Medlin’s young career already carrying makings of greatness
As Tai Wesley’s Aggie career came to a close around this time last year, USU fans were left to wonder how long it would be until another player with Wesley’s diverse ability to score, pass, rebound, block and steal the basketball would come along. Turns out, he already had, he was just in street clothes on the USU bench throughout Wesley’s senior year.
When Preston Medlin arrived at USU, depth at the wing positions was a concern after would-be senior Stavon Williams chose to leave the program after a promising junior season. In the mix to be the primary reserve behind solidified starters Tyler Newbold and Pooh Williams was the freshman duo of Medlin and Tyrone White, along with junior college transfer Brian Green. Each guy got his chances early on in the season, and for a while it appeared as though Medlin was the guy making the most of that opportunity with his game-changing performance against BYU in the Cougars’ long-awaited return to the Spectrum during the 2009-10 season.
As that season wore on though, Green’s game evolved to become the superstar presence off the bench that eventually earned him second-team all-WAC honors as a senior. Medlin went on to see very little playing time in the second half of the season after providing a consistent and strong scoring punch for the team early on. To make matters worse, each of the three guys ahead of Medlin were all juniors, meaning the battle for minutes would not get any easier in 2010-11.
Medlin spent last season as a redshirt while the team he had been a crucial part of a year before went on the have the best win percentage in school history. Doing what is best overall for the program seems to be Medlin’s thing though, so it’s hard to doubt he was upset for too long about not playing last season.
Now, Medlin has fully cemented himself as the next big thing of Utah State basketball, achieving first-team all-WAC honors and littering the current Western Athletic Conference statistic rankings with his name. He is just the second player in USU history to earn first-team honors as a sophomore, joining only Nate Harris, who was first-team all-Big West in 2003-04. Medlin’s scoring average of 16.6 points per game this season would rank as the fifth best single season scoring average of any player to play for Stew Morrill at USU, behind only Jaycee Carroll’s junior and senior seasons and the senior years of Nate Harris and Gary Wilkinson. Medlin could still conceivably pass up Harris and Wilkinson too.
Diving deep into the history books, Medlin’s 16.6 points per game average is the highest scoring output by any USU sophomore since Marvin Roberts.
Above all else, Medlin seems to continually strive to want to do what is best for the team. So far he has been asked, and succeeded in contributing as a freshman, redshirting in 2010-11 and stepping up as a leader this season. With that kind of drive to improve the team and coachability, it makes for a very exciting future for the new heart and soul of USU basketball.
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One way left to make this season memorable
If there’s one thing that we learned during Friday’s senior night game against Idaho, it’s that Aggie fans are still dying to go nuts for this team. In a season where the team hasn’t been able to catch a break, even amid this perfect storm of injuries and slumps, Friday night felt like everything that is and has been Utah State basketball under Stew Morrill. The team was running smooth offensively, the USU defense was a seemingly impenetrable fortress and the Spectrum crowd was packed and rowdy.
All of that was the norm for better part of a decade and a half in Logan, but this season has managed to be the exception to that norm. Maybe that’s what made Friday feel so good. It was as if we had back – even just for one night to tide us over during the off-season – the Aggie basketball that we all know and love.
Still, this has been a season loaded with frustration in almost every aspect. The decrease in interest has been evident by the increase in autumn colored seats that remain unoccupied during games deep into the season when attendance has traditionally been its highest. As good of a high note as the team closed out its home season on Friday, the memory remains from the months prior when the team rode its inconsistent play to a .500 record.
There remains just one saving-grace that could cast the achievements of this year’s team in a positive light. If they have been the team to stray from the norm of winning 23 games and dominating conference play, one more stray from the norm could be the best thing that ever happened to them.
Critics of USU’s basketball program have been labeling the Aggies as a team that can’t win games in the NCAA Tournament. Since the last tournament win in 2001, Utah State has been a one-and-done team in six consecutive tournament appearances. There have been several near-victories in tournament games over that span, but getting over that hump has proved to be a difficult task.
