YES THAT WAS A SCOREBOARD!!!
I'm sure the new scoreboard will look nice and fancy up there, but from what I understand, will not have a support inside it from which Big Blue can repel out from. So those days look to be done too. Maybe I've heard wrong on that topic, and maybe the plan for the new board could change, but that is what is likely the case.
Personally, I wouldn't mind seeing a return to the days when Big Blue was on the court, starting the slow clap from the crowd for USU's starting lineups. That slow clap isn't really ever slow these days with most of the front row guys pounding on the pad possessing a freshman-esque lack of tempo. Once upon a time it all hinged on Big Blue pounding two noise-making pads together on the court, with the crowd clapping in perfect unison to make for a slow build-up that describing as epic doesn't quite do justice.
AGGIE BLUE AND FIGHTING... GREY??
Jarred Shaw tweeted a few days ago that the Aggies will have grey basketball uniforms next year. How dark of grey? We don't know. Will they replace white as the home uniform color? Don't know, but seriously doubt it.
I will say that I like this move as long as they're a third-color alternate jersey. Hell, I'll even say that I love it. This all screams of Nike re-branding to me, which I support. If USU is among only a handful of schools that are getting to try all sorts of fancy new toys from Nike, that's incredible exposure for the university and athletics programs.
And hey, maybe with all this Nike business, they might have some decent basketball jerseys for sale before not too long. Ever since the USU bookstore stopped carrying the navy blue jerseys that were just like USU's 2003-2006 jerseys, they haven't had a jersey worth buying for sale. Not only that, but what they have had on the racks has been absolute shit. Here's to hoping that all changes soon.
ANNUAL MASS EXODUS AT UTAH OFFICIALLY UNDERWAY
Prior to the last time the Utah Utes came to play in The Spectrum, Morgan Grim said in an interview that he wasn't surprised when nearly half the Utes' team decided to leave the program prior following the 2009-10 season. Grim had left a year prior, and in hindsight, looks to be a serious trendsetter. And why wouldn't others want to follow in his path? Grim came to a great program, was a part of two good teams, and ended up setting the record for most games started in a single season. All the while, the Utes' basketball program has been a sinking ship to put things nicely.
Not that they're names anyone has really ever heard, but four more Ute players have thrown up their deuces this week. Of those, Chris Hines is the only one who might hurt even a bit, but he also said he was leaving last year and backed down on that, so we'll see if he actually goes through with it this time around.
What is curious about all of this is that three of those four guys were rated as three-star prospects by Rivals.com, yet they all kinda sucked. So this begs the question...
WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU BASING THIS ALL ON, RIVALS?
I know the simple answer is that Rivals.com does a lot of what determines their star ranking system on what teams are showing interest in certain players. What I'm curious to know is how do they so easily overlook how this just shits all over their journalistic credibility. Doing a little research on Utah's 2011 signing class, all six of them were rated as three-star recruits, yet none of them made a significant impact, and on a crappy team too. If they were legitimate recruits at all, they would have at least made some kind of impact with the chance to see major minutes on a bad team, but they didn't.
Along that same line, a handful of guys over the past couple years who have landed on WAC teams rather than a brand new PAC-12 squad, all made much more significant impacts the past two seasons. Kyisean Reed, James Kinney and Djim Bandoumel are all guys who landed on the WAC's all-newcomer team this year, yet somehow none of them even earned Rivals.com's pseudo pity ranking of two-stars. Daniel Mullings isn't even listed as a New Mexico State commit on the site, while Raheem Appleby serves as Rivals' saving grace in the scenario, earning three-stars of his own. He at least did something to deserve that by averaging 26 points per game in high school, and for the guy in this mix that actually earned his three stars, he made something of it by getting named the WAC Freshman of the Year.
Javon Dawson, one of Utah's three-star JUCO recruits, played almost identical minutes per game to zero-star recruit Mitch Bruneel, with their statistics being fairly similar as well. The only real difference was in shooting the ball, where Bruneel was far and away superior. Amazingly, the only USU recruit to earn any stars in the 2009, 2010, or 2011 recruiting classes is Ben Clifford with two stars. Nate Bendall and Brockeith Pane had zero stars, JUCO All-Americans Antonio Bumpus and Norvell Arnold had zero stars and Preston Medlin wasn't even listed. Yet all these guys with stats which were mediocre at best get kicked up the three stars because a desperate PAC-12 school needed to fill scholarships?
Just to put down the final scores here from those 2009-2011 recruiting classes versus win totals in the 2009-10 to 2011-12 seasons with those recruits.
Total stars of recruits from Rivals
Utah: 30
USU: 2
Total wins over last three seasons
Utah: 33
USU: 78
Bonus round
Damian Lillard was only a two-star recruit on Rivals.
Niiiice freaking work Rivals. Your star ratings are officially dead to me!!!
Andrew Bogut was a 2-star recruit as well. Just sayin'
ReplyDeleteThe idea of making a grey colored uniform seems odd, but I think it would look good. I've seen similar color at the afl shop. Honestly, grey colored uniform looks great.
ReplyDeleteThere might be a place you can still find pictures of all the new uniforms on the USU athletics website.
DeleteThey unveiled them at the new logo ceremony. The grey ones looked pretty sharp!