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Show Another early Ag NIT exit TouchBase Agg/t Schedules Gymnastics FRIDAY MARCH 21 USU vs. Southern Utah, 6:30 p.m. Outdoor Track and Field MARCH 21-22 USU @ Willie Williams Invite Softball FRIDAY MARCH 21 USU @ Nevada (DH), 3 p.m. SATURDAY MARCH 22 Williams has best outing as an Aggie with 10 points USU @ Nevada, 3 p.m. play. Down by two points, USU went to All-American senior sports editor Jaycee Carroll. He came off a screen, put up a 3-pointer, but The 2007-08 campaign for it didn't go in. The Redbirds the USU men's basketball team grabbed the rebound, and will register in the history the Aggies' season came to an books as 24 wins and 11 losses. abrupt end. But still no National USU has not won an NIT Invitation Tournament \ ictory game since 1960, when it for a Stew Monill-coached defeated St. Bonaventure. team. ^^^^^^, The Aggies A few have not won in late plays the postseason Wednesday since 2000, night that didn't [ILLINOIS ST. 61 when, as a No. go USU's way 12 seed, they allowed the USU 57 upset the No. 5 Illinois State seed Ohio State Redbirds to triumph in their Buckeyes in the first round of home arena for a 61-57 victhe NCAA Tournament. tory in the first round of the Carroll was hounded all MasterCard NIT. night by the Redbirds' defense, "(The Redbirds) were makMorrill said. Carroll finished 4ing all the hustle plays, and of-15 from the field—including we were turning it over too 2-of-8 from 3-point range. Even much," Morrill said in a postthough it was one of his worst . game radio interview. "In the shooting games, Carroll still second half, we came out and had a game-high 15 points. He competed and gave ourselves a also pulled down six rebounds chance. We had lots of chances and dished out five assists. USU F O R W A R D GARY W I L K I N S O N and Illinois States Dinma Odiakosa battle for a rebound in that basketball game." during the first half of Wednesday's National Invitation Tournament first round basketball game in One of those chances came Normal, III. The Redbirds of Illinois State won, 61-57, ending the Aggies' 2007-08 season. The Aggies finish 11 See NIT, page 10 with less than 30 seconds to By SAMMY HISLOP GameOver with a 24-11 record on the year. AP photo 2008 OUTDOOR TRACK AND FIELD PREVIEW Looking to repeat WAC title By SAM BRYNER senior writer AGGIE FRESHMAN GYMNAST JASMINE MINION performs on the balance beam March 7 against San Jose State in the Spectrum. The Aggies host Southern Utah Friday night at 6:30 p.m. It will be the Aggies' final home meet. CAMERON PETERSON photo Aggie gymnasts host home finale ByCANDICESANDNESS staff writer Over Spring Break, Aggie gymnasts turned the tables to finally hit the momentum of "hitting their stride," USU gymnastics coach Ray Corn said With only two more chances to move up the team's ranking to qualify for regionals, Friday's home meet against the Southern Utah University Thunderbirds will make this the most important meet of the year, Corn said. "We've got two meets to try and move up into the Top 36, which we mathematically can still do," Corn said. "It's going to take our finest moment to get us there." It is the final home meet of 2008 for USU. "With our last meet with an in-state rival, I think its going to add a lot of flavor in many different directions to this entire competition," Corn LI See FINALE page 10 Utah State's men's and women's track and field teams begin the 2008 outdoor season Friday as they participate in the Willie Williams Invitational in Tuscon Arizona. The men enter the outdoor season after winning the Western Athletic Conference indoor track and field championships March 1. The women enter the season after finishing fourth at the indoor championships. A year ago, the men claimed the outdoor WAC championship while the women claimed a fifth-place finish. Returning for the men is senior John Strang, who took first in the decathlon and second in the high jump at the 2007 championships. Distance runner Seth Wold also returns after finishing fifth place in the 5,000-meter race. The women return start runner Stacey Dorius, who claimed first place in the 3.000meter race. Kathryn Thatcher, a junior from Paradise, Utah returns after taking second place as a sophomore in the 400-meter hurdles. The transition from the indoor season to the outdoor season is well received by the athletes because it is generally easier and quicker to run outside. "Its always easier to run a bigger track, on the shorter events, like the 200. on outdoor you only have to go around one curve whereas in indoor you have to go around two," said head coach Gregg Gensel. Gensel said that times for outdoor are usually about a quarter to a second faster for each quarter mile ran. The season will last until May when the • .. J USU SENIOR LOGAN MOORE tosses the javelin last year. Moore returns to this season's team to try to help the Aggie men repeat the WAC title. STATESMAN fife photo teams compete in the WAC championships in Boise. Idaho from May 14-17. If athletes qualify, they compete in the regional and national races in late May and June. An athlete can quab'fy for the region meet a couple of different ways. The first is by reaching a mark or standard for an event, the second is by winning that event at the WAC championships. If an athlete competes in regionals they can qualify for nationals by finishing in the top five of an event or by being selected as one -ofa few at large bids. .... ... •: u •sam.bryner@aggiemail.asu.edu Verlin to be named coach of UI By SAMMY HISLOP sports editor CBSSports.com reported late Thursday night that current USU assistant men's basketball coach Don Verlin will be named the head coach of the University of Idaho on Monday. Verlin, 42, has been at USU since Stew Morrill was hired 10 years ago. He will replace George Pfeifer, who went 12-48 in two seasons at Idaho. Update on USU spring football BY USU ATHLETICS Even though snow was still piled up on the sidelines and in part of the bleachers of Romney Stadium, the Utah State football team took to the field to open its 2008 spring drills on Wednesday. The Aggies had 97 players in helmets, shorts and jerseys going through drills, the first of USU's 15 spring practices. "Today's practice was a lot like playing golf without a ball. Every swing you hit it right down the fairway" USU head coach Brent Guy said. "With the way we get to practice these first few days without pads, it's a lot easier to throw and catch, and it looks everyone will be in position to make the tackle. We moved around well today. I'm very pleased with the number of bodies we have out here and our depth. We're able to move some guys around and rearrange some players." The optimism spread beyond the coaching staff to the players, including senior-to-be linebacker Jake Hutton. "Today was good, we can't really get a whole lot done without pads, but today was mostly mental anyway, especially for the new guys to learn everything " said Hutton, a second-team all-WAC selection last year. "We've got a lot of new players who need to learn how to do things so it was good for them." "I think it's going to be a real fun, competitive spring, we're just anxious to get through these next few days," said Guy, who opened his fourth spring practice in his tenure at the helm of the Aggie program. "We're trying to install as much as we can and throw as much at them as we can on these non-pad days." |