Let's play a little bit of catch up

Admittedly, it's been a slow week over here at The Sagebrush Spot. A big part of that was due to being away from a computer for most of the day of and after the Wichita State game, but also there hasn't been much to talk about with football not playing this past weekend.

So let's catch up a bit, shall we?

1) The Wichita State game

Putting my optimist hat on the rack for a night, I summoned my inner realist and basically prepared myself to absorb the shame of a blowout loss. Then Stew and the boys proceeded to remind me why it's never a good idea to doubt them. Wichita State has only lost two games all season, one coming against a top 15 team and the other on a neutral court in overtime. They also thoroughly demolished UNLV just six days before facing USU. Yes, the same UNLV team that knocked off North Caroline when they were ranked No. 1. And this wasn't an upset hangover for UNLV either, with the Rebels having already played another game after the upset.

So for all those reasons, it's not hard to see why one would be skeptical about USU going on the road in a tough environment and making things any closer than the 19-point loss UNLV suffered out there.

Yes, it was a loss, but it was not a bad one, and it wasn't for the same reasons that this team has been losing team games so far this year. USU shot the ball well, didn't turn it over too much, and even helped each other out a few times with some assists. They also outscored WSU both in bench points and points in the paint, two aspects that are going to be crucial for USU to improve upon to really turn the corner this season. Basically, Saturday had some solid progress shown, and when we know we're have a young team on our hands with as much inexperience as there is, progress is always welcome. Maybe the biggest thing though is that they never quit. You've got to love a team that's always got some fight left in them.

• Preston Medlin is averaging 16. 4 points, 5.4 rebounds and 3.4 assists over the past five games. If comparisons to the past are your thing, all of those totals are better than what Jaycee Carroll averaged for the season when he was a sophomore. Not saying Pre-Med is better, but he has been a beast of a do-it-all player.
• Kyisean Reed is finding his way quite nicely as well, scoring in double-figures each of the past three games and shooting 67 percent from the field over that span.
• Danny Berger has thrown down back-to-back double-figure games now. He's done just a tiny bit of rebounding, a tiny bit of assisting and a tiny bit of stealing in that span too. There's also been just a tiny bit of defense. One has to think that those areas are going to improve, but seeing as how scoring was maybe the biggest issue this team has had early on, Berger has been a nice spark for the team, and his potential is exciting.
• Mitch Bruneel finally got into the double-figures scoring club too.
• E.J. Farris finally got back into a game. Really would like to see him climb back into a contributing role so that Pre-Med can spend more time playing his natural shooting guard spot rather than taking minutes at the backup PG spot. 

Again, no loss is good, but this team is starting to put things together. They have talent, they have athleticism, and once they have some experience, they're going to really make things interesting.


2) Brady Jardine is officially out for the year

Yeah, pretty much everybody who really follows USU basketball knew this already, but 22-X is going to redshirt this year and come back next year. No doubt, this is and has been a huge blow to this team as he was the most experienced player on a very inexperienced roster, the best big man on the team, the best rebounder, best shot blocker, etc. We can only wonder how different the early part of this season would have been had he not gotten hurt.

Now, I hate to want to point out positives that can come from this,especially knowing how badly this injury has bummed out the guy wearing No. 22, but I'm a sucker for silver linings. Looking at this year's team, and all the players forced into elevated roles they would otherwise not have faced if Brady were healthy, can only mean that everybody else getting minutes this season will be that much more battle-tested come next season. It's not too unlike what we've seen with Weber State and Damian Lillard's injury last year. They came out this season ready to do some damage, which they have done and will continue to do so.

So basically, now the 2012-13 season is looking like it could be one for the ages in a handful of ways. Not to say that 2011-12 can't still turn out to have one hell of a finish with all the potential on this roster. Potential that is steadily turning into more production.


3) Gary Andersen gets tatted up

Gotta love this!!! Not only will Gary always have a little bit of Aggie in him, but it also looks like he wants to stay an Aggie for the foreseeable future.


4) Robert Turbin talks NFL

Cannot blame the guy one bit for wanting to go pro if he's looking like he'll get chosen high enough. He always said he wanted to be a part of turning around a program, and that's exactly what he's done. I don't want to go into it too much just yet, seeing as how we still don't know if he'll stay or if he'll go. Regardless of if he leaves this year or next though, this guy deserves a parade in his honor to escort him out of town when he finally leaves Logan.