The Official Utah State Athletics Website has released the 2011-12 Men’s Basketball Media Guide. Download the PDF version of the guide to browse through player bios, opponent breakdowns, Utah State record books, and more!
Also feel free to browse previous media guides in our Media Guide Archive.
The are Aggie fans, and there are AGGIE FANS. Our good friend Matt “Fafner” Sonnenberg definitely falls into the second category. After spending several years sitting on the front row of Section F in the Spectrum (also known as “The Bullpen”), Fafner has graduated and moved on. Luckily for us, he’s still a rabid Aggie fan, and has created a blog!
Fafner was the main force behind several amazing endeavors at Utah State. When he wasn’t writing new issues of The Refraction or The Bull Sheet, he was coming up with new and amazing ways to coordinate the chaos in the Spectrum and at Romney Stadium. Here are a couple of the by-products of that effort:
Head on over to the new blog and check out the latest Aggie news, all written in a familiar style by an Aggie legend!
The last issue of the Bull Sheet was a precursor to Utah State scoring touchdowns on it’s first 9 drives of the game, thrashing the Wyoming Cowboys 63-19. Let’s hope for more of the same result this week against The Louisiana Tech Bulldogs. After last week’s disappointing loss to Fresno State, this week’s Bull Sheet revisits an unfortunate topic “Bad Dave” (Baldwin). Also read about Ry Bay’s epic new football into video, our chances of going bowling this year, the latest in the #Occupy movement, #OccupyRomney, and as always, a game preview and scouting report of LA Tech.
http://www.usustats.com/bullsheet/
If you like what you see, please use the “Donate” link to contribute to printing costs. The Bull Sheet / Refraction crew have to pay out of their own pocket to print this thing. Any donations are greatly appreciated.
The season is almost upon us, and one of my favorite yearly publications has hit the press! The Utah Statesman has released their annual Basketball Preview Edition, an entire newspaper dedicated to Aggie Basketball. And this year we have an electronic PDF copy! What could be better?
Check it out by clicking the image to the left.
The 2011-12 Utah State Men’s Basketball Team is ready to roll. The Official Utah State Athletics Site was recently updated with current photos and stats on each player. If you’d like to see a pleasing-to-the eye, one page overview of all the players and their pictures without having to click 17 different links, we’ve also updated our “Pictorial Roster” here at USUStats.com!
Here’s a quick breakdown of what has changed:
Danny Berger – Lost 1 inch and 5 lbs
Mitch Bruneel – No change
Antonio Bumpus – No change
Ben Clifford – Lost 1 inch
David Collette – No change
E.J. Farris – Lost 5 lbs
Morgan Grim – Lost 1 inch, gained 10 lbs
Brady Jardine – No change
Preston Medlin – Gained 5 lbs
Sam Orchard – No change
Brockeith Pane – Lost 1 inch
Igor Premasunac – Lost 1 inch
Kyisean Reed – Lost 1 inch
Jarred Shaw – No change
Jordan Stone – Lost 1 inch
Steven Thornton – Lost 1 inch
Adam Thoseby – No change
Shrinkage
Anyone noticing a trend? The shrinkage continues up in Logan. In years past, new recruits would see a drop in their listed height upon arriving on Logan. Many have attributed this to a strict measuring system. However, this year it’s even wreaking havoc on players who were Aggies last year! Is the water in Logan to blame?
Overall this year’s team shrunk a total of 8 inches, and gained a net of 5 pounds.
Check out the updated roster by clicking below, and feel free to post questions, comments, or predictions on any of the players you see on the roster.
2011-12 Utah State Basketball Pictorial Roster
Also feel free to reminisce and check out the rosters from past seasons by changing the season in the drop down box at the top of the page (once you click the link above).
Last week’s football game against Wyoming played host to several Utah State recruits (both basketball and football). While to football team garnered two new commitments in the locker room after the game, the Aggie Basketball team brought in four recruits as well.
Three of these recruits have been committed to Utah State for quite some time, specifically, Riley Bradshaw, Quincy Bair, and Marcel Davis. That trio will be joining the team for the 2012-13 season after completing their senior seasons in high school this year. The fourth basketball recruit that was on campus this weekend was 6-foot-7 junior Forward/Center Eric Mika.
Eric Mika played his first two high school basketball seasons at 2A Waterford High School, a private high school located in Sandy, Utah. As a Sophomore, Mika averaged 18 points and 11 rebounds per game, leading his team to the 2A state championship game where they came up just short in a 38-37 loss to South Summit.
