Utah State basketball: Ags looking for respect in NCAAs

Playing in the post season is nothing new for Utah State. After all, the Aggies have had 10 straight seasons with 23-plus wins and a spot in either the NCAA Tournament or NIT.

Winning in the post season, on the other hand, is something the 30-4 Aggies have had precious little experience with.

It's a trend Utah State would dearly like to stop.

But this year USU is in a slightly different situation. The Aggies have their highest seed since 1988 and face an opponent that — although a fifth-place finisher in arguably the toughest conference in the nation — is going through some struggles.

Utah State, hopeful to take another step toward national respectability, knows it needs to get a few post-season wins.

"They need to know that we need to go compete and believe that we can go compete," USU coach Stew Morrill said. "In our experiences in the NCAA Tournament, for the most part, we've been very, very competitive. We haven't won a game for a while, but we've had a lot of opportunities to compete."

Gonzaga is widely considered the standard-bearer for mid-major teams hoping to make more than regional noise. But even with frequent 25-win seasons, the Bulldogs weren't able to make the transition from the "little program that could" until they won a game or two in the NCAA Tournament.

It's a path the Aggies want to follow.

"We were ahead at the half (against Arizona in 2005) and we took Kansas to the wire (in 2003) and a win over Ohio State (in 2001)," Morrill said.

"There's a lot of things that happen in the NCAA Tournaments. We earned our way in there, no questions about it, we just need to be ready to go."

Aggie point guard Jared Quayle, though playing only his first season at Utah State, also hopes this is the year USU advances.

"We played great down in Reno. Hopefully, we can carry that over to next Friday," Quayle said. "It is going to be a tough game, and we are going to have to give it all. We are going to go in there and play with confidence and play great defense to win."

HOME AWAY FROM HOME: For some schools, the first round of the NCAA tourney is a long trip, and fans often can't travel with the team. For example, Utah is going to Miami and BYU is headed to Philadelphia.

Utah State, on the other hand, has the relatively easy trip to Boise — a location the Aggies are well familiar with — and there is expected to be a decidedly pro-USU crowd with plenty of Aggies on hand as well as adopted Aggies from the Boise area cheering for a team from the same conference as the home-town Boise State Broncos.

"We are playing in Boise. You couldn't ask for a better place to play," Quayle said. "We have played there already. It will be fun."

USU senior Gary Wilkinson agreed.