You'd be hard-pressed to find a place where the coach is more appreciated, too. Morrill is working on an almost unheard-of 10-year contract.

Now that the Aggies are moving into the WAC next year, their outlook could improve even more. In the Big West, a team must win the conference tournament to make the NCAA field. Last year USU won 25 games; in 2002 it won 23. Yet in both cases it was ignored by the NCAA selection committee. The crime: losing in the Big West tournament.

The WAC is much more likely to place two teams in the field.

This doesn't mean USU and Morrill can rest on their record.

Clearly this is a good time to step into a different realm. Disappointed over NIT bids in 2002 and 2004, the Aggies folded up and lost in the first round both years. They have advanced beyond the first round of the NCAA tournament just once since 1970, and even then (2001) they only made it to the second round.

Under Morrill, their combined NCAA tourney and NIT record is 1-5.

So even in this golden era, there is room for improvement.

There's an idiom that says there is no such thing as standing still; if you aren't moving ahead, you're falling back. In the Aggies' case, then, it's time to move on. No sense getting in a rut. NIT bids and first-round NCAA exits are fine, but how about doing something in the postseason this year?

There.

That should give them something to Stew about.

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E-mail: rock@desnews.com