Golf: A Father/Son Game

(AP Photo: McIlroy's after the 2011 US Open Victory)

First of all a big congrats to Rory McIlroy! What an impressive wire to wire win in the The 111th US Open. If he had been pressed at all near the end of the day, I think he would have dropped a a lot more of those putts and could have easily flirted with 20-under. And what a great scene it was for him to be able to hug his dad after the victory. The older I get the more sentimental I get about stuff like that. Two weeks ago my dad and I played in the Pressbox Scramble/Bestball for the 10th consecuctive year. Even though we aren't as good as we used to be it was still a fun time! I owe so much to my dad and am so happy we have golf and sports to enjoy together among other things.

(Pressbox 2011)

Just Another Reason Why I Love Baseball

Samantha and I went down to the Bee's game yesterday afternoon and when the sun was shining it was a perfect day for baseball. It was Sam's first game so we had to do it right. With a bag of peanuts and a Coke we watched the game from right behind the Bee's dugout. A player tossed me a ball when an inning was over and we got a picture with the mascot. Despite the occasional cloud and the Bee's 3-2 loss the afternoon couldn't have gone much better.

On the way out we passed a guy in a Phillies jacket and since I was wearing my Phills sweatshirt we immediately struck up conversation. He was getting married next week and taking his new bride to San Diego to watch the Phillies play. "I hope I am not divorced five days after I get married," he joked. I'm guessing he won't be, watching the Phillies sounds like the perfect honeymoon to me!

1 Down, 161 To Go

Ah baseball is back and how I have missed it! What a great way to start the year for the Phillies with a comeback win in the 9th inning off of six singles by Rollins, Howard, Fransico, Ruiz, Valdez and John Mayberry Jr. The perfect season is still intact! It was good to see the clutch hitting return for the Phillies after a disappointing playoff finish last year where it seemed as if the team couldn't buy a hit against the Giants in important situations. If the bats come through this season, the rotation of Halladay, Hamels, Lee, and Oswalt should be nearly unbeatable and the Phills should bring home their second World Series title in the last four seasons!

These Things Mean Spring

Teach Me How To Jimmer

Not usually one to pass on BYU propaganda but this is a pretty decent wrap and Jimmer is a pretty decent player!

Utah State vs. Kansas State Game Preview

No. 12 Utah St. (30-3) vs. No. 5 Kansas St. (22-10)

Thursday, March 17, 2011 • 7:57 p.m. (MT)

Tucson, Ariz. McKale Center (14,545)

Aggie Radio Network • TruTV

SCOUTING KANSAS STATE

Kansas State is 22-10 on the season and finished in a tie for third-place in the Big 12 Conference with a 10-6 league record. KSU had won six straight games before losing to Colorado, 87-75, in the quarterfinals of the 2011 Big 12 Tournament. The Wildcats are 5-5 on the road and 1-3 on neutral courts this year and are led by senior guard Jacob Pullen who is averaging 19.5 points and 3.7 assists, while shooting 41.6 percent from the field, 37.0 percent from three-point range and 77.5 percent at the free throw line. Sophomore guard Rodney McGruder is averaging 11.4 points and 6.0 rebounds, and senior forward Curtis Kelly is averaging 10.3 points and 5.3 rebounds per game. As a team, Kansas State is averaging 73.1 points and shooting 43.8 percent from the field, 37.5 percent from three-point range and 64.7 percent at the free throw line. Defensively, KSU is allowing 66.0 points and its opponents are shooting 42.0 percent overall, including 34.8 percent from three-point range and 70.4 percent at the free throw line. Kansas State returns two starters and nine letterwinners from last year's team that went 29-8, finished in a tie for second-place in the Big 12 Conference with an 11-5 record and advanced to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament as it defeated No. 15 seed North Texas (82-62), No. 7 seed BYU (84-72) and No. 6 seed Xavier (101-96 2 OTs) before losing in the West Regional Final to eventual national runner-up Butler, 63-56. Frank Martin is in his fourth season as the Wildcats head coach and has a 94-42 (.691) record.

UTAH STATE VERSUS KANSAS STATE SERIES HISTORY

Utah State and Kansas State will be meeting for the fifth time in series history this week with the Wildcats holding a 4-0 advantage. The first game played in the series was on Jan. 3, 1950 season with KSU winning at home, 70-45. The Wildcats also posted a home win on Dec. 9, 1950, 66-56. KSU's only visit to Logan was on Dec. 31, 1987 with the Wildcats winning, 81-69. The last time the two teams met was on Nov. 30, 1988 in Manhattan with Kansas State winning, 86-67.

