UC San Diego's lambs to the slaughter costume a hit at The Spectrum

Sometimes it's just not fair when 22-X is on the court
(photo borrowed from USU athletics)

General reaction following a Blue and White Scrimmage each year is either that of "ZOMFG were gonna be sooooo good!" or that of "We're screwed, no way we win 20 games this year, not even Stew can save us now."

 This year it was of the "we're screwed" variety, and like so many times before, the team looked like a completely different product just days later.

Now, this team is obviously a work in progress and it will be an uphill climb to a fifth straight WAC championship, but Friday night's exhibition opener over UC San Diego had to have been encouraging to even the skeptics out there. With the minutes distributed almost as equally as the scoring, USU busted out some good old fashioned Stew Ball on Friday, but this time around with a lot more athleticism than any USU team we've seen in a long long time.

The most encouraging thing has to be the fact that Utah State looked pretty smooth in running the offense for a team with so many newcomers. Rare can that even be said for an experienced team. Not to say it was completely clicking, but it was promising. There were times where you could noticeably tell that certain guys new to the program had to think for a second what to do with the ball in an offensive set rather than just react off of instinct, but it seemed rare, if at all, that a player would completely screw up.

Defensively, it was solid at times and shaky at others. That's something that will figure itself out as time goes on. With the athleticism on the roster, that progression should come quicker than normal.
Since not much else can be said about a scrimmage and a beatdown from a team perspective, it's probably best to break down what I've seen out of each player thus far, at least of the guys who played Friday (with nicknames that will likely be alluded to with regularity in parentheses, assuming they deserve or need a nickname).

Brockeith Pane ("B-Pane", but open to suggestions for better) - Stud. Defensively was hounding UCSD all night and offensively was taking a few more risks it seemed like. Hitting 1-of-4 3-point attempts is sadly a better average than he shot last season, but if he can bring that up even higher, watch the freak out.

Brady Jardine ("22-X", you heard it here first) - From the start, Jardine looked like a leader. He had swagger and confidence out on the court. The type of swagger and confidence that a veteran like him needed to have on a team with this many new guys. His game was as solid as ever, and despite only shooting 1-5 from the free throw line, his five FT attempts led the team.

Preston Medlin ("Pre-Med") - Like Pane and Jardine, scored in double figures. Medlin looked like one of the veterans out there on both ends of the floor. Hasn't yet shown like he'll be a guy who can take over a game offensively, but he's always a constant threat, and it's safe to assume that he'll progress some more with that. Until then, the big play ability is there and he looks like the go-to deep threat on this roster.

Adam Thoseby ("Anarchy from the UK"?) - Rounding out the double-digit scorers from Friday is the true freshman. He seemed to do a little bit of everything out there today. He scored, he hit 3-pointers, got some steals, blocked a few shots, etc. He has got some serious hustle, and it's pretty obvious already that he's got "fan favorite" written all over him. Defense has a bit to go, but that's nothing Stew can't fix, and based on how this kid's attitude comes off, he'll probably try to beat Stew to the punch in doing whatever he can to improve. Also led the team in minutes... Seems like coaches want to get a good look at him.

Mitch Bruneel ("Bruneel before Zod") - The Tyler Newbold comparisons aren't too far off, but Bruneel is noticeably more aggressive offensively. Based on how his recruiting hype seemed to come out of nowhere, Bruneel seems like a total Stew guy. The kind of guy who Stew saw and figured would fit perfectly into his system... So far so good Stew.

Morgan Grim ("The Reaper") - Still Morgan Grim. His game looks awkward, but if you get over that, he's solid enough.

Kyisean Reed (no nickname yet) - Can you say athletic specimen? He may not have filled up the stat sheet, but his presence on the floor was an attention grabber. Above that, his potential is ridiculous. Stay tuned.

Steven Thornton (no nickname yet) - Looks like the second coming of Pooh Williams, all the way down to wearing No. 5. The lack of elevation on the jump shot is a concern, but his athletcism, ball handling, defense and rebounding were all pretty solid.

E.J. Farris (not sure any nickname could really be complimentary) - Seems to have refined everything about his game into being a fully solid backup point guard.

Igor Premasunac (normally "Igor" would be a guy's nickname, but since the work was already done for us, we'll stick with "Igor") - Not boiling over with superstar potential, but didn't look bad at all Friday. He's new, it's early. Judgment can be reserved a while.

Ben Clifford ("Big Ben" seems too cliche... we can do better) - Three offensive rebounds (four total), a steal and an assist in nine minutes... Also tied for second on the team in FT attempts, just didn't make any unfortunately.

Jordan Stone ("The Rock"? If you smell what he's cookin.) - Coaches have said all along that his game is still very raw and he's a work in progress. He's shown that so far, but given his body, attitude and work ethic, Stew is going to turn him into a force, just probably not until next season.