Senior Night

2011 Senior Class

Where does time go? I honestly can not believe my time here at Utah State University is almost up, I can't comprehend that tonight is my last night attending an Aggie game in the Spectrum as an undergrad student. It has been a helluva fun four years!

It was fall of 2007 when I first arrived at Utah State and when I first met a couple of these guys. I remember when Tai Wesley walked in my living room and asked, "Where are all the honeys at?!" I remember the first game of pool I ever shot with Tyler Newbold in the commons of the Living and Learning Center.

These two guys along with Matt Fomisano, Pooh Williams are the winningest four year class in Utah State University history with a record of 105-27. They have only lost one game at home in their ENTIRE careers, a 63-68 loss to St. Mary's, which they took revenge for last weekend. It truly has been a remarkable ride!

Tonight is senior night for more than just the players though, its an end of an era as Wild Bill debates retirement and as the last original writer of the Refraction calls it quits after this issue. I will never forget the good times I enjoyed in the Spectrum. Jaycee Carroll becoming the all-time leading score, Coach Stew winning his 500th game, watching Wild Bill become famous, the loudest moment of my life when Stavon Williams and Brady Jardine put on a show against Nevada, storming the court after winning multiple WAC championships, and doing the Winning Team/Losing Team chant at BYU on my birthday, some of the best moments in my life! Go Aggies!

Jaycee Carroll

Tyler and I after clinching the WAC Championship in 2009

Goodbye Deron

Good thing the Aggies didn't have a game last night or yesterday/today might have turned out just as bad as the days in this post.

You know when you get a text message at an odd time from a person and immediately know something is wrong? That is exactly how I felt this morning when I saw I had a message from Wesley Jurkatis. It simply read, "D-Will to Nets! F my life!" Deron Williams was the glue that held the Jazz together and now he is off to New Jersey.

The Jazz will receive Derrick Favors, Devin Harris, 2 first round picks, and $3 million in cash for their superstar but less than two weeks after losing their Hall of Fame coach, I am not really sure what direction the Jazz are headed in. If Williams was the reason Sloan wanted to be done, shouldn't he have done this weeks ago? I doubt that Williams really was the reason, it is just very hard to see both of Utah's icons be gone within weeks of each other.

It looks as if the Jazz are going to try to rebuild, which in the end may not be a bad thing with the a new collective bargaining agreement on tap. The Jazz may just get lucky and use the two potential lottery picks acquired in the trade so shape the organization into what it was with Stockton and Malone in the mid 1990's. Right now there are too many questions with a new coach, who has yet to win his first game, and the loss of the teams star. A lot has happened from that week in November when the team looked unstoppable. It looked like we may be championship contenders, now we are probably more like playoff pretenders.

I do wish the best of luck to D-Will with the Nets. He was great to watch for the five and half years he spent in Utah. Hopefully he can do good things on the east coast as I will remain a fan of his.

Bracket Not Busted

Wow. Simply put, the Aggies victory over St. Mary's on Saturday was the best win I have ever seen by this team. To go into a tough environment against the #23 ranked team in the country, when basically your whole season is riding on that one game, and come out with the W is so very impressive!

Though Brady Jardine had the highlight of the night, it was Tai Wesley who really made the idea of victory a reality.

"They were getting the best of me in the first half," Wesley said. "Coach took a little jab at me and said, 'You've been waiting for this your whole career. You're one-on-one, what are you doing?' The second half I came out and just played better."

I wrote in a previous post that it would be essential for Wesley and the other big men to have a good game and they did! The team shot 50% from the floor and only attempted 6 three-pointers compared to the loss at Idaho when 28 three's were jacked up and only 33% of the total shots fell. The Aggies definitely work better when their offense goes through the post positions.

The win should secure a spot for the Aggies in the NCAA tournament even if they somehow falter again down the road, but more than a spot, I think this win gives the Aggies the confidence they need to win a game in the tournament against a high quality opponent come March.

Jazz vs. Suns Game

Just wanted to post a couple pictures I took and edited from the Jazz game last night. Though the team lost it was an amazing expierence to sit that close to the action. I have a new found love for Steve Nash, who is the best passer I have ever seen!* The guy is a baller and I am his newest fan. It was too bad to see the Tyrone Corbin era start with a loss, but injuries to four key players is a lot to overcome. These next couple weeks should be interesting for Jazz basketball. I wouldn't be suprised to see Karl Malone and/or Jeff Hornacek added to the full time coaching staff soon.

*I was too young to truly watch Stockton play or Nash would probably be the second best

The Irony Is Bulls

For Jerry Sloan it started with the Bulls and it ended with the Bulls. He was the first player drafted by the organization. He coached his first game for this organization. He then lost two championships to this organization. His number #4 now hangs in their rafters. And in the end he coached his last game against this organization. Maybe, Jerry, the "Original Bull" did plan this whole resignation at least a little.

Goodbye Coach Sloan

I thought yesterday, February 9th, was the worst day in recent basketball history relevant to me. My intramural team got slaughtered, the Jazz lost to a Chicago Bulls team loaded with old Jazz stars, and then to top it off my #17 Aggies lost miserably to the Idaho Vandals, effectively ending their run in the Top 25 polls. I was wondering why and how sports, that were supposed to bring joy to my life, could bring me such disappointment!

Then today when I woke up, my roommate informed me that the Jerry Sloan could possibly resign this afternoon. I refused to believe. Sloan had just signed a contract on Monday.

As the day went on, more rumors started coming out. Indeed something big was going to happen and would be announced at the 3pm press conference. Every Jazz fan, myself included, was hoping for something else besides the resignation of our famed coach, maybe the press conference would just be to announce a blockbuster trade.

Sadly that wouldn't be the case, Coach Sloan did announce his resignation. I do not remember a time when Sloan wasn't the coach of the Jazz, the fact is Jerry has been the coach ever since I was a week old! Sloan leaves the Jazz after 23 seasons, 1,127 wins, 2 trips to the NBA Finals.

Truly a sad day for all NBA fans. There will be no farewell tour, no standing ovations as he visits each arena for the last time, and sadly no championship parade for Sloan. But that is probably just the way Sloan wanted it, no fancy show, no need for extra attention. There will be rumors that Deron Williams pushed him out or that management pushed him out. I don't believe that is true, Sloan is Utah Jazz basketball just as much Karl Malone, John Stockton and Larry H. Miller are Utah Jazz basketball. No one could push him out, Sloan would go when he wanted and for Sloan it was time.

Here We Go Again

It's the first day of February and just like the previous two seasons the Aggies are experiencing a nice win streak and garnering some national attention. The teams 15 straight wins matches the days temperature here in Logan. Despite the freezing temps, Aggie basketball fever is at an all time high!

Coming off a thrilling double overtime victory in Hawaii, ( I would say Hawaii's home court advantage in basketball is the best in the country. Basketball teams can't take a whole week to adjust to the time change and recover from jet lag like football teams can.) the #21 Aggies shouldn't have any problems with the rest of the WAC schedule. In a way this is a two edge sword. Bad, because there is no one to really prove yourself against in this years depleted WAC. Good, because we shouldn't lose a conference game.

Thank goodness for the Bracketbuster game on Feb. 19 @ St. Mary's. We've played St. Mary's the last two years in the Bracketbuster series with them getting the best of us each time. This year though needs to be different. And it should be. Tai Wesley is a mature player and now that St. Mary's doesn't have Ogar, I mean Omar, Samhan, he should be able to dominate down low. A win on the road at St. Marys late in the season will be just as big as an early season win against BYU or Georgetown would have been. It will solidify us as a tournament team.

Stay tuned. These next few weeks will be exciting!!