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!

2011-12 Final grades: Morgan Grim

Morgan Grim - Senior
37 games, 37 starts
 ________________________
Averages
27.9 minutes
9.1 points
6.1 rebounds
1.1 assists
56.8% - FG
N/A - 3pt
66.7% - FT


 Grading Morgan Grim on this season is a tough one. There was a lot of very exciting highs mixed in with some frustrating lows, with some reports of nagging injuries complicating the whole thing. All said and done though, Grim had a very solid season. He was one of only a few guys with experience in the system returning this past season, however his minutes throughout his entire college career had been sparse at best.

Still, Grim stepped up to the challenge of taking a role much larger than anything else he'd yet faced, and for the most part, he excelled.

...and it ends in a loss

Hats off to these guys for never giving up!

The opportunity was rare, but the opportunity was there. Utah State could have capped off an impressive finish to an otherwise frustrating season with a win at home Wednesday night against a Mercer team tasked with winning a long way from home in a venue where almost nobody wins. But when the final buzzer sounded, and the final prayer of a shot clanked off the rim, Utah State found itself in a place that has been far too familiar this season... Just short.

The Spectrum tonight was everything that makes that building so special. The place was buzzing before doors even opened, and anyone that just passively came to the game found themselves fully engaged in everything by the second half when USU started battling back from an early deficit.

Mercer was probably as opposite of a playing style in a team that you could possibly get for USU compared to the game against Oakland. Mercer plays in a very controlled system that shares the ball well, relies on high-percentage shots, and above all else, tough defense. All of those factors undoubtedly frustrated the Aggies early on in a big way, and moderately throughout the entire game.

Still, USU battled, ramped up its defensive pressure and knocked down a handful of big shots from deep. Danny Berger and Preston Medlin were responsible for all five second-half 3-pointers for USU, and every one of them came at a time when USU either needed a big bucket to cool a Mercer run or to widen the lead for the short time USU had it. They were a combined 5-of-11 from deep in the second half. Had they gone 6-of-11, that game would have gone at least five more minutes.

It ends tonight... Let's end it right!!!

Hold nothing back tonight. The Spectrum should be full, rocking off the hook,
and ruthless as can be!! (thanks to TrueAggies.com for the greatest photo ever)

As of Wednesday morning, there are only 10 teams left in the nation still playing college basketball. Regardless of where you're playing, that is something to be proud of, and at the very least is something the shouldn't be written off as an insignificance.

Sure, the CIT has its fair share of haters, and to a point, that is understandable. It's the bottom rung of college basketball postseason tournaments, gets little to no fanfare or publicity, and is comprised entirely of teams who, at some point, fell short of their more lofty goals they'd aimed for this basketball season. Just like I said two weeks ago when I issued the Man Challenge to this Aggie team, it would be easy for any team to just kill over and die when landing in a second, third, or ever fourth-rate postseason tournament. A handful of past Aggie teams have done just that, even in the NIT, which usually features its fair share of ESPN games.

Screw it though! Screw everyone who says winning this tournament doesn't mean a thing! The CIT is where Utah State has landed this season, and Wednesday, the Aggies have the chance to prove that they were the best among the field where they landed. Utah State has the chance to at least say we dominated the CIT when we ended up there to finish off what was supposed to be our worst season in nearly 20 years.

Sunday, Bloody Sunday!!!! Aggies light it up for 105-81 win.

Pane was straight KILLIN IT on Sunday

The game plan for this one should have been pretty basic. Oakland is a team who scores a ton because they take quick shots and get lots of possessions. They also are right there with the nation's worst teams defensively.

With that in mind, USU needed to pretty much just control the tempo of this game and execute offensively to carry them to victory. Doing things like shooting 63.8 percent from the field, hitting on 75 percent of 3-point attempts and dishing a season-high 26 assists would be just extra credit.

So for a final grade on this game, the Aggies get an A+++ (which for you non-education majors, would be classified as "pretty damn good").

Utah State came out in the game pretty much the same way they have this whole tournament. They were executing early, hitting shots from all over, and playing team basketball better than they have at any point over the rest of the this season. Even after opening up a huge lead early on behind some stellar team-play and great outside shooting, Oakland eventually got hot from deep, which is kinda their bread and butter, but even throughout that streak, they were still giving up seemingly at least two points on every Aggie possession, only really bringing the game as close as 11 points.

The Aggies never let up either. 60 points in the first half, 45 in the second; both of those are generally high scoring totals for one half of Aggie basketball. Compared to most teams, Oakland still filled it up. Their scoring prowess is really pretty freaking good, and if they could defend at all, that would be one hell of a basketball team.

Final Four!!! Final Four!!! Aggies win, 77-69

This ad was fitting to be gracing the front page of the USU Athletics website!

Before saying anything else, let me just say, "free throws!"

In a season where missed free throws have haunted the Aggies in close games, and when the team is shooting worse from the charity stripe as any other USU team since 2005, USU kicked that trend to the curb tonight in the best of ways. The Aggies made 32-of-35 free throws tonight, which was nearly 20 percent better than the team's season average, and eventually the difference in the game.

USU was also solid on the boards, grabbing 43 rebounds in the game. When all was said and done, they needed every one of them. The Aggies gave up a season-high 22 turnovers, while having just 14 assists,  but luckily LMU turned the ball over 19 times.

One down, four to go!

Spring break definitely put a major dent into Wednesday's attendance for USU's opening game of the CIT, but despite that lackluster support and a stellar game from CSUB's Zach Lamb, the Man Challenge is one-fifth of the way completed!!

The game didn't exactly start out horrible for USU, but it wasn't overly pretty either. Granted the first half was all I got to see, so I'm stuck basing my takes on the second half around the following of ESPN's gamecast on a cell phone.

The first half though seemed to basically be the kind of basketball that Stew Morrill would normally murder a team for playing, but in this case, it was working. Things just didn't seem very in control at all, but because Preston Medlin was a man possessed and both Morgan Grim and Kyisean Reed were holding things down in the post better than just ok, the Aggies put together a nice little lead.

Then in the second half, the dramatics came into the picture with the Roadrunners - mostly Zach Lamb - making a thriller out of this one. They fought back from a 12-point halftime deficit to take a 48-46 lead at one point before the Aggies put together another run to grab the lead back. From there, USU had a small lead the rest of the time which they didn't go blowing.

They made it interesting by having NINE second-half turnovers, including four during the final four minutes of the game, as is tradition. But still they held on for a 75-69 victory.

Hello Sweep Dance my old friend... It seems the Aggies win again, 61-60

Pane won this final battle between these two

At the start of this season, there were three games which I thought Utah State would absolutely not win. Based on both my knowledge of USU's team as well as the opposing teams, I thought at Wichita State, at Mississippi State and at Hawaii were the three games that would just be too tough. Each of the teams had the edge in experience, talent and athleticism that would have just been too much for this young USU team.

What happened was a breakout performance against Wichita State, a near earth-shattering upset at Miss. State and a win on the islands. All three went above and beyond what I thought the team had in them.

Saturday's game started off close before the Aggies built a small lead that lasted them for the bulk of the first half before Hawaii came back to grab a two-point lead at the half.

In the second half, Hawaii was like a bigger, faster older brother who dangled a victory in front of lil' bro Utah State's face saying, "Bet you can't catch me," and kept gaining ground, then letting up just to tease the Aggies a bit before gaining separation again. This went on for more than 18 minutes, with Utah State never getting within as close as two points to the Warriors.