2011-12 Final grades: Brockeith Pane

Brockeith Pane - Senior
37 games, 35 starts
 ________________________
Averages
32.3 minutes
12.6 points
3 rebounds
4.3 assists
40.5% - FG
30.2 - 3pt
77.7% - FT


Finally getting into the final two of these final grades in between recovery periods of wicked sunburns! Sure, it's almost July, but better late than never, right?

Grading Pane on his senior season is maybe the toughest one out there. On one hand, he had a really strong finish and was crucial in the team having as strong a finish. On the other hand, when he was slumping hard, the team was stuck in a massive rut. With him being the preseason WAC Player of the Year, expectations were obviously high, as was the pressure of being looked at as the go-to guy to start off the year with six seniors having graduated. Then when other would-be go-to guy Brady Jardine got injured, the pressure mounted even more.

The result was a total roller coaster, so let's break it down as best as we can.

Marvin Jean checks in with first (known) summer injury

You pretty much can't browse USUfans.net in the summertime without reading jokes about members of the basketball team busting each other up and breaking faces during summer workouts. The funny things is that every one of those jokes is pretty valid given recent history, and now it looks like Marvin Jean has gotten in on that action.

Jean made mention on Twitter Tuesday about a thumb injury, later elaborating that it was likely torn ligaments on Wednesday, with surgery coming on Friday.

So basically this sucks. The rest of summer workouts are pretty much lost for Jean, who seems pretty bummed about it based on his tweets. Gotta like that he cares enough to be broken up about missing workouts though. And let's not forget the last Aggie with some major thumb issues... He turned out alright.

Still, recovery time for surgery to repair torn ligaments is about three months to get back to 100 percent (and yes, this writer grew up working summers in an orthopedics office, so he knows his shit!).

Given that there are basically six guys battling to be in the perennial three-man rotation on the wings, and one of them is named Medlin, one has to wonder if this injury could lead to a potential redshirt for Jean this coming season. Obviously that is just blind speculation, and plenty more would likely have to shake itself out before any kind of decision like that will be made, but it seems crazy to let all four junior wing players play next year and not redshirt any of them.

This will be something to watch in the coming months. For now, here's to a speedy recovery for Jean!

Morgan Grim is going pro

Not actually Grim's future uniform, but a rare opportunity to
make a Mighty Ducks reference that wasn't going to go unused.

With guys like Spencer Nelson, Gary Wilkinson and Tai Wesley all finding success overseas in the professional basketball ranks, it seems like a professional career is for the taking by any Stew Morrill-coached big man. Bringing good size and excellent post skills to the table has shown to be a major asset to foreign teams, and lengthy careers abroad look to be a more and more common thing for former Aggies.

The next name to join that club will be Morgan Grim, as he announced his future plans with this post on Facebook...

"Well its official! Just signed my first pro contract and will be heading to Iceland Sept 1st! Thanks to my parents, family, friends, and coaches that have helped me along the way. Too many to name but you know who you are.. thanks so much!!!"


He'll be joining Fjolnir Reykjavik for his first season of professional ball, and as Aggies of the past have done, will likely create plenty more opportunities for himself in year two.

Finding out info on his team isn't the easiest of things, but last season there was a total of ONE American-born player on the team in rookie, and former Texas A&M Aggie Nathan Walkup. Whether or not he'll still be there next season is up in the air, especially since he averaged 22.2 points and 10.1 rebounds per game. All that came after a senior season in college where he averaged 9.4 points and 5.5 rebounds per game.

So, having seen how at least one other American went in and dominated, Grim should be in a good spot to go get his feet wet in professional ball, and hopefully move up the international ladder from there.

At the end of the day, this is a pretty awesome thing for Grim, and gives Aggie fans one more guy to keep track of overseas. Major kudos to him!

Firing off some rounds on a Monday

Well hey everyone!

Still not a ton of news going on with it being summer and all, but from time to time, enough of it piles up for one of these awesome updates. Plus, got to have something else to do instead of the last two player grades from basketball... So let's get started!

