WAC play begins!!!

The Gossner tournament has come and passed and now we are prepared to defend our WAC title. After a great Christmas break, practice is now focused towards a confident Hawaii team that is looking to beat us in the conference opener. This time of year is fun because the games become more and more meaningful. The Spectrum will be the place to be during the next few months. We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and that the fans are as excited as we are to start conference play once again.

--Tyler Newbold

Basketball and Christmas

With a 7-2 start we feel pretty good with where we are at right now. We wish we could be 9-0 but we have not played well enough to deserve that start. We have been taking advantage of practice time after the Bakersfield game to prepare ourselves for the last part of preseason. Better offensive execution and a more consistent defensive presence are big things we have been fine-tuning in preparation for the Utah Valley game on Saturday. Our biggest goal is to be WAC Champions and we are doing our best right now so that as the year continues we will be playing our best basketball at the end of the season. We are extremely excited to be out of school and enjoying the Christmas season full of basketball games!!

-- Tyler Newbold

Utah Game

Three straight in-state games down and one to go tonight against Utah has given the team a chance to see where we are at early in the season. We have played decent in all our games but we must continue to get better in several areas. Free throw shooting is an area we need to improve and we will improve to help win games down the stretch. The BYU loss was tough but as athletes we are learning from the game to improve ourselves for the future. We are excited to compete and when we are executing well we can play with anyone. The team is getting better each day and we must continue to improve to compete with tough competition on our early season schedule. The team looks forward for the Spectrum to be rocking tonight even with the horrible weather and many students being gone. GO AGGIES!!!

-- Tyler Newbold

IT BEGINS!!

Everything that players do in the offseason is for a specific purpose. That purpose begins on Saturday night as we kick off our season against Weber State at home. All of the extra shots in the summer and hard work to improve lead up to this moment. We are so excited to start our regular season!! We are very excited about our schedule that will challenge us and help us get better. We want everyone to know that we are doing all that we can to be a good basketball team and our hope is to become the best we can be. We start out the season with four-straight in-state rivalry games. These games will test us early and often as we start off against Weber State who is picked to win their conference. Let’s have the Spectrum rocking this year again!! Let the games begin!!

-- Tyler Newbold

Getting Ready To Play

We have been practicing hard and improving everyday since practice has started. We are very excited to get the season going. The coaches are working hard to help us improve so that we have a chance to win a lot of games this season. Practices have been intense and we must continue to keep it that way as we have a big bulls-eye on our backs in the WAC and we will get everyone’s best game. We must always practice at a high level so that we can play at a high level. On Saturday we had our first exhibition game against Laval. There were a lot of things we did well against them but we also have a lot of things we must improve on to be a great team. We are improving everyday on the little things that transform good teams into great teams. We have a great schedule this year with a lot of tough games that will test us early and often, so we must have urgency to get things done and improve quickly. We are excited to play and we are getting ready to go. We are excited for the buzz in the air, and that people are getting excited about Aggie Basketball!!

--Tyler Newbold

Conditioning and Recruiting

The team is working hard as we are three weeks into our preseason conditioning program. Our strength and conditioning coach Evan Simon is working us very hard and it will pay off once the season starts. The better shape we are in, the stronger we will play down the stretch of games!! We are excited that the schedule has been released! We have many fun in-state games as well as some awesome non-conference games on the slate. During the last few weeks the coaches have been working hard along with the team hosting recruits over the weekends. The recruits are very talented and hopefully we have helped them to know what Utah State basketball is all about. The Spectrum is going to be rocking this year and we want to make this year one to remember for Utah State Basketball.

I am excited for this Friday’s football game vs BYU where we will be hosting a recruit!! Go Aggies!!

--Tyler Newbold

Fall semester is here!!

During the summer we worked extremely hard in the
weight room with Evan Simon, our strength and conditioning coach. Many of
us have taken summer classes and have gotten ahead that way. Brady Jardine
and I took a business statistics class that about killed us but we got
out alive with good grades!! The team is so excited for this upcoming
season with a mixture of new players and a load of returners!! The 2010-2011
season will be one to remember!! -- Tyler Newbold #24

Grateful for the Season

We were very disappointed in not playing as well as we can in the last few games of our season, but we still had a successful season nonetheless. We won a WAC Championship and came a long way during the course of the season.

We were so thankful to all of our wonderful fans who packed the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum and traveled on the road. We are grateful also for those fans who watch and listen to the radio. Aggie Basketball is strong and will continue to get stronger as myself and my teammates buy into what the coaches want and execute our very best.

We have a banquet on April 14 to celebrate another great year. I still have one more year left and I am excited to be able to play. College basketball is so much fun and we have already started preparing for next year in the weight room. Go Aggies!!

-Tyler Newbold

WAC & NCAA Tournaments

Losing in the title game of the WAC Tournament was a tough deal. New Mexico State played a great game and they deserved to beat us because we did not make enough plays. On Sunday we got back to the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum a little later than usual. We missed the whole first bracket as we sprinted into our locker room so we could watch the Selection Show. Our nerves were very high as we saw a lot of bubble teams get in before us. With only the South Bracket left we were going crazy. As soon as we saw Utah State as the 12th-seed we erupted. We are so excited to go play Texas A&M in Spokane.

We are very happy to be in Spokane so that many of our fans can come and we hope to give everyone a good showing. We have a lot of experience from last year’s team so hopefully we can do damage in the tournament. We had a great year and deserved to be in the NCAA Tournament and now we are focused on winning and continuing our great season.

-Tyler Newbold

Back to Back to Back WAC CHAMPS!

Beating New Mexico State and winning the WAC Championship was incredible. We accomplished what we set out for at the beginning of the season. We had a blast cutting down the nets and celebrating on the court with the students and others. Being a part of a team that has won three championships in a row is great! We are so happy for all the support we have received at home this year.

The Dee Glen Smith Spectrum is a special place and the greatest venue in the nation. It was also a great way to send Jared Quayle out. He is such a good person and an amazing player.

Now we are so excited to keep this momentum going. We are going to continue to work hard because we want to win the WAC Tournament as well. We are excited for postseason and hope we can do damage and show what Utah State basketball is all about!! -Tyler Newbold

Happy in Hawaii

We had a great time in Hawaii. We were able to spend some time on the beach the day before the game. We all got in the ocean for a little while and it felt great. Knowing it was freezing back in Logan made it feel even better I think. The game went really well. We got the win and that's all that matters on the road. We did not play great on offense but we played good defense and we got some separation in the second half. After the game we took the late flight home. We left Hawaii at 10:15 p.m. and we arrived in Logan around 9 a.m. It was a quick trip but very enjoyable.

We have put our team in

a position to clinch a share of the WAC Championship on Monday against Fresno State. Any team would love the position we are in. We want to win these last two games so that we can be WAC Champs for the third straight year. We are so happy that we are playing so well at the most important time of the season. This next week is going to be a blast and hopefully we can make it memorable for everyone.

Go Aggies!

-Tyler Newbold

Winning Streak

We have won four games since I last wrote. We have continued to get better as we have had big wins against Idaho, Nevada, Boise State and San Jose State. We are 10-2 in WAC play and excited because we control our own destiny right now with a one-game lead. We played excited and extremely hard at San Jose. All five starters were in double-figures and we showed how tough we are to beat when we are so balanced like that. San Jose did not lose in conference at home till we beat them.

I was excited to see so many Aggie fans in San Jose and Boise. My parents made the trip as well which made this trip very fun. The Spectrum on Wheels is represented everywhere we go. Brady broke a bone in his face during the San Jose game which really sucks, but it won't keep him out of any games. He has to wear a mask which he got fitted for. We are so glad he can still play.

We are excited for the Louisiana Tech game. It is a huge game in the conference race for both teams. They killed us the last time we played them and we will be looking to even the series with them. It is going to be a blast and hopefully we can put on a good show. The Spectrum better be ready to go!! I know we will!!

-Tyler Newbold

In the Middle of a Conference Race

The team is excited after we beat San Jose State. We knew the game would be tough because San Jose had been playing well. In the second half we were able to pull away because of the tough defense we played. When we are playing well on defense we are a very tough team to beat. We also had sweet games from Brady and Nate that gave us a huge lift against the four guard lineup San Jose was playing.

We are in the middle of a conference race and we are excited about it. New Mexico State, Louisiana Tech and Utah State are all tied up at 6-2. We now begin the second half of conference season. The games are going to be intense.

ESPN will be seen at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum a lot during February. This will be a wonderful opportunity for us to play on national television as we compete for a conference title. Right now we are focused on becoming better every day and trying to win the next game we play. We play Idaho Wednesday night at 9 on ESPN2.

-Tyler Newbold

On the Road

I am writing this post from Moscow, Idaho where we are preparing to face a dangerous Idaho team tomorrow night. This trip has been a really great one so far as we got a big road win at Fresno State. The game at Fresno went really well as we executed and played hard and got the W. Since our loss to Louisana Tech we have won 4 straight WAC games and we have been playing our best basketball of the season. We got a huge road win at Nevada where we played through a 10 point deficit late in the game and pulled it out in the end. That win was huge for us and felt great!! Road wins are very difficult to get no matter who we are going up against in the WAC.

This game against Idaho tomorrow night is the ultimate chess match. With Coach Verlin being the head coach at Idaho it always makes for a very tough battle. The Vandals always have a great game plan when facing us. It will be very important for us to keep our composure and execute through whatever they throw at us. We are very excited to play tomorrow night and we really hope to give Coach Morrill his 500^th win.

-Tyler Newbold

A Great Win

We have had a great week of practice and we were able to get a really good win last night against Hawai'i. We need to take the same aggressiveness and determination to play Nevada on Wednesday. The shots last night were falling and we are eager to take that on the road too. We are excited to play three games this week and we are focused on getting better and trying to have fun and get the W's.

-Tyler Newbold

Tournament & Upcoming Challenges

The Gossner Tournament was a great success for our team as we have improved in a lot of areas. We were able to get all three wins and got positive contributions from everyone on the team. After the tournament we were all able to go home for Christmas which was very nice. We had to be back in Logan on December 27 for practice. The Christmas break always goes very quickly. We are all grateful for the little break we get to be with our family and friends.

We beat Western Oregon after getting back from the break and then we leave for Las Cruces to start WAC play against New Mexico State followed by a game at Louisiana Tech. Both of these games will be big tests for us. Both of these teams are very athletic and will be a challenge for us. We must play great defense and execute our offensive sets extremely well to have a chance to win. We are excited for the challenge of defending the WAC title and starting that on the road. We are also excited to play on ESPNU and hope that as many people as possible will watch us play!!

-Tyler Newbold