We’ve heard from several actors in the Danny Berger story, none more important than Utah State Athletics Trainer Mike Williams. Mike had a chance to sit down with KSL’s Tom Kirkland for a segment on Sports Beat Sunday. Mike walks us through exactly what happened with Danny, and shows us the AED (Automated External Defibrillator) that saved Danny’s life. Check it out below.
The last few days have been a roller coaster ride for Aggie Nation, and today I learned of a new twist in the miraculous story of Danny Berger.
As you all know, on Tuesday while participating in practice before traveling down for the in-state clash with BYU, Utah State’s Danny Berger suddenly and unexpectedly collapsed. Berger, who showed no breathing, pulse, or other vital signs was immediately attended to by team trainer Mike Williams. CPR was administered but was not successful in restoring a pulse. Within the first two minutes, Mike Williams used an AED (Automated External Defibrillator) to shock Danny and help him regain a pulse and begin breathing again. Had that device not been available, Danny would most certainly not be with us today.
Thanks to AGGIEFIGHT on USUFans.com I learned today that this device was donated to Utah State University by NBA player Ryan Gomes. Before Gomes made it to the NBA, he had an AAU teammate who passed away after collapsing in a pre game warmup session simply because an AED was not available to save him. Gomes teamed up with a charity known as Hoops for Heart Health with a goal of donating AED’s to schools and Rec centers around the country.
In a special message from Ryan Gomes at the Hoops for Heart Health website, Ryan says:
“I started Hoops For Heart Health to bring together the basketball community in order to raise awareness to the growing problem of Sudden Cardiac Arrest in student athletes,” said Gomes. “If we can save just one life, it makes all of our efforts worthwhile.”
Ryan, your efforts are definitely worthwhile. Danny is now alive and well. On behalf of USUStats.com and Aggie Nation, we thank you and Mike Williams for being heroes. Ryan provided the means, and Mike was there to administer the care that brought Danny back to life giving him a second chance. Thank God for them both.
It’s still early in the season and some of these numbers will likely dip as the season progresses, but it’s still fun to see where our current players stand in the Aggie Record Books. Here’s a breakdown through the first three games of the season:
Danny Berger has been extremely efficient thus far and has taken care of the ball claiming an 8-to-1 Assist-To-Turnover Ratio, placing him #1 all-time in the category. Some may think that this is a fluke this early in the season, but remember that Danny led the team last year in Assist-To-Turnover Ratio with a 2.09 A/TO ratio.
Spencer Butterfield has been deadly from downtown thus far, shooting over 57.1% from downtown. This is good enough to place him #1 all-time in Single Season 3pt FG%. Spencer also has a 2.0 A/TO Ratio placing him tied for 18th place with Justin Jones on the Single Season Assist-To-Turnover Ratio.
Kyisean Reed also has claim to a #1 spot on a Single Season record, posting 2.0 Blocks Per Game thus far this season. Reed is also #8 on the Single Season FG% List, and #14 all-time in Career Blocks.
Preston Medlin keeps adding to his legacy. Preston ranks 9th in Career 3pt FG Made and Career 3pt FG Attempted and 6th in Career 3pt FG%. Preston is also 11th all-time in Career FT%. As far as Single Season records go, Medlin is currently shooting .417 from downtown, good enough for 19th on the Single Season 3pt FG% list. He is yet another Aggie on the current squad to appear on the Assist-To-Turnover list with a 2.50 ratio thus far good enough for #6 all-time.
Jarred Shaw is the first player in several decades to average double digit rebounds. He is currently 19th in Single Season Rebounds Per Game with 10.3 per game. Shaw is also 12th in Single Season FT% shooting over 85% thus far.
TeNale Roland rounds out the list of Aggies in the record books thus far this year claiming the #23 spot in Single Season Assist-To-Turnover Ratio.
