Utah State Aggies men's basketball


The Utah State Aggies are a Division I men's college basketball team that plays in the Mountain West Conference, representing Utah State University. In the 17 years that former coach Stew Morrill was at the helm, Utah State had the 4th highest winning percentage in the nation at home, behind only Duke, Kansas, and Gonzaga. As of the end of the 2018-2019 season, the Aggies have an all-time record of 1,604 wins and 1,119 losses.

History

The first basketball team on Utah State's campus was organized in 1902 and consisted of only women. A men's team was organized in 1904, at which point the women's club fell into obscurity.
The Aggies enjoyed mixed success early in their history, notching sporadic NCAA tournament appearances and alternating winning in the then-smaller postseason bracket with not winning much at all. Perhaps the most notable event in Utah State basketball history occurred on February 8, 1965, with the tragic death of Wayne Estes. Estes was a 6'6" forward for the Aggies, and was the nation's second leading scorer in 1965, behind only Rick Barry, at 33.7 ppg. He had just amassed 2,000 career points with a 48-point showing in a home victory over the University of Denver, when he stopped at the scene of a car accident in Logan. While crossing the street, Estes accidentally clipped a downed power line with his head and was electrocuted. His full potential remains unrealized. The Los Angeles Lakers had planned on drafting him in the 1st round of the NBA Draft, where he likely would have gone on to win several championships with the team. Following Estes's death, he was posthumously awarded 1st team All-American honors.
The men's basketball team wasn't adversely affected by the constant shuffling of conference affiliations and independent status that blighted the USU football program throughout the mid-to-late 20th century. The program, however, did endure a lengthy stint as an independent program, from 1937 to 1978—although in that period, basketball independence was not the financial and competitive obstacle that it would become in the ESPN era. All the while, it remained the most resilient and popular sport at USU, enjoying steady success for decades. During the 1960s and '70s, the Aggies spent a great deal of time in both major national polls, finishing the season in the AP Top 25 three times and in the Coaches' Poll Top 25 seven times during those two decades. USU reached the NCAA Sweet 16 in 1962, and the Elite 8 in 1970.
The Aggies haven't performed well in the postseason recently, though their success at the regional level and during the regular season is virtually unmatched. They enjoy a particularly strong home-court advantage at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum, where they are 159-12 in the Morrill era. The Aggies have a difficult time scheduling high-profile opponents, which rarely emerge from the Smith Spectrum victorious. Although that home court has proved not so dominate in the past three years.
Due to the mid-major conference and relatively weak schedule that USU plays each year, the Aggies are often left out of the national spotlight. That being said, their fame continues to grow and spread throughout the country, aided by ESPN appearances, often-epic win streaks, the boisterous Aggie faithful, and the team's statistical rankings. During the 2008-09 season, USU led the nation in field goal percentage with 49.8%. In addition, they were 2nd in win/loss percentage and 5th in assist-to-turnover ratio. Thus far in 2009-10, the Aggies lead the nation in 3-point percentage with an incredible 42.5%.
The Aggies have spent time in the national rankings in two of the last six seasons, reaching as high as #19 in the Coaches' Poll in 2003-04, and #17 in 2008-09. During the 2009-2010, the Aggies reached as high as #26, one spot out of the actual rankings, before falling back to #31 for the postseason poll.
Utah State has also won the Old Oquirrh Bucket nine times, including both of the last two seasons. The Bucket is the award given each year to the best college basketball team in Utah, based on records against in-state opponents.

