Some things to brag about while awaiting Friday's NCAA first-round meeting at 1 p.m. MST in the Birmingham, Ala., Jefferson Civic Center between 12th-seed Utah State (28-5), with its national-high 19-game win streak, and defending NCAA champion Connecticut (24-9), a No. 5 seed. These come through the diligent research of the Aggie media relations staff.
5 TO 12: At least one 12th seed has won a first-round game in each of the last 11 NCAA Tournaments. Since seeding began in 1979, 10 No. 12 seeds have made the Sweet 16, including Southwest Missouri State last year.It's the second year in a row that the Big West Conference champion has opened the tournament against the defending national champions. Last year, New Mexico State was matched with 1998 national champ Kentucky.
FOUR! USU has had good recent success against teams that went to the NCAA Final Four the year before the Aggies played them. They beat Utah 62-54 in 1998-99 after the Utes were in the national championship game, and in 1997-98, USU won 75-64 at Minnesota in the Preseason NIT just after the Gophers were in the '97 Final Four.
ALABAMA, ETC.: This will be USU's first-ever basketball game played in Alabama; the Aggies have never played a team from Alabama. They are, however, 1-0 this season in the Central Time Zone, having won at North Texas. . . . They have played this season four of the current NCAA field of 64 and are 2-3 against them, splitting with Big Sky Conference champion Northern Arizona, losing to Utah and Florida and beating Fresno State. . . . USU was one of eight schools to play in the 1939 inaugural NCAA tourney. The others were Oregon, Texas, Oklahoma, Villanova, Brown, Wake Forest and Ohio State. USU, Oregon, Texas, Oklahoma and Ohio State have made the 2000 field.
BLOCKHEAD: Junior forward Shawn Daniels, who stands 6-foot-6, had nine blocked shots in the three games of the Big West Conference Tournament last week and tied the school record for blocks in a season with 58, matching the total by Gilbert Pete.
IN THE 390S: In this 33-game season, which will set a school record for most games ever played in a season when the Ags take on UConn Friday, Tony Brown has scored 392 points, Daniels 391 and Troy Rolle 390. Seven players have led USU in scoring in at least one game, and in the last six games, there have been six different leading scorers for USU.
RECORD BUSINESS: School records set by the team include 3-pointers made (188), threes attempted (519) and steals (229).
A DISTINCTION: USU is the country's only team to be unbeaten in both regular-season league play plus in the conference tournament. The Ags are one of three teams undefeated in conference play, but Cincinnati (16-0 in C-USA) lost to St. Louis in the league-tourney opener. Penn was 14-0 in conference, but the Ivy League doesn't have a league tourney.