Stew's top 20: No. 3 - Nate Harris

One constant on this entire top 20 has been pointing out what different players did to set themselves apart from the rest. And with one of the main factors for ranking being all-conference honors, this player's unique accomplishments, along with plenty more greatness to be taken from, make him an obvious pick as one of the greatest players in Utah State history.

When it comes to being named first-team all-conference, 15 of Stew Morrill's players have earned that honor at Utah State.

Five players have managed to earn first-team honors in two different seasons.

But in both Morrill's tenure, and the entire history of Utah State basketball, Nate Harris is the only player to do it three times.

After a solid freshman season of averaging 5.1 points and 3.2 rebounds per game, but not many people could have predicted that he'd break out quite to the level of dominance that he did in his sophomore season in 2004. From the start though, Harris' play was demanding of a major role on the team, and by the time Big West play began, his game was simply dominant. He finished the 2003-04 season averaging 11.7 points, 6.1 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 0.9 blocks and 0.8 steals per game.

On top of also being a rock defensively, Harris converted on a mind-blowing 67.7 percent of his shots from the field, leading the entire nation in 2004 and setting a USU record in that category. For his career, Harris is No. 1 in field goal percentage at Utah State, and holds three of the top seven single-season marks in that category.

As a junior, Harris' scoring improved to 13 points per game, with his field goal shooting ranking second nationally, all en route to a second time on the all-Big West first team.

Then as a senior in 2006, Harris put together probably the only senior season of any USU big man that could rival Spencer Nelson's 2005 senior campaign. And he did it while making the jump from the Big West to the WAC. His 17.3 points per game that year is still the single highest scoring output by any of Morrill's big men. He also added nearly two rebounds per game to his averages that year, while also averaging three assists per game. Oh, and he landed on the all-WAC first team, to pretty much nobody's surprise.

Only one other player has ever been an all-conference first teamer as a sophomore (Preston Medlin), and ironically enough, he will have the challenge of moving up to a new conference for his senior season just like Harris did. 

Topping things off is the fact that Harris became the first Aggie to play for three NCAA Tournament teams, a title he could claim as his own until 2011 when a bunch more players joined that club. The amazing thing about it is that the one non-NCAA Tourney team that Harris was a part of was the famed snub year of 2004.

Records aside, because it would take an eternity to talk about all of those, Harris was the ultimate steady big man down low. He could anything, and he was sure to do it well. He wasn't a superior athlete by any means, but he was able to outsmart any defender with ease for a clean look at the basket.

In the last 14 years, no low-post scorer has done it as well as Harris did. And over that same span, only one player has managed to average better than the 17.3 points per game that Harris did as a senior.

Greatness is an understatement.