April