It’s finally here! Aggie Basketball GAMEDAY! Tonight at the Spectrum we will get to catch our first glimpse of the 2012-13 Utah State Aggie Basketball team. Tonight’s game will not only be our first exhibition game, but will also act as somewhat of a replacement for the Blue/White Scrimmage event (modified Midnight Madness) that Stew Morrill has held each year since he has been a coach at Utah State. This year’s event was canceled, but to make up for it, tickets for tonight’s game are only FIVE BUCKS (or as always, FREE for students with Student ID)! Talk about a deal! Utah State basketball posters (and likely fridge magnet schedules) will be available at the game. Players will also be available after the contest for signing autographs.
So shell out the five bucks (or get in free as a student), and get yourself and your family up to the Spectrum to kick off the 2012-13 season with a bang.
Save time by getting your tickets online from the Utah State Ticket Office Website, or get them at the gate.
Here are USUStats’s predicted starting five for tonight:
PG – Tenale Roland
SG – Preston Medlin
SF – Danny Berger
PF – Kyisean Reed
C – Jarred Shaw
Watch for large contributions from Marcel Davis, Spencer Butterfield, Jordan Stone and Ben Clifford. I’m also curious to see how well Riley Bradshaw has been learning both the PG and SG slots so far this year. Coach Morrill must have some serious trust in the kid to thrust him into learning two spots in our complex offense. In years past Stew has said that he does not ask this of newcomers for fear of overwhelming them. I think Riley will be up to the challenge.
LET’S GO AGGIES!!!
The season is quickly approaching us and my thoughts are turning more and more to this year’s upcoming squad. I think we are very, very deep this year. More deep than we’ve been for quite some time. I’m curious to see how Stew handles it. As we all know, he likes to get the rotation down to 8-9 guys by the end of the year. It’s going to be hard to do this year, in my opinion.
Here’s how I see the lineups and minute breakdowns:
Point Guard : Roland 20 / Davis 20
I’m not sure what will happen at this position, but I thing both players are very strong. I expect to see Roland start to begin the year, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Doc took over as the year progresses. Either way I think we have a strong 1-2 punch. I’m not sure if either of these guys will immediately be as good as Brockeith was for us, but they will be close, and we will be deeper here than the last couple of years.
Shooting Guard: Medlin 33 / Berger 7
For the past year or so I’ve been saying that Riley Bradshaw would come in and contribute right away and compete for minutes. It’s just hard for me to see how he will do that this coming year with the players that we brought in. Preston Medlin will command at least 32-35 minutes per game. I think he will be a strong candidate for WAC POY. Berger will clean up the minutes here and possibly play some SF as well.
Small Forward : Butterfield 26 / Jean 11 / Berger 3
Spencer Butterfield will be a beast for us. I expect him to be All-WAC this year. Probably 2nd team. You heard it here first. He’s a flat out dead-eye shooter from downtown and with him and Medlin holding down the fort on the wings our opponents will really have to stay out on them, opening up the middle. We’ll have a built in zone-buster. Add to that his ability to drive to the hoop and apparent enjoyment of contact down low and you’ve got a good combination. I know very little about Marvin Jean except that our Staff really likes him and the players I have spoken with all said he’s a baller. I expect he’ll see some time, and Berger could command more minutes than I’m giving him if he performs. He’s the only other wing besides Medlin with experience here.
Power Forward: Reed 24 / Harris 8 / Clifford 8
Reed could command more minutes here, but I’m not sure how consistent he will be this year. He’s also been prone to fouling much like Tai was for us. If he can pull it all together for us and be as consistent on the road as he was at home he could be huge for us this coming year. An All-WAC type player. Sean Harris should see some time here for us if he can stay healthy. I’ve heard good things about him, and expect him to compete for minutes. I expect that either him or Clifford will see minutes at both post positions early in the year until Lopez is available. Ben Clifford will be solid for us as usual and clean up the extra minutes at this position.
Center: Shaw 22 / Harris or Clifford 10 / Lopez 8
This position is very up in the air. I think Shaw will command minutes here based on his size and ability to score. Lopez will be ineligible to play until December and Harris or Clifford will likely have to fill in at this spot some. From what I have seen from Shaw he can flat out score, but seems to be in love with the mid-range jumper game. He’s a finesse type player and I haven’t seen him banging down low at all. In the ratball session that I watched he shot the ball about 9 out of 10 times it touched his hand, but probably made at least 75% of those shots, so I’m not sure I can blame him at all. I’m curious to see what Stew does with him. I don’t remember him being outstanding on the defensive end, but he has all the tools. I wonder how he will do against a big bruiser who loves contact down low. Matt Lopez is a very intriguing prospect as well. His game seems pretty raw at this point, but he has the physical abilities to be great. His defense looked good to me and his passing ability stood out. He made good passes in the correct situations out on the floor. He should develop well for us over the years.