CARSON SHANKS IS HITTING UP L-TOWN
The class of 2013 big man is in Logan this weekend for the USU elite camp, as reported by Tony Jones. If you're not familiar with Shanks, he's a seven-footer from Minnesota who has already racked up quite a few fans from all his tweets about Utah State. That enthusiasm was touched on briefly at the bottom part of this article.

From everything I can gather, he's big, he's talented, he's enthused... What else could you want out of a player? Incredibly excited to see what he'll bring to the table, because it seems like he's got his head focused in all the right places.

If you want to check out a Q&A with him from a few months back, head here: http://recruitsnationwide.com/meet-future-utah-state-aggie-carson-shanks/


DICKERSON DECIDES AGAINST COLLEGE FOOTBALL
In a bit of a shocker, freshman-to-be running back Tavarreon Dickerson has apparently decided that he does not want football to be a part of his college years. In the long run, this is a bummer for the team, but in the picture of this coming season, should not be anything of impact.

Dickerson was a likely redshirt candidate for this year, and if Gary Andersen is able to nab another solid running back recruit or two in next year's class, essentially no harm will have been done if Kerwynn Williams' shoes can be filled after this year by and of the other handful of backs on the team. And with the conference picture now carrying some certainty for the first time in the last three years for Andersen, selling the program to a running back shouldn't be nearly as tough as it was before Michael Smith and Robert Turbin got drafted.


PARKER VAN DYKE CHOOSES THE UTES
On a basketball recruiting note, East High School and Salt Lake Metro star Parker Van Dyke committed to the University of Utah last week. Viewed as arguably the top recruit in the State of Utah for 2013, Van Dyke is rumored to have grown up a Ute fan, and while being impressed by USU, Arizona State and Stanford, he stuck with his loyalty.

Tough to knock the guy too much for that, especially when you consider that the Aggies have a ton of youth already in the mix on the wings with Riley Bradshaw, Quincy Bair and Jalen Moore already in the picture for the next few years.


QUINN TAYLOR CHOOSES THE AGGIES
Now, you might be wondering, "Who is Quinn Taylor?"

According to the official team roster, he looks like a wing player with good size, who will be a freshman this coming season. Upon doing a little research, he appears to be a high-character kid who averaged 11.5 points, 5.6 rebounds and two assists per game as a senior at Langham Creek High School last season. He also earned Houston area all-district honors as both a junior and senior in high school.

He's featured in this article, and it mentioned that he's Mormon, which leads one to believe that he is a likely mission candidate after this season.

2011-12 Final grades: Kyisean Reed

Kyisean Reed - Junior
36 games, 28 starts
 ________________________
Averages
25 minutes
10 points
5.1 rebounds
0.6 assists
61.4% - FG
0.0 - 3pt
67.9% - FT


Hey, back on the final grades finally as we near mid-June. Better late than never though, and eventually the three leading scorers on last year's team were going to get their big review. So let's put Kyisean on the hot seat and break down his roller coaster of a junior season.

First and foremost, the season was a roller coaster for everyone, which had to have made the task of fitting in as a JUCO transfer that much more difficult for Reed. Still, Reed made it six straight seasons in which the Aggies had a JUCO transfer among the team's top three scorers, joining some pretty impressive company in Brockeith Pane, Nate Bendall, Jared Quayle, Gary Wilkinson and Steve Ducharme. And while Reed's overall season numbers are lower than all of those guys, he put together a couple monster games that could easily stack up against the single best games played during any of these guys' junior seasons.

Aggies are national champs!!!

USU's 2012 seniors are bringing home some hardware

Utah State baseball wrapped up a season for the ages Thursday night in Georgia with a dominating 14-3 victory over Colorado State in the National Club Baseball Association's World Series championship game.

With the exception of the tournament semifinal game against Texas Tech, the Aggies essentially dominated the entire tournament, putting forth a 9-3 win in the opening round, a 3-0 shutout in the second round and the championship game's 14-3 win.

The championship marks the first in USU baseball's history, and is yet another big splash that Utah State athletics continue to make. It's all the more fitting that the win came in the heart of SEC country, where USU has earned a bit of a reputation of excellence in the last year. Above all else, we've got an early frontrunner for the top story in USU athletics for 2012, and they've set the bar pretty damn high!