The Mountain West Conference announced the 2014 Basketball Tournament format and schedule yesterday. With a little help from ProvoAggie at USUFans.com, we now have actual brackets of both the Men’s and Women’s tournaments as well (see below).

The tournament will be held from March 10-15 in Las Vegas, Nevada at UNLV’s home stadium, the Thomas and Mack Center. The format of both tournaments will consist of three opening round games played by the #6-11 seeds. The winners of those games will advance to face the #1, #2, and #3 seeds in the quarterfinals. The women will open play on Monday March 10th and will play their quarterfinals games on Tuesday March 11th before waiting until Friday to start the semifinals. The Men will play their opening round games on Wednesday March 12, and continue each day until the conference championship game on Saturday.

Men’s Tournament Bracket || PDF Format

Women’s Tournament Bracket || PDF Format

Full Schedule:

MONDAY, MARCH 10
Session #1
Game #1 2:00 p.m. #8 Women’s Seed vs. #9 Women’s Seed
Game#2 4:30 p.m. #7 Women’s Seed vs. #10 Women’s Seed
Game #3 7:00 p.m. #6 Women’s Seed vs. #11 Women’s Seed

TUESDAY, MARCH 11
Session #2
Game #4 12 noon #1 Women’s Seed vs. Game #1 Winner
Game #5 2:30 p.m. #4 Women’s Seed vs. #5 Women’s Seed

Session #3
Game #6 6:00 p.m. #2 Women’s Seed vs. Game #2 Winner
Game #7 8:30 p.m. #3 Women’s Seed vs. Game #3 Winner

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12
Session #4
Game #8 2:00 p.m. #8 Men’s Seed vs. #9 Men’s Seed
Game #9 4:30 p.m. #7 Men’s Seed vs. #10 Men’s Seed
Game #10 7:00 p.m. #6 Men’s Seed vs. #11 Men’s Seed

THURSDAY, MARCH 13
Session #5
Game #11 12 noon #1 Men’s Seed vs. Game #8 Winner
Game #12 2:30 p.m. #4 Men’s Seed vs. #5 Men’s Seed

Session #6
Game #13 6:00 p.m. #2 Men’s Seed vs. Game #9 Winner
Game #14 8:30 p.m. #3 Men’s Seed vs. Game #10 Winner

FRIDAY, MARCH 14
Session #7
Game #15 12 noon Game #4 Winner vs. Game #5 Winner
Game #16 2:30 p.m. Game #6 Winner vs. Game #7 Winner

Session #8
Game #17 6:00 p.m. Game #11 Winner vs. Game #12 Winner
Game #18 8:30 p.m. Game #13 Winner vs. Game #14 Winner

SATURDAY, MARCH 15
Session #9
Game #19 TBD Women’s Championship Game
Game #20 TBD . Men’s Championship Game

It’s that time of year again! Time for the USUFans Big Blue Scholarship Fund Challenge! Our partner site USUFans.com has set up a “USUFans Challenge” to help raise funds for the Big Blue Scholarship Fund. Last year we raised nearly $28,000, and this year’s goal is to increase donations by 10% to reach $30,500. Being an Aggie sports fan has never been better, and it’s the perfect time to show you support our athletes by contributing to their scholarships!

Everyone that donates will receive some Aggie memorabilia, and there are several rewards (prizes) that will be given out in a drawing at the end of the challenge to anyone who donates through the site. Interested in autographed sports cards from Aggie greats? How about a brand new piece of the Aggie Blue turf cut from the end zone in Romney Stadium? Head on over and check it out! Anyone who donates a minimum of $25 will receive a Robert Turbin, Bobby Wagner, and/or Chuck Jacobs rookie card!

USUFans Challenge – BBSF 2013

Aggie fans everywhere rejoice! Our good friend Matt “Fafner” Sonnenberg over at The Sagebrush Spot, and two other die hard Aggie fanatics, Jeff Browning and Josh McDonald have teamed up to put together the greatest Aggie-related podcast ever known to man: The Front Row Show.

I’ve listened to their first 5 episodes and enjoyed them thoroughly. I created a Front Row Show page on USUStats.com that will archive all of the episodes in MP3 format for your downloading and listening pleasure. You can also subscribe to their podcast on iTunes or visit them on Facebook and Twitter.

Check out the latest two episodes for a full preview of the upcoming basketball season, and an exclusive interview with the voice of the Aggies, Al Lewis. Go back further into the archives to hear game recaps from our first two basketball scrimmages and last two or three football games, including a guest appearance by Charlie Riddle, a current Bull Pen front row fan and whiteboard insult composer extraordinaire.

Give it a listen! You will be glad you did. I guarantee it.

Just a quick heads up to head to Lee’s Marketplace today to pick up a grocery bag or coupon card for a $10 ticket to today’s football game vs. Texas State at 1:00 p.m. mountain time at Romney Stadium. Lee’s is located at 555 E. 1400 N. in Logan, very close to the stadium. Come out and support your 7-2 Aggies on their quest remain unbeaten in conference play!

Make your Aggie weekend complete by staying on campus and heading to the Men’s Basketball exhibition contest against Simon Fraser at 7 p.m.

It’s been a while since we’ve had a basketball-related post on here, but I figure it’s about time to catch up.

Here’s what’s happened since we last chatted:

1 – The 2012-13 Summer Prospectus was finally released giving us lots of good info on the upcoming season.

2 – Practice has begun. There is a good writeup on the Official Site with quotes from Coach Morrill, and Preston Medlin. The consensus? Everyone is excited. We’ve got a lot of new faces, and a lot of potential, but no one knows exactly what to expect at this point. It sounds like Stew is excited to see how the pieces will fit this year.

3 – The team photos have been taken and the USUStats.com Pictorial Roster has been updated with the new pics! Not only were the pics updated, but for the first time since this site has existed, there was no shrinkage on the basketball team. And no, I’m not talking about George Costanza shrinkage. I’m talking about the Utah State University height shrinkage phenomenon that we have had for the last several years. Every year recruits and sometimes even current players shave an inch or two off of their height when they receive their official listings.

So what changed from last year to this year? Two players put on some weight. Ben Clifford added 5 pounds to weigh in at 220, and Danny Berger put on THIRTY POUNDS. Can this be right? Last year he was listed at 6-6, 175. This year he’s at 6-6, 205. From what I hear, Danny has really been tearing it up this off-season on the court, so I can only expect that this is good weight.

With practice underway, the team will have a full week to try to learn some plays and get ready for the annual Blue-White scrimmage in the Spectrum.

We’re making one final push to get donations for the Big Blue Scholarship Fund Drive 2012. Today is the last day of the fund drive, so if you haven’t donated yet (or even if you have) please head on over and contribute. There has been no better time to contribute to Utah State Athletics, and we have seen several new donors this year through this effort. Even if you can only give a few bucks, every little bit counts!

Click Here for more information.

Our partner site USUFans.com has set up a “USUFans Challenge” to help in the Big Blue Scholarship Fund 2012 Fund Drive efforts. They have a goal of reaching $4000 in donations, and have several rewards (prizes) that will be given out to anyone who donates through the site.

Interested in autographed sports cards from Aggie greats? Head on over and check it out! Anyone who donates a minimum of $25 will receive a Michael Smith and/or Robert Turbin rookie card!

USUFans Challenge – BBSF 2012 Fund Drive