Breakdown by playing time:
Medlin – 33
Butterfield – 26
Reed – 24
Shaw – 22
Roland – 20
Davis – 20
Harris – 13
Clifford – 13
Jean – 11
Berger – 10
Lopez – 8
Redshirt Candidates:
Jordan Stone: Jordan seems like the obvious candidate to redshirt down low for us. He could use the extra time to develop and polish his skills and he has the redshirt available. If Stew feels that we can hold down the fort until December when Lopez comes back I expect he might try this. It also depends on whether or not Harris can stay healthy.
Riley Bradshaw: For the past year or so I’ve been predicting that Bradshaw will make an immediate impact on the squad and command minutes right from the get-go. I’ve backed off a little bit from that stance, and I think he might actually be a decent candidate to redshirt this year. Of course, I’m basing this off of one ratball session that I watched, so I may be way off, but with Butterfield, Medlin, Jean, and Berger, there seems to be some room for a redshirt for Riley. If he were to redshirt this year it would set him up to be a 2 or 3 year starter for us which I think would bode well for our future plans. If Stew decides to go this route, don’t be surprised to see his redshirt pulled mid-season if anyone gets injured.
Quincy Bair: The plan for Bair has been to redshirt for quite some time now. The reviews of his game that I’m hearing are very mixed. I have yet to see him play in person, but it sounds like he has very good defense and the potential to be a very solid player in the future. He will need to work hard this season to develop his game to secure his spot on the team in the future. It will be nice to have another lock-down defender on the wings (of the Pooh / Newbold variety) come 2013-14.
That’s all for now. Agree? Disagree? Hit us up with some comments on here!
It’s that time of year again! Time to try and piece together the team for the upcoming basketball season! We’ve done just that at USUStats.com with our annual “Pictorial Roster“. Check it out by clicking below, and feel free to post questions, comments, or predictions on any of the players you see on the roster.
2012-13 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).
With the WAC tournament beginning tomorrow, let’s take a look at what this year’s players have accomplished in the Utah State Basketball Record Books.
Preston Medlin
Brockeith Pane
Pane needs 7 more assists to enter the Single Season Assists List.
Kyisean Reed
Reed would rank #3 all-time on the Career FG% List, but needs 37 more made FGs to qualify (minimum of 150 made FGs).
Danny Berger
Danny Berger, a 6’7″, 180 pound wing will be joining the Aggie basketball team this year after returning from a 2-year LDS religious mission.
Danny committed to play for Utah State over two years ago, and many Aggie fans may have all but forgotten about him. As such, I decided to put together a quick write-up on the Aggie wing.
Danny played high school ball for North Medford High School in Medford, Oregon and played one year at Chemeketa Community College before leaving on his mission. He averaged 16 points and 5 rebounds per game as a freshman at Chemeketa CC. Danny is known for his shooting prowess and athleticism. He drew the attention of the Utah State coaching staff as he grew 9 inches over a 2 1/2 year span before his mission.
Upon committing, Danny had a lot of good things to say about the Aggie Basketball program in this article from his hometown paper:
“I’m really excited. Obviously they have a rich history of basketball, and when I went out for a campus visit I just liked everything about it.”
“Utah State was one of my No. 1 choices. They have a lot of returning missionaries and people coming and going with that so they’re used to it and they know my situation. It’s going to be really good for me because they’re really considerate of my situation.”
The Aggie coaching staff initially hoped to redshirt Berger, but with Norvell Arnold no longer coming to Logan they may have to reconsider their approach. Most likely either Berger or Adam Thoseby will see playing time this coming year.
Here’s a highlight clip from Berger’s senior year in high school: