and Johnson could challenge there, with Evans able to play the four as well. Stewart, 6-7, with two years of experience, might redshirt, said Morrill.
Rock was one of the league's best point guards as a junior, and Brown is a consistent shooter/defender at off-guard who can also play a little point. He may have to—Rock's other backups are freshmen.
The hard-working Jorssen was the only starter who wasn't named to an all-league team last year but averaged 8.7 points, 5.2 rebounds and made 46 blocks and 23 steals. He has grown to 7-0 from 6-11 last year, and Morrill said he is greatly improved. The Belgian center with a soft shooting touch and reasonable footwork and shot-blocking skills, has designs on an NBA career, and Morrill is known as a big man's coach.
E-MAIL: lham@desnews.com