Stew's top 20: No. 6 - Gary Wilkinson

As crucial as guys like Jared Quayle, Tai Wesley, Tyler Newbold and Pooh Williams were in filling the shoes of Jaycee Carroll and Kris Clark after the 2008 season, they were all second-fiddle at best. When it came to replacing the production of the 2008 WAC Player of the Year and USU's all-time leading scorer, Gary Wilkinson was the guy to step up and say, "Don't worry guys. I got this!"

To put plainly, Wilkinson took the reigns of Utah State basketball after losing one of its best players ever and led the program to arguably its best season of all time. And he did it all by being a dominant scorer from both in the post and out to mid-range, while shooting high percentages from the field, as well as an excellent rebounder.

But what makes Wilkinson so great was his leadership. Straight-up, there has been no better team-leader to play for Stew Morrill than the leader that Gary Wilkinson was. You could see it in every aspect of him from his persona, his attitude, his play and all the way to how he constantly was rallying the team back together on the court.

Coming to USU after earning junior college all-American honors at Salt Lake Community College, Wilkinson had a fantastic first season in Logan, averaging 13.3 points and seven rebounds per game. And all of that was despite battling through a broken thumb early in the season. From the Gossner's tournament through the end of the year, Wilkinson scored in double-figures in all but two games, racking up six double-doubles in the process with his rebounding continually improving.

Being the only returning all-WAC member going into the 2008-09 season after earning second-team all-WAC as a junior, Wilkinson was voted by the media as the WAC's preseason Player of the Year. From there, it was straight domination.

The 2009 Aggies made it back to the top 25 for the first time since 2004, tied a school-record with a 19-game winning streak, won just the second outright conference title under Morrill at USU and won the WAC Tournament title with a dominating display against Nevada on their home court in the championship game. Wilkinson was by far the go-to guy on that team, averaging 17.1 points and 6.8 rebounds per game. When the postseason all-WAC honors rolled around, Wilkinson was an absolute no-brainer pick for Player of the Year, more so than even Carroll was the previous season.

While his scoring numbers were just a bit below Desmond Penigar's for their respective careers, Wilkinson still gets this nod for the best JUCO transfer to play for Stew. With an incredible senior season, a school-record 30 wins, Player of the Year honors and the best leadership of any Stew guy, Wilkinson was about as good a player as you'll ever find.

And topping it all off is the fact that Wilkinson never once lost a game in The Spectrum! Who else can claim that?

A case of the Monday's, but still an update

A case of the Monday's is a pretty good way to describe, well... Monday. Granted nobody will read this until Tuesday morning, but at 2:21 a.m. (when most of these articles begin their production) it's still Monday for this guy!

Anyway, at some point in between shouting swear words at my TV during the Stanley Cup Playoffs, putting off the last couple final grades for 2011-12 basketball and a long-overdue change of address back to some town called Logan, at least some kind of update on things was needed, right? So let's hit on some of the weekend's topics and such as.

GARY WILKINSON GOING FOR ANOTHER TITLE
Last year former Aggie Gary Wilkinson helped carry the New Zealand Breakers to the National Basketball League title. Probably by the time anyone reads this, the final game of the 2012 finals will have come and gone. Either way, Wilkinson is having another monster year over there, averaging 16.4 points and 5.8 rebounds per game in leading the breakers to a league-best record of 21-7. 

Let's hope the Breakers make it two in-a-row!

**UPDATE: Breakers win!!!!