The 2023-24 Utah State Aggies men’s basketball team is going dancing.
Announced Sunday, the Aggies are a No. 8 seed in the NCAA Tournament and will play No. 9 seed TCU in the first round on Friday at 7:55 p.m. MDT.
For some Aggies, the game in Indianapolis won’t mark their first NCAA tourney appearance.
Great Osobor and Darius Brown II will be making their third consecutive appearance in the Big Dance after previously making it in back-to-back seasons with Montana State and head coach Danny Sprinkle.
Ian Martinez made it in 2022 while with Maryland, while Max Agbonkpolo was with USC the same year when the Trojans made the Big Dance.
Outside of that, though, few current Aggies have NCAA Tournament experience, although some — like Mason Falslev and Isaac Johnson — watched from the sidelines as the Aggies made it last season.
Of course, many former Aggies have tourney experience, thanks to Utah State making the tournament last season, the final year of the Ryan Odom era. As is well known, all of those who contributed on the court to that tourney run for Utah State basketball left Logan in the offseason, many transferring to other Division I programs.
And as it turns out, some of those former Aggies have since gone on to make the NCAA Tournament with their new teams.
Here is each former Aggie that is playing in the NCAA Tournament this season:
- Steven Ashworth, Creighton — The Jayhawks are a No. 3 seed and will play No. 14 Akron Thursday at 11:30 a.m. Ashworth started the year slowly with Creighton, but by the end of the regular season had turned things around. He is averaging 10.7 points and 4.2 assists per game this year, while shooting 33.5% from 3-point range.
- Rylan Jones, Samford — The Bulldogs are a No. 13 seed and will play No. 4 Kansas Thursday at 7:55 p.m. Jones has been a stalwart for Samford all year, playing in a career-high 34 games and averaging a career-best 9.4 points and 4.9 assists per game.
- Szymon Zapala, Longwood — Playing for the Lancers, a No. 16 seed that will face No. 1 Houston on Friday night at 7:20 p.m., Zapala has been a real contributor, after playing sporadically with Utah State. Zapala has played in 34 games this season, by far a career high, and is averaging a career-best 9.9 points and 5.7 rebounds per game.
There is a chance that two of those former Aggies — Ashworth and Jones — could end up playing against their former team. Utah State, Creighton and Samford are all in the Midwest Regional. Creighton and Utah State could meet in the Elite Eight, while Samford and USU could play in the Sweet Sixteen.
Other former Aggies in the postseason
A few former Aggies are on a team that very nearly made the NCAA Tournament as well.
VCU, Odom’s new gig, missed out on the Big Dance but is playing in the NIT, beginning tomorrow night at 7 p.m. at Villanova. Max Shulga, Sean Bairstow and Connor Odom all followed Ryan Odom to VCU when he left Utah State.
Shulga, specifically, had a strong campaign for VCU, averaging a career-high 14.6 points per game. Bairstow, meanwhile, was basically the same player for VCU that he was at Utah State, with near identical averages to what he produced while in Logan.
VCU could play a Utah-based program in the NIT if things work out. Utah and VCU are on the same side of the NIT bracket and could meet in the quarterfinals later this month.
