Finally out of the basement... Let's catch up

After 27 different posts from the start of April until Mountain West Day (w00t!), mixed in with a little bit of this being the slow time of the college sports year, a break was in order. Plus, between moving back to glorious Logan, UT (w00t again), a little illness, getting my fat ass into shape, and undoing that work with plenty of Nintendo, time was sparse.

But now, as Jim Rome would say, I'm out of the basement. So let's get to catching up, even if there's not a whole lot to mention.

• UTAH STATE BASEBALL!!!! They're currently at the National Club Baseball Association World Series in Georgia, two wins away from a national championship!! It'd be pretty freaking awesome if our team was able to finish this thing off and come out champs right in the heart of SEC country where USU has developed quite the quality rep since the start of last football season. Two more wins and the championship comes to Logan!!
• A new football recruit. Quarterback from SoCal. One has got to think that either one of he or Jeff Manning is going to redshirt this year, with the other serving as the 3rd string QB, and likely ending up never seeing the field and redshirting as well.
• Phil Steele put out his preseason all-WAC team. Tyler Larsen, Bojay Filimoeatu, Nevin Lawson and Kerwynn Williams (the kick returner) made the first team. Chuckie Keeton, Kerwynn Williams (the running back), Oscar Molina-Sanchez, Al Lapuaho, Jumanne Robertson and Kerwynn Williams (the punt returner) made second team. Eric Schultz, Patrick Ward, McKade Brady and Tyler Bennett made up the third team. And yes, Kerwynn Williams landed on there three times.
• Salt Lake Metro has a couple potential USU recruits who are tearing things up this summer. East High School's Parker Van Dyke was one of the top players at the Nor Cal Spring Showcase and has reportedly narrowed his college choices to Utah State, Arizona State, Stanford and Utah. South Sevier High School's Race Parsons was also named one of the top players and is a guy who the coaches will likely be watching closely throughout his senior year.
• One of these days, those basketball final grades will get finished.... Then some way too early season previews... One of these days...
• Boise State and San Diego State are apparently still set on going to the Big East, for which I personally don't blame them. I just can't envision the Big East losing AQ status. The people in charge of the BCS aren't going give up any power they don't have to give up, nor give any power away. If you're a smaller school and can have AQ status to play for, take it. You can always just pack up and bail a few years down the road if a playoff in some form happens.

That's all for now. Surely more stuff will come about soon, and being out of the basement and all, there will be a bit more content here.

It's good to be back!!!

A new mountain to climb: Aggies are in the Mountain West

It's finally official!!! After countless rumors over the past couple years and a million different articles and tweets that gave shreds of false hope, Utah State University is now officially on its way to the Mountain West Conference.

First things first: major kudos to Scott Barnes and Stan Albrecht for working to make this happen. Albrecht has been committed to putting athletics in a better spot ever since he arrived at USU, recognizing the benefits that successful athletics can provide a university. In Barnes' case, he made possibly the most important hiring the history of Utah State athletics when he brought Gary Andersen on board as the head football coach. On top of that, he's mended fences with Nike President and USU grad Charlie Denson, gotten the ball rolling on numerous facilities upgrades, and now guided the Aggies into what looks to be the most stable conference situation in the school's history.


THE CHALLENGE
With the new conference will come a new challenge in staying competitive. In the current WAC, USU football had risen to the level of competing with any team on any given night, finishing second in the conference this past season. In basketball, USU has largely dominated the conference despite this past season's struggles. A return to championship form looks to be on the horizon for this season though with the recruiting class and transfers the Aggies have coming in.

In the Mountain West, everything gets a little bit harder. In both sports, the conference as a whole is just better, meaning every win in football will be a big one, while in basketball, no longer will there be those cupcake games that USU has been able to switch to cruise control and still win.


THE PERKS
With numerous bowl tie-ins, the Mountain West gives the Aggies much better opportunities to land in a more prestigious bowl game should they make this whole bowl-eligibility thing more of a routine. In basketball is where maybe the biggest benefit lies. Over the past three years, the Mountain West has had a total of 11 NCAA Tournament bids, compared to the WAC, which has had just four. If USU is able to maintain the kinds of records that have become the norm in Logan, at-large bids with decent seeding will be in the picture. Gone will be the days where USU is sitting on a 28-win season and worrying that an invite to the big dance might not be coming. Not only that, but if somehow another 30-win season with a conference tournament championship comes about, don't count on some bullshit 12-seed like we'd see in the WAC.


STABILITY
As decent a situation as the WAC was in 2005 when USU joined, the WAC back then is not the caliber of conference as the Mountain West is today. Prowess aside, the Mountain West is a much more stable situation as well. With the teams that will be in the conference come 2013, nobody will be much of a risk to be snatched up by any of the BCS conferences. And on top of all that, commissioner Craig Thompson has proven to be pretty damn savvy in what he does. When all this conference shuffling started going down in a big way back in 2010, Thompson mercilessly destroyed then-WAC commission Karl Benson in every way. Having both that leadership, as well as a strong core of alike teams in the same conference makes for an ideal situation for USU moving forward.

2011-12 Final grades: Morgan Grim

Morgan Grim - Senior
37 games, 37 starts
 ________________________
Averages
27.9 minutes
9.1 points
6.1 rebounds
1.1 assists
56.8% - FG
N/A - 3pt
66.7% - FT


 Grading Morgan Grim on this season is a tough one. There was a lot of very exciting highs mixed in with some frustrating lows, with some reports of nagging injuries complicating the whole thing. All said and done though, Grim had a very solid season. He was one of only a few guys with experience in the system returning this past season, however his minutes throughout his entire college career had been sparse at best.

Still, Grim stepped up to the challenge of taking a role much larger than anything else he'd yet faced, and for the most part, he excelled.