Stew's top 20: No. 12 - Brockeith Pane

With 23 points, five rebounds and four assists in his first game as an Aggie, Brockeith Pane wasted no time making a big impression at Utah State. Tasked with replacing Jared Quayle, the lone graduate from the previous season, Pane had both benefits and challenges with that. On one hand, learning the ropes had to have been made easier with so many guys knowing how things work playing alongside him. On the other hand, basically that entire team had been together for years already, and Pane had to learn to fit in with that.

The end result was a season where Pane averaged 11.8 points, 3.1 rebounds and 3.4 assists. He was named to the all-WAC first team at the end of the regular season, marking the only time that one of Stew Morrill's point guards has been an all-conference first-teamer as a junior. He also joined only Shawn Daniels and Desmond Penigar as players to have earned first-team all-conference honors in their first seasons at Utah State. And capping all of that off was an impressive performance at the 2011 WAC Tournament where Pane averaged 17.5 points per game in being named tournament MVP.

So obviously, expectations for Pane were crazy high going into his senior season in 2011-12, so much so that he was named the preseason Player of the Year by WAC media members. Then things got complicated.

Inconsistency and some apparent mental lapses made for a senior season that left plenty to be desired from Pane. When it was all said and done, he went from preseason Player of the Year, to only an honorable mention all-WAC selection.

While the season as a whole was definitely a letdown from Pane, he still was dominant at times. And down the stretch of this past season, Pane really did put his game together to be a solid team-player. Without him turning things back on, the ending to the 2011-12 season would been completely miserable, rather than a somewhat exciting one with a bid to the CIT finals.

Pane's career definitely did not end on any kind of high note, and it was loaded with a whole ton of criticism along the way. But Pane's junior season was stellar, and he was the guy at the helm of the best single season win percentage in school history. Above that, Pane possessed that capability to absolutely take over games at times. His offensive ability gave the offense a whole new dimension, especially when he was looking create opportunities for others while driving into the lane. He also was a spectacular defender from the point guard spot.

He had a definite senior slump, but outside of that, Pane really did have a solid career, highlighted obviously by how he helped lift the 2010-11 team to some great heights.