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Show USU hires replacement for Verlin USU men's By SAMMY HISLOP sports editor Stew Morrill went to the enemy to replace the assistant coaching gap with the USU men's basketball team. Chris Jones, the assistant coach for the Utes of the University of Utah for the past three seasons, joined the USU staff Monday. He replaces Don Verlin, who last Monday was named the head coach at the University of Idaho. Morrill is confident the hire of Jones will benefit the Aggies. "We are getting a quality coach who has lots of experience with basketball in the state of Utah," Morrill explained. "Chris is a highenergy, gct-it-done kind of guy. He understands the demands of this business and has the drive and skill, plus the experience necessary to perform all the tasks required of an assistant coach at the Division I level. I know he will be a huge assist for our program," Jones began at the University of Utah as the team's video coordinator from 199497. That was when the Utes had Ail-Americans Keith Van Horn, Andre Miller and Michael Doleac. In 1998-99, Jones coached the Wurthing Bears in London, England. In 2003-04 he was an assistant coach at Westminster College in Salt Lake City. That team won the Frontier Conference championship. "I've always been intrigued and inspired by what Coach Morrill has done at Utah State," Jones said. "This is a great opportunity for me to continue to learn the game. Utah State's program speaks for itself with all the success it has had. In 1993-94, Jones played for the Utes. He helped them win the Western Athletic Conference regular season title and get to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. -samuel.hislop@(iggiemail. usu.edu tennis gets home win BY USU ATHLETICS FORMER UNIVERSITY OF UTAH ASSISTANT basketball coach Chris Jones joined the USU men's basketball coaching staff Monday. Jones has been an assistant for the Utes for the past three years. PHOTO COURTESTY USU ATHLETIC MEDIA RELATIONS After a month away from action, the Utah State men's tennis defeated Idaho State, 5-2, Tuesday afternoon at the Sports Academy and Racquet Club in Logan, Utah. USU improves to 5-11 on the year, while ISU falls to 1-11 overall. The Aggies beat the Bengals for the second time this season, as they have now won the last four matches against Idaho State in the past two years. Utah State picked up wins at all three doubles matches and tallied wins in four singles matches for its five points in the match. Aggie sophomore Oscar Ericsson won by default against Javier Royo in the No. 2 singles spot, while senior Jonas Tyden took down ISU's Alex Buceta, 6-0, 6-3. USU junior Matt Braithwaite won in the No. 6 slot, beating David Kutchins, 6-2, 6-1. to clinch the match for the Aggies. Who will replace No. 20? Wilkinson, Wesley, Newbold and Williams offer answers ByMATTSONNENBERG staff writer '.i Next season the Aggie men's basketball team will take the floor without Jaycee Carroll. What is a team to do when they're forced to move on without their all-time leading scorer and backbone of the offense? What about replacing the experience and leadership in running a complicated offense like the one Stew Morrill runs? With so many questions about how to replace a superstar like Carroll, the Aggies will look within themselves for the answers. Those answers may lie in the names Gary Wilkinson, Tai Wesley, Tyler Newbold and Pooh Williams. Each of these four were regular contributors to the eight-man rotation used by Morrill this season—with three of them starting for the majority of the year. Not only would thes~e four alone be GARY WILKINSON more returning players than the Aggies had total returning into the 2007-2008 season, but Wesley, Newbold and Williams would be just the fifth', J. sixth, and seventh high school recruits to play as significant contributorsfof Morrill at Utah State. Up until this-past season, Morrill had relied almost exclusively on recruiting junior college players to come in and contribute year after year while [I See REPLACE, page 10 TAI WESLEY Finishing out the day was USU sophomore Matt Searle battling Jeremy Atkin, as Searle came out with a 2-6, 7-5,10-5 super tiebreaker victory at No. 5. r .) 