POINT GUARDS
Brockeith Pane
This year has been a bit of a roller coaster with Pane. He lit up BYU to start the year, the followed that up with a pretty awful performance against Weber State, which turned out to be somewhat representative of the next few weeks for him. But over the last four games, Pane has adjusted his game in a very good way to become more of a distributor rather than a scorer. Not that he can't score, because we all know he can. Early on it seemed like he was forcing things way too hard. He needs to continue using his ability to create for teammates and be aware of a quality chance to score when it comes to him. He's been pretty good at times, but really bad at others. If I had to guess though, I'd say it's all uphill from here.
MID-TERM GRADE: B-
E.J. Farris
After playing just 21 minutes over the first eight games, Farris has seemingly not only cemented himself into the rotation, but seems to be establishing himself as a decent contributor off the bench too. His numbers aren't anything to wow you, but he passes the eye test. He just looks smooth and in-control when he's in the game, and can usually (damn you Nevada game) hit a wide open shot. He's also a perfect 15-15 at the free throw line.
MID-TERM GRADE: B
WINGS
Preston Medlin
He's the team's best player, hands down. Both his field goal and 3-point percentages are stellar, he's scoring 15 points per game, he rebounds, he assists and plays solid defense. He's on track to have the highest point per game total for an Aggie player since Gary Wilkinson. For historical comparison, his numbers are right on par with the numbers that Jaycee Carroll put up as a sophomore, and if Medlin keeps scoring at the rate he has been, his numbers will beat Carroll's sophomore year across the entire stat sheet. His instincts are nothing short of spectacular, as are his contributions to this team.
MID-TERM GRADE: A
Danny Berger
Berger came in and made an immediate splash, which you could argue was the turning point for USU's season up to where we are. Through his first five games, he was doing it all. In the last five games, he's only doing some. His assist-to-turnover ratio is the best on the team by far, but in the last five games his scoring has disappeared. He's shooting just 5-of-22 from the field in that stretch and 1-of-9 from the 3-point line. The team needs at least a little bit of scoring punch from him, and while it hasn't cancelled out how good he was in the first five games, it's a concern at this point. How he plays the rest of the year is going to be a big factor in where USU finishes in the WAC standings.
MID-TERM GRADE: B
Mitch Bruneel
Maybe I'm just wrong about Bruneel and what we're seeing is what we'll get, but I believe the best is still yet to come from him. To me, he still looks like he has to think to much about what to do on the court rather than instantly reacting to a play. He's shooting well from the field and decent from deep, but he's been bad from the free throw line. He also has left some to be desired in rebounding from a guy his size on the wing. Bruneel has been solid, but never spectacular in any way, which I guess is what he was thought to be in many ways. Still, he's been ok to start off, and has plenty of room to go up.
MID-TERM GRADE: C+
Adam Thoseby
Maybe it's unfair to harshly judge a true freshman, but Thoseby got a little bit of hype before the season as a potential starter. Just based on his tweets throughout this past fall, I'm rooting like hell for this kid to make it... He just hasn't really up to this point. He's hit on 41.7 percent of his 3-pointers, but he hasn't been able to get many looks there and hasn't done much else outside of that. His field goal percentage isn't good, his free throw percentage is terrible and he hasn't rebounded well. Sadly, it looks like he might have fallen out of the rotation going into WAC play, which means we won't see much of him the rest of this year. I'd hope that he could redshirt next year, because it'll help. Let's not go forgetting that at one point, Preston Medlin was the guy who fell out of the rotation at the start of WAC play. If Thoseby can stay the course and even turn into half the player that Medlin is now, it's a win.
MID-TERM GRADE: C-
BIG MEN
Morgan Grim
Once upon a time people said that if Nate Bendall were a starting center for USU, we'd be in trouble, then we weren't. Then those same people failed to learn from that lesson and said if Morgan Grim were ever a starter that we were screwed... Then Grim turned out to be an absolute stud. 10.4 points and 7.4 rebounds per game while shooting 52.6 percent from the field and more than holding his own defensively? I'll take that from a USU big man any day. The only concern to be found outside of that minor slump he had while he was sick has been free throw shooting, but he's done enough good across the board to earn a passing grade.
MID-TERM GRADE: A-
Kyisean Reed
Reed has stepped in and really caught on in a huge way. He's also racking enough highlight reel dunks to finally be able to show someone other than Brady Jardine dunking on the end-of-season highlight video. As athletic as he is though, it's a little surprising that he only has one double-double on the year, and it's not due to a lack of scoring. He's scored in double-figures eight times, but notched double-digit rebounds only twice, which partly explains the oddly low 4.6 rebounds per game. He also hasn't shot well from the free throw line and only has four assists on the season. From the field though, Reed shoots a team-best 60.9 percent. Were it not for a sub par game against Mississippi State and the dreadful sight of watching Olek Czyz look unstoppable against Reed, No. 34 might be pulling in another A-grade... if only...
MID-TERM GRADE: B+
Ben Clifford
Clifford is another guy who seemed somewhat like an underdog early on this year who I was really pulling for, and I'd say he's done pretty well for himself up to this point. For the past few weeks he's been the first guy off the bench, and solid on both ends of the floor. He scores points like a bench player would, but he's fourth on the team in rebounds and shoots the fifth best from the field (51.2 percent). What's been impressive lately is that he's looking to be a legitimate threat from deep in the few attempts he's had. Most of all, he just looks smooth and confident in his game. If he develops any low-post game to add into this mix along with some more muscle, he will turn into one heck of a player.
MID-TERM GRADE: B
Jordan Stone
Stone needed to redshirt this season, and it's really too bad he isn't because he's not going to see much of the floor for the rest of the season. His potential is through the roof, but his game just isn't caught up yet. Luckily for him, he's playing for the big man coach around. Still, Stone's size and rebounding have been an asset in a few games. Against more experienced and athletic teams though, Stone just isn't ready for primetime. If he's able to redshirt next season, that would be the best thing for him to give him more time to progress and practice at the speed of college basketball. If/when he comes around, watch out! For now though, he hasn't been able to contribute a ton this year, which is about what I expected. I just hope he keeps his head up because there's a really bright future on the other end of some hard work that I'm sure he'll put in.
MID-TERM GRADE: C-
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