As promised, here is part two of this little bold basketball preview, or at least part of part two. Today's task is predicting the schedule.
But for all of you out there hoping I'll do something stupid and set myself up to be brutally chastised for bad picks down the road, sorry to tell you that I'm only doing the first eight games, which is close enough to one third of the season. Why you ask? Well, teams grow up along the way, and getting too far ahead of things just would be irresponsible for making accurate predictions. Gotta get a feel for both USU's squad, as well as the competition.
Now on the downside, this means you'll have to deal with another set of predictions like this in a few weeks. For now though, let's try and accurately predict the start of this season.
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Idaho State - 11/10
In ISU's last three visits to The Spectrum, Utah State has won by an average of 31 points. This Bengal team lost to USU by 13 in their own house last year, and in a game where even Igor Premasunac even played double-digit minutes. Adam Thoseby also started that game and scored 16 points.
Prediction: Blowout win
Saint Mary's - 11/15
Things get real interesting in just the second game of the year. Saint Mary's returns a ton of talent from a very good team, including Matt Dellavedova. Joining them will also be former Aggie James Walker, as well as former SUU Thunderbird and first opposing player to cry in The Spectrum in the 2010 season, center Matt Hodgson. Not returning however will be Clint Steindl, who hit numerous big shots against USU in past games. This will be an epic battle of which only something as powerful The Spectrum prevails... That, and Brady Jardine heckling on the front row to remind Mitchell Young of the manhood he lost forever back in 2011.
Prediction: Aggies win a thriller
Texas A&M Corpus Christi - 11/17
Sad that this has to be a revenge game, but it is, and revenge will be had. Preston Medlin goes off for 40 points to bring his scoring average against these guys to 20 points per game.
Prediction: USU wins by 22
Weber State - 11/24
Speaking of revenge games... Weber State was a great team last year with the early frontrunner for NBA Rookie of the Year running that show. This year will be a step back, but probably not nearly as much as people expect. They're still a talented team with a fantastic coach, which will make this game a far cry from a cakewalk victory.
Prediction: Aggies win by 9
@Santa Clara - 11/28
Finally hitting the road after four games at home, USU faces off against a Santa Clara team who returns its top NINE scorers from last season. Problem is they were a team that went 8-22, including 0-16 in West Coast Conference play. Because of the experience and home court, they'll be tough, but a nice early road test for this USU team.
Prediction: USU by 6
@BYU - 12/5
The second straight road test against a WCC team gets a lot tougher down in that hellhole of Provo. Both teams look solidly loaded with talent, but BYU's squad has more experience playing together, which should give them a decent advantage. Not to mention, Brandon Davies will probably want to try and put on a show in front of his kids. My shameless homerism/ambition wants to pick a win, but since such picks in the past have backfired when going on the road to Provo/Hell, I'll defer to the team to prove me wrong on this one. It's a prediction I'd gladly be horribly incorrect about.
Prediction: Aggies fall short by 8 points... (insert swear words)
Western Oregon - 12/8
A nice little, "thanks for coming guys" kind of game to lump into the middle of the early part of the season. Against this team three years ago, Modou Niang outscored Brian Green and Preston Medlin combined!!! And no, that wasn't made up.
Prediction: Aggies win by however much they feel like
@Utah Valley - 12/15
These guys are a bit of a wild card this year. They hung with USU in The Spectrum last year, but are now without their light-it-up scorer Isiah Williams. While Ben Aird and Holton Hunsaker are decent players, it's tough to imagine them overpowering Jarred Shaw and Tenale Roland by any wide margin, if at all. They'll probably make it interesting for a bit, but Shaw, Roland and that Medlin kid will be too much for them to handle. Plus, UVU has one of these guys on its roster.
Prediction: Aggies win by 11
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That right there carries us all the way into the Gossner's tournament, where I'll get back here and make some picks on how the next part of the season will go from there. As is, I'm picking the Aggies to start off 7-1. A few of those games could swing a different direction, most notably Saint Mary's and Santa Clara, but hell... that's part of what makes it fun!!
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