'IK' Wilkinson! wasted no time making his presence known at USU, earning a starting spot from Day 1, and steadily improving his overall game all the way to a second team All-Western Athletic Conference selection. Wilkinson is the first junior college transfer to come to USU and garner all-conference honors during his first year in Logan since Desmond Penigar was a first team All-Big West selection in 2002. With the entire 2008 All-WAC first team graduating, and the recently announced.departure of Nevada's second team All-WAC player JaVale McGee for the NBA draft, Wilkinson is one of just two players total from the first or second teams eligible to return next season besides Idaho's Jordan Brooks. "He showed a lot of leadership qualities this year as a first year player," USU assistant coach Tim Duryea said of Wilkinson. "He set a tone of accountability and hard work." That hard work seemed to pay off as Wilkinson finished the season GARY WILKINSON vs. Austin Peay. Below, logging a double-double in four of Tyler Newbold dunks against Boise State. the Aggies' last eight games. PATRICK ODEN photos Wesley averaged 11.9 points per game as a starter in 2008, while shooting 64.9 percent from the field. Wesley's 11.9 points per game as a starter would rank as the second-best output by one of Morrill's freshmen, behind only Jaycee Carroll's 14.7 points per game in 2005. Wesley's shooting percentage ranks No. 1 all-time on the career list at USU if he were to qualify for that statistical category. Morrill has compared Wesley's style of play to Harris. The similarities weren't quite as apparent on the stat sheets by the end of the season as Wesley's numbers as a freshman far exceed those of what Harris accomplished in his first year at Utah State. Aside from being a reliable option offensively* Wesley also made very noticeable strides defensively in 2008, leading the team with 33 blocks—including six in the Aggies' victory over San Jose State in the first round of the WAC tournament. Duryea said he is optimistic at the prospects of seeing Wesley play T A I WESLEY vs. San Jose State. after a full offseason to work in the TYLER LARSON photo. Below, freshman strength and conditioning program. Pooh Williams smiles after making a big play in the Spectrum against Louisiana TVLER NEWBOLD Before Nick Hammer's career abruptly ended just before the start of the season, Newbold was set to redshirt the 2008 season. Without Hammer, Newbold was the only choice to fill that void left by Hammer. He did just that and a little more. Newbold was thrust into the starting lineup along with Wesley after the team's 5-5 start to the season. The team righted the ship by winning their next 10 games. While his freshman season wasn't entirely comprised of lighting up scoreboards and stat sheets, Newbold made a solid impact all season on the defensive end of the floor. Offensively, Newbold was a fourth offensive option who got his fair share of open looks from the 3-point line. He capitalized on his opportunities by hitting 52.3 percent of his shots from behind the arc, while averaging 7.3 points per game as a starter. "He's a guy who showed remarkable maturity and remarkable poise," Duryea said. "He has a tremendous basketball 1Q." POOH WILLIAMS Much like Newbold, Williams made the majority of his impact felt on the defensive end of the floor. He was a key contributor in USU s home victory over Nevada, in which he helped hold the Wolf Pack's Marcelus Kemp to just 16 points on 5-of-16 shooting. Duryea said that he felt Williams was the only one of the freshman on an up-tick as the season ended, evidenced by Williams playing his best game of the season in the Aggies' first round NIT game against Illinois State. Duryea said one thing that can't be denied is Williams' athleticism, which he has shown to be very valuable defensively for the sake of both keeping up with players driving to the basket and elevating to contest and/or bloc'k shots. "He's so athletic that he really gives us a different dimension," Duryea said. Maybe Williams1 most capable offensive asset was his ability to edge around defenders as he drove to the basket to score. Tech. CAMERON PETERSON photo Softball game to be Wednesday BY USU ATHLETICS Utah State softball (6-20, 0-5 WAC) will host Utah Valley in a doubleheader on Wednesday, April 2 at LaRee and LeGrand Johnson Field. Action starts at 2 p.m. Utah State is 7-5 all-time against Utah Valley, as the Aggies faced the Wolverines six times last season and four times this season. USU lost the first ever meeting but won the next four, while the Wolverines won the last four match-ups in 2007. Overall, USU was 2-4 against UVU in 2007. The Aggies are 2-0 against the Wolverines this season, having met just one week ago on Tuesday, March 25 in Orem, Utah. USU won, 11-2 after five innings and 8-2. Utah State is 6-20 on the season, after going 3-3 last week against Utah Six Aggie gymnasts in regionals BY USU ATHLETICS Six members of the Aggies' gymnastics squad have been selected to the NCAA North Central Regional meet as individuals, including two all-arounders and four individual specialists. Junior Nicki Felley and sophomore Heather Heinrich were selected as all-arounders, as well as senior Megan Tschida (floor) and freshmen Jasmine Minion (vault), Lyndsie Boone (beam) and Nicole Simoneau (bars). |