Over the summer Mika decided to make the move to Lone Peak High School, a 5A public school located in Highland, Utah. Lone Peak is a powerhouse basketball school that took the 5A state crown this past year. Despite the fact that Eric lives within the school boundaries, and was moving from a private school to a public school closer to his home, a three-member panel from Utah High School Activities Association’s (UHSAA) executive committee decided (unanimously) to deny Eric eligibility to participate in basketball this coming season.
The UHSAA’s transfer rule stipulates that a player must demonstrate a “hardship” in order to be granted eligibility in athletics when transferring schools. Eric’s hardship waiver was requested due to the fact that he had to commute to Waterford, attend early morning seminary classes, and share a gym with the girls team after school leading to later, and longer practice times. His school days were regularly 12-15 hours long. This was apparently not enough to convince the three-member panel to grant him eligibility.
Eric has two D1 offers in the bag already, one from Utah State, and the other from Weber State. Unfortunately for Eric, and the teams recruiting him, it looks like he won’t be seeing any action on a basketball court this school year.
If you’ve been following the football team this year (who hasn’t?), you are probably slightly disappointed in the current win/loss record (understatement?). This week’s Bull Sheet has got your back. The Bull Sheet / Refraction crew put our current win/loss record into perspective with the tremendous talent and potential that this team has in another great edition of The Bull Sheet. Read about Robert Turbin, Bobby Wagner, and the overall team’s national rankings, and check out a scouting report of the Wyoming Cowboys. Also, remember that 2012 Basketball commits Riley Bradshaw, Marcel Davis, and Quincy Bair will all be in attendance at the game on Saturday night. Also in attendance will be new 2013 recruit Eric Mika from Lone Peak High School. Let’s be sure to give them a warm welcome and show them what being an Aggie is all about!
http://www.usustats.com/bullsheet/
If you like what you see please use the “Donate” link to contribute to printing costs. The Bull Sheet / Refraction crew have to pay out of their own pocket to print this thing. Any donations are greatly appreciated.
As the weather gets colder, the leaves begin falling from the trees, and college football is in full swing, that can only mean one thing for Aggie Basketball fans… The season is arriving!!
The Summer Prospectus has been out for a couple of months now, but I decided to break it down a little bit and give my opinion on each position and player for this upcoming year. Here goes:
Point Guards
Brockeith Pane
E.J. Farris
Sam Orchard
This one is easy… Pane will start and Farris will back him up. Barring injury to either of them, walk-on Sam Orchard will redshirt.
Shooting Guards
Antonio Bumpus
Preston Medlin
Danny Berger (will redshirt)
Bumpus (if healthy) and Medlin will play. Barring injuries to other players, Berger will redshirt.
Small Forwards
Mitch Bruneel
Steven Thornton
Adam Thoseby (possible redshirt)
Bruneel will play (likely start). Don’t know what to expect out of Thornton or Thoseby. Wouldn’t be surprised to see a Bumpus/Medlin/Bruneel 3-man rotation on the wing similar to what we had last year with Williams/Newbold/Green. Would be nice to be able to utilize Thornton or Thoseby at times for a little depth .
Power Forwards
Brady Jardine
Kyisean Reed
Igor Premasunac
Morgan Grim
Ben Clifford
David Collette (will redshirt)
Centers
Jordan Stone (possible redshirt)
Jarred Shaw (required redshirt)
Jarred Shaw will be required to sit out this year (and will redshirt) after transferring from Oklahoma State University. So, the only way we play a true center is if Stone plays this year. I’m not sure if he will play, but even if he does, I doubt he will be starting from day one, so we will likely play two PFs as we have done so often in the past. Likely it will be Jardine and Reed. After those two, I really don’t know who will be third in line. We know what to expect from Grim, but I have no idea about Premasunac or Clifford. Of those three, I’m most excited for Clifford. David Collette will redshirt this season.
The lineup possibilities are nearly endless here, especially if Stone plays this year. Here are a couple intriguing ones:
Likely Starting Lineup:
PG – Pane
SG – Medlin
SF – Bruneel
PF – Jardine
PF – Reed
I Bumpus is healthy, it will be a toss-up on who starts at the wing between Medlin/Bruneel/Bumpus. If not, it will be Medlin and Bruneel.
Go Big:
PG – Pane
SG – Medlin
SF – Reed (if Stew lets him see minutes as a wing)
PF – Jardine
C – Stone
Go Small:
PG – Pane
SG – Bumpus
SF – Bruneel
PF – Jardine
PF – Reed
News broke a couple of weeks ago that Utah State received a commitment from a JC power forward Sean Harris. Now, I know you may be thinking: “The Aggies recruit LDS missionaries? I thought that was just BYU!!?” but before you get too far, the image to the left may not be what you think it is.