If this year’s version of the Aggies were to catch lightning in a bottle and win three games in Las Vegas next week, that will stick in a lot of peoples’ minds as quite an accomplishment. If the team of the long-dreaded down year still made the NCAA Tournament, Utah State’s national perception would likely climb right back to the familiar heights of the past several years.
But to really make this year memorable, just getting to the big dance won’t be enough. The nation will offer up their Kudos for making it to the field of 68, but Aggie fans are all too familiar with just getting there. Another one-and-done, and USU fans will still carry plenty of frustration about a very frustrating season through the summer months.
Is this kind of pressure and demand fair? Maybe not. But in a way, that is the bed that this year’s team has made for itself. To offset the negative feelings toward the program, a major splash is necessary. No matter how many people are currently dying for football season to get here, all eyes would be on the team if the can shock the WAC and claim an NCAA automatic bid. If they can shock one more opponent to land among the final 32 teams in the tournament, people will spend the rest of the off-season talking about how remarkable this team’s resolve was to finally make it back over the NCAA Tournament hump.
If the team plays like they did at home against Idaho, the whole idea doesn’t seem all that crazy.
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Dish up assists, gobble up wins
Despite a pair of solid team victories in the last two games for USU basketball, the team still ranks 230th in the nation in assists per game. The last time a USU team even ranked anywhere in the bottom half of the country in assists, Stew Morrill was coaching at Colorado State, Michael Jordan was playing for the Chicago Bulls and Preston Medlin was in first grade.
Safe to say, the injuries and youth of this team have continually thrown wrenches into the development of team chemistry, and the statistics reflect that just as much as the win total. As bad as the team’s rebounding has been at times throughout this season – something everyone knew would be a major issue once Brady Jardine got hurt – the lack of assists have been the biggest issue holding the team back this year. That showed through when USU still managed to beat Hawaii last week when the team totaled 17 assists against the Warriors, despite getting outrebounded by 20. Up to this point in the year, USU has won just one game all year where their assist total was in single digits. On the flip side of that, single digit assists have been present in every loss but one for the Aggies this season. They’ve also only racked up double-digit assists on the road in one game this season, which is a telling tale of the youth on this team.
At that point, it almost feels as simple as believing the team will win with double-digit assists, and is doomed without reaching that number. The team has averaged 16. 2 assists in wins this year, and just 7.5 in losses. That should tell enough of the story.
In seven of the last nine seasons, Utah State has finished tops in their conference in assists per game as a team. Only three times since the 1997-98 season have they finished below the No. 2 spot and never lower than fifth best. The current mark of 12.2 assists per game stands is seventh best in an eight-team WAC.
The reason this all matters is the same reasons that Morrill’s teams have always managed to excel despite having marginal size and athleticism in comparison to most of the rest of the WAC. What they’ve always lacked in god-given ability, USU teams make up for with high skill levels and an offensive system the demands team play.
Going into this season, USU wasn’t pegged to be far behind, if lacking at all in athleticism. Kyisean Reed, Steven Thornton and Jardine all had the high-flying ability that was such a rarity at USU over the years, while Brockeith Pane’s quickness was a returning threat after a first-team All-WAC season a year ago. Anchoring the middle was Jordan Stone, bringing more size and strength to the middle than arguably any player Morrill has coached at USU.
Enter Murphy’s law.
Thornton parted ways with the team, Jardine got hurt, Pane hit a massive slump and Stone has shown why the coaching staff had hoped to redshirt him this season. Reed has been a solid contributor for the bulk of this season, but with those other shortcomings, this team was forced into a situation where it would need to rely on those old school Morrill philosophies to win some games.
The team has shown flashes of greatness at multiple points this years, but the youthful inexperience has reared its head more often than not, and the assist totals show it.
Really it comes down to one thing: Play by Morrill’s rules, and you’ll rack up assists and win games. It’s a simple process. One can only hope this team hits their stride again like we already saw once at this year’s Gossner’s tournament.