UTAH STATE VERSUS THE STATE OF KANSAS

Utah State is 8-13 (.381) all-time against teams from the state of Kansas as it is 6-4 versus Wichita State, 2-5 versus Kansas and 0-4 against Kansas State.

UTAH STATE VERSUS RANKED OPPONENTS

Utah State is 12-58 (.171) all-time against ranked opponents, which includes a 6-15 (.286) record under head coach Stew Morrill. The last time USU played a ranked opponent was on Feb. 19, 2001 when it won at No. 23 Saint Mary's, 75-65. USU is 1-2 against ranked teams this year as it lost at then No. 14 Georgetown, 68-51 and lost at then No. 23 Brigham Young, 78-72. This is the first time in school history USU has played four ranked teams in one season according to available records.

UTAH STATE VERSUS THE BIG 12 CONFERENCE

Utah State is 16-36 (.308) versus current members of the Big 12 Conference as it is 1-0 versus Baylor, 5-18 versus Colorado, 2-2 versus Iowa State, 2-5 versus Kansas, 0-4 versus Kansas State, 1-1 versus Missouri, 0-2 versus Nebraska, 0-1 versus Oklahoma, 2-0 versus Texas, 2-1 versus Texas Tech and 1-2 versus Texas A&M. The last time USU played a team from the Big 12 Conference was on March 19, 2010 when it lost to fifth-seeded Texas A&M, 69-53, in the first round of the South Region in Spokane, Wash. The last time USU beat a team from the Big 12 was on Dec. 12, 1987 when it won at Texas, 80-75, in the Longhorn Invitational. USU is also 1-3 versus current members of the Big 12 in the NCAA Tournament as it lost to Oklahoma (50-39) and defeated Texas (51-49) in 1939, lost to Kansas (64-61) in 2003 and lost to Texas A&M (69-53) in 2010.

Utah State's second-round matchup with Kansas State is the only game with two top 25 teams playing one another as USU is ranked No. 17 in this week's ESPN/USA Today Coaches' Poll and No. 19 in this week's Associated Press Poll, while Kansas State is ranked No. 24 in the coaches' poll and No. 21 in the AP poll.

UTAH STATE IN ARIZONA

Utah State is 6-5 all-time in games played in the state of Arizona. The last time USU played a game in the Grand Canyon State was on Nov. 30, 1999 when it lost at Northern Arizona, 64-52. The last time Utah State won a game in the state of Arizona was on Feb. 11, 1967 when it won at Arizona State, 90-59.

12 SEEDS IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT

Since the NCAA Tournament went to a 64-team format in 1985, 12th seeds in the tournament have an overall record of 54-104 (.342), which includes a 35-69 (.337) record in the first round. Since 1985, at least one 12th-seed has defeated a fifth-seed in the NCAA Tournament every year except 1988, 2000 and 2007. Last season, the No. 12 seed went 1-3 vs. the No. 5 seed, finishing 2-4 overall in the tournament. Last season, 12th-seeded Cornell defeated fifth-seeded Temple in the first round and No. 4 seed Wisconsin in the second round, before falling to No. 1 seed Kentucky in the Regional Semifinal.

UTAH STATE AS A 12 SEED

Utah State is a 12th-seed in the NCAA Tournament for the sixth time since seedings began in 1980 and is 1-5 all-time as the 12th-seed. In fact, the last time USU won a game in the NCAA Tournament was in 2001 when it was a 12th-seed and defeated fifth-seeded Ohio State, 77-68, in overtime in the East Region in Greensboro, N.C. Overall, this is the third No. 12 seed for Utah State in its last four NCAA Tournament appearances and second in a row, as last year, 12th-seeded Utah State lost to fifth-seeded Texas A&M, 69-53, in the first round at Spokane, Wash.

2011 Bracket Challenge

It's March Madness baby! Enter the the12thGreen.blogspot.com Bracket Challenge! Free entry, with a $5 cash prize to the winner! Must be a blog follower to be eligible. Follow the link below to enter!

http://games.espn.go.com/tcmen/en/group?groupID=116913
Group: The 12th Green Sports Blog
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Going Dancin'

Finishing off a near perfect season with a WAC Tournament Championship, to compliment the regular season championship, the Aggies are headed back to the Big Dance! A little bit of a bummer with the bracket seeding gives the Ag's a tough opening round opponent in Kansas State. A full game preview to come later this week.

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.