After completing one year of Junior College at Yuba College in California, Harris left to Honduras on an religious mission. While on his mission he committed to Bradley University (thus the photo to the left). However, shortly thereafter, coach Jim Les was released from his duties as Bradley’s head coach, and Harris decided to re-open his recruitment. As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Harris grew up a BYU fan, and was very interested in playing in the state of Utah. Upon returning home from his mission, Harris was recruited by both BYU and Utah State, as well as several other D1 schools including Idaho, UC Santa Barbara, and UC Davis. After taking an official visit to Utah State to take in the Utah State vs. Weber State football game on September 10th, Harris decided to look no further, and committed to the Aggies.
Sean graduated from Rocklin High School in Rocklin, CA as a 6-6 forward. He was named the team MVP his senior year averaging 16.6 points, 8.6 rebounds, 2.6 steals and 2 blocks per game. He then moved to Yuba College leading his team to a 32-4 record while averaging 14.9 points and 11.7 rebounds per game. Harris was once again named team MVP, and was the runner up Bay Valley Conference Player of the Year as a freshman.
Since then, Harris has grown a couple of inches and is now listed at 6-8, 200lbs.
Parsing The WAC put up a good article on Harris with the following quote from his head coach at Yuba College, Doug Cornelius:
Sean hasn’t played in three years but is an extremely hardworking kid with a high motor. I call him a skilled four, someone skilled and strong who really runs the court. He has put on 15-20 pounds of muscle and is going to be a really hard matchup but first he needs to get his legs back.
In an interview with Aggieville’s Tony Jones, Cornelius had the following to say:
“He loves that Utah State is a top-25 team almost every year,” Cornelius told the Tribune. “He visited there, and he thought it was a great fit. He got along well with the guys and he loved it there. He’s a big forward, the ultimate four man. He’ll be about 220 pounds by the time he gets to Utah State. The fans there are going to love how hard he plays. He’s relentless.”
“I think he can be really successful there,” Cornelius said. “He can challenge for a starting spot right away. With his skill set and how hard he plays, he can be really good for them.”
With Brady Jardine graduating after this year a lot of playing time will become available down low for the 2012-13 season. It appears that Sean will be competing for time in the post with highly touted Oklahoma State transfer Jarred Shaw, Ben Clifford, Kyisean Reed, Igor Premasunac, and likely redshirt freshman Jordan Stone, none of which have yet to play a minute in an Aggie uniform. Shaw, Premasunac, and Stone will play more of a true center position while Clifford and Reed will most likely be Harris’s main competition for playing time at the power forward slot. It should be very interesting to see how it all shakes out next season. By this time next year, things will likely be much more clearly defined.
Here’s our updated roster for 2012-13 (with a few redshirt assumptions mixed in):
2012-13
1 – Antonio Bumpus (Sr.)
2 – Kyisean Reed (Sr.)
3 – E.J. Farris (Sr.)
4 – Igor Premasunac (Sr.)
5 – Preston Medlin (Jr.)
6 – Mitch Bruneel (Jr.)
7 – Jarred Shaw (RS Jr.)
8 – Sean Harris (Jr.)
9 – Danny Berger (RS So.)
10 – Ben Clifford (So.)
11 – Steven Thornton (So.)
12 – Adam Thoseby (So.)
13 – Jordan Stone (RS Fr.)
14 – Marcel Davis (Fr.) (Verballed 6/19/10)
15 – Quincy Bair (Fr.) (Verballed 7/3/10)
16 – Riley Bradshaw (Fr.) (Verballed 4/28/11)
On Missions during 2012-13 season: David Collette, Casey Oliverson, Sam Orchard
After a long bye week it’s time for some Aggie Football this weekend! The Bull Sheet / Refraction staff have treated us with another edition of The Bull Sheet, Romney Stadium’s Premier Belligerent Game-Day Newsletter. This Colorado State Edition includes a review of the WAC performances thus far, a look ahead to our contest against BYU in Provo next weekend and a recap on their EPIC FAIL this past week, Good Dave / Bad Dave (Baldwin) revisited, and as always a scouting report on the Rams. Check it out!
http://www.usustats.com/bullsheet/
If you like what you see please use the “Donate” link to contribute to printing costs. The Bull Sheet / Refraction crew have to pay out of their own pocket to print this thing. Any donations are greatly appreciated.