Post season history

NCAA Tournament

Utah State is 6–23 in its NCAA tournament history. In recent years, the team has won invitations to the tournament in 1998, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2009 and 2010. From 1978 to 2005, Utah State was a member of the Big West Conference. In both 2006 and 2010, the Aggies received at-large bids to the tournament after losing in the WAC tournament championship game. Despite a stellar season in 2003-04 and a national top-25 ranking toward the end of the season, the Aggies did not receive an at-large tournament bid after being upset in the conference tournament, making them the last top-25 team in college basketball to be snubbed from the tournament. This decision earned the derision of coach Morrill, as the Aggies held a 25–3 record along with their ranking.
In 2009, USU won the WAC tournament championship game, defeating Nevada in Reno. The team went on to lose in the first round of the NCAA tournament to Marquette, 58-57. The most recent NCAA Tournament success was a first-round upset over fifth-seeded Ohio State University in 2001.
The 2010 team received an at-large bid from the selection committee after losing in the WAC tournament final to New Mexico State. The 12th-seeded Aggies then lost their opening round game to Texas A&M.
The Aggies would have appeared in the 2020 NCAA Tournament after being champions of the 2020 Mountain West Tournament, however, the NCAA Tournament was cancelled amid the 2020 coronavirus outbreak.
1939Elite Eight
Regional 3rd Place		Oklahoma
Texas		L 39–50
W 51–49
1962Round of 25
Sweet Sixteen
Regional 3rd Place		Arizona State
UCLA
Pepperdine		W 78–73
L 62–73
L 78–88
1963Round of 25Arizona StateL 75–79OT
1964Round of 25
Sweet Sixteen
Regional 3rd Place		Arizona State
San Francisco
Seattle		W 92–90
L 58–64
L 71–75
1970Round of 25
Sweet Sixteen
Elite Eight		UTEP
Santa Clara
  1. 2 UCLA
W 91–81W 69–68
L 79–101
1971Round of 25 BYUL 82–91
1975Round of 32MontanaL 63–68
197910 WRound of 40 USCL 67–86
198011 WRound of 48 ClemsonL 73–76
198310 MWRound of 48 IowaL 59–64
198810 MWRound of 64 VanderbiltL 77–80
199813 WRound of 64 #20 MarylandL 68–82
200012 SRound of 64 #20 ConnecticutL 67–75
200112 ERound of 64
Round of 32		 Ohio State
#15 UCLA		W 77–68OT
L 50–75
200315 WRound of 64 #6 KansasL 61–64
200514 MRound of 64 #9 ArizonaL 53–66
200612 ERound of 64 #17 WashingtonL 61–75
200911 WRound of 64 #23 MarquetteL 57–58
201012 SRound of 64 #23 Texas A&ML 53–69
201112 SRound of 64 #21 Kansas StateL 68–73
20198 MRound of 64 WashingtonL 61–78

NIT

The Aggies have appeared in nine National Invitation Tournaments, with a combined record of 2–9.
1960Quarterfinals
Semifinals
3rd Place Game		Villanova
Providence
St. Bonavneture		W 73–72
L 62–68
W 94–81
1967First RoundRutgersL 76–78
1978First RoundNebraskaL 66–67
1984First RoundSouthwestern LouisianaL 92–94
1995First RoundIllinois StateL 87–93
2002Opening RoundMontana StateL 69–77
2004First RoundHawaiiL 74–85
2007First RoundMichiganL 58–68
2008First RoundIllinois StateL 57–61

CIT

The Aggies have appeared in one CollegeInsider.com Tournament. Their record is 4–1.
2012First Round
Second Round
Quarterfinals
Semifinals
Championship		Cal State Bakerfield
Idaho
Loyola Marymount
Oakland
Mercer		W 75–69
W 76–56
W 77–69
W 105–81
L 67–70

Home-court advantage

Utah State plays its home games at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum, a 10,270-seat arena on the Utah State campus. The Aggies are 453-105 at the Smith Spectrum, which has housed basketball since 1970. Previous to the building of the Spectrum, Utah State's basketball teams played at the George Nelson Fieldhouse on campus. Under head coach Craig Smith, USU is 14-1 at home. Until a surprising early-season loss in 2009, USU boasted the second-longest home win streak in the nation, behind Kansas.
The Smith Spectrum features seats at court level, extremely close to the players. The university also reserves an unusually high percentage of seats, including at court level, for its students. This has aided the USU student section in becoming one of the most notoriously loud and raucous in the nation, with major publicity in recent years. Various sources have called the Smith Spectrum among the hardest places in the nation for opposing teams to play. In the '90s, when his teams were reaching the Final Four and competing at the highest echelons of college basketball, University of Utah coach Rick Majerus called the Smith Spectrum the toughest place in the country for his teams to play. After a February 2010 game at the Smith Spectrum, Wichita State head coach Gregg Marshall said "Utah State has 4000 student tickets and they make some type of impression on the visiting team and it's just a party. It is one heck of a party. It's the best I've ever seen. In many, many years I've been at Duke and Kentucky and UConn and Syracuse and it's clearly the best I've ever seen in terms of atmosphere."
The student section's arsenal owes much to an unofficial pre-game publication called "", which includes dirt on opposing players and coaches, and contains instructions for cheers and chants. One student fan, known as "Wild Bill", has also gained much renown as of late for his unique techniques to distract opposing free throw shooters. Other Utah State traditions are their "I believe that we will win!" chant and "Winning team, losing team" chant that mocks the away losing team in the last seconds of a game.
USU fans also appear in solid numbers at away games, and especially conference tournaments, referring to themselves as the "Spectrum on Wheels".

Retired numbers

Awards

Consensus Second Team All-Americans
Third Team All-Americans
AP Honorable Mention All-Americans
Conference Player of the Year
First Team All-Conference