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Show Basketball Preview Special, Fall 2010 Page 8 *Outlook Continued from page 6 percent from the field to rank second in the league. Medlin appeared in 22 games as a true freshman and averaged 3.7 points in 10.6 minutes of action per game, while shooting 40.9 percent from the field and 37.5 percent from three-point range. Even with all the experience and depth returning for Utah State this year, Morrill and the Aggies will have to find a quality replacement at the point after losing both of its letterwinners from a year ago in Jared Quayle and Jaxon Myaer. Quayle earned first-team all-WAC honors as a senior as he averaged 12.4 points, 6.2 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game, and Myaer played in 66 games during his two years at USU as he averaged 2.7 points before transferring to Montana State-Billings. The two newcomers who will replace Quayle and Myaer at the point are junior college transfer Brockeith Pane and freshman James Walker III, and both bring a tremendous amount of talent and potential to the table. Pane averaged 12.0 points and 2.9 assists at Midland (Texas) Junior College as he earned first-team all-conference and all-district honors, while Walker III averaged 19.7 points and 8.0 rebounds at Los Alamitos (Calif.) High School during his senior year as he was named the Sunset League's Player of the Year two straight years. "It's pretty obvious with what we have returning off a WAC Championship team that its natural to look at the point guard position as being a big key for this season," Morrill said. "We do feel confident that we've addressed that position in our recruiting, but until players adjust to our system and this level you're never certain how it will all work out. I do want all our new players, but especially our point guards, to know I am confident in their abilities and unselfishness, and I feel like they will be very productive with this group of veterans." Even with all the hype surrounding Pane and Walker III, Utah State's 2010 recruiting class is much deeper and much more talented as it also added a junior college All-American in Antonio Bumpus, to go along with two highly-touted prep players in Ben Clifford and Leon Cooper, Jr. Bumpus earned thirdteam NJCAA All-American honors both years at Harcum (Pa.) College and averaged 18.3 points and 4.9 rebounds per game during his sophomore season. Clifford earned first-team all-state honors as a senior at Bingham High School in South Jordan, Utah as he averaged 16.6 points. And Cooper, Jr., earned first-team all-state honors as a prep senior at Sunrise Christian Academy in Wichita, Kan., as he averaged 18.3 points, 4.6 assists and 3.8 steals per game. "We are certainly optimistic on the future of this recruiting class, but I am also a believer that the proof is in their production," Morrill said. "I've never bragged much about players until they show what they can do at our level. With that being said, I think we've added athleticism and skill for the present as well as the future with this class. I will be surprised if we don't look back and feel like it was a very good group recruited to Utah State this year." Joining the list of newcomers will be two walk-ons in sophomore guard E.J. Farris and freshman forward Brad Brown. Farris sat out the 2009-10 season after averaging 12.0 points as a freshman at the College of Sequoias. Brown redshirted at Utah State during the 2007-08 season before leaving for a two-year LDS Church Mission. As a prep senior at Orono (Minn.) High School he averaged 13.0 points, 5.0 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game. 411 Matt Forraisano Schedule /=011 1 APNEA I =it Utah State will play a total of 31 games during the regular season, which includes five contests against in-state opponents and a minimum of 11 games against postseason teams from a year ago. Highlighting Utah State's non-conference schedule will be a game against Big East Conference power Georgetown on Saturday, Dec. 4 in Washington, D.C. It will be the Aggies first regular season matchup against a BCS school since defeating Iowa, 75-62, in the 2007 South Padre Island Invitational. It is also the first time USU has traveled to a BCS school during the regular season since it played at Rutgers during the 1992-93 campaign. Utah State's game with Georgetown will be the first-ever meeting between the two teams. Overall, Utah State's non-conference schedule consists of five games against postseason teams from a year ago as it will host Northeastern, Troy and Weber State, and play at Brigham Young along with its game at Georgetown. Both the Cougars and Hoyas played in the NCAA Tournament a year ago, while Northeastern, Troy and Weber State all participated in the National Invitational Tournament (NIT) in 2010. USU will also host Utah at home during the preseason, a team that advanced to the NCAA Tournament two years ago. In all, Utah State's non-conference schedule consists of nine teams with winning records in 2010, including six who won at least 20 games. Other postseason teams from the 2009-10 season on Utah State's schedule include New Mexico State who played in the NCAA Tournament, Nevada who played in the NIT, and Louisiana Tech who played in the Collegelnsider.com Tournament. After playing exhibition games against Universite Laval and Grand Canyon University on Oct. 30 and Nov. 5, respectively, Utah State will open the season with four straight in-state games including its season opener at home against Weber State on Saturday, Nov. 13. USU will then play at BYU on Wednesday, Nov. 17 and at Southern Utah on Saturday, Nov. 20 before hosting Utah on Wednesday, Nov. 24. The Aggies will conclude the month of November at home against Northeastern on Saturday, Nov. 27. Utah State will begin the month of December with a pair of road games at Denver and Georgetown on Wednesday, Dec. 1 and Saturday, Dec. 4, respectively, before returning home to host Long Beach State and Cal State Bakersfield on Tuesday, Dec. 7 and Saturday, Dec. 11. USU will then play its final road game of the preseason on Saturday, Dec. 18 at Utah Valley followed by home games against Idaho State, Western Michigan and Troy in the 2010 World Vision Invitational sponsored by Gossner Foods which runs from Tuesday, Dec. 21 through Thursday, Dec. 23. Following the Christmas Holiday, Utah State will remain home and begin its quest for a fourth-straight Western Athletic Conference regular season title on Wednesday, Dec. 29 against Hawai'i, followed by a New Year's Eve matchup versus San Jose State in the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum. Utah State will have just two home games during the month of January as it faces Louisiana Tech on Thursday, Jan. 20 and hosts New Mexico State on Saturday, Jan. 22. USU returns home on Wednesday, Feb. 2 against Nevada and then plays Boise State at home on Saturday, Feb. 5. The Aggies also have a home game against Fresno State on Saturday, Feb. 12 before stepping out of league to host Montana Western on Wednesday, Feb. 16. Utah State will play its final home game of the regular season on Saturday, Feb. 26 against Idaho and conclude regular season play on the road against Louisiana Tech on Saturday, Mar. 5. Utah State will also participate in the annual ESPN BracketBusters for the sixthstraight year and travel to an opponent to be determined on Saturday, Feb. 19. The 2011 WAC Tournament will be held at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas from Mar. 9-12. This year's tournament will have a different format and will reward teams based on regular season success, giving the top two teams byes into the tournament semifinals. Under the format, the tournament will begin on Wednesday with two men's and two women's games featuring the No. 5 seed against the No. 8 seed and No. 6 versus No. 7. The winners then advance to Thursday's quarterfinal matchups to play the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds. The winners of those games then advance to Friday's semifinals against the top two seeds, with both championship games being played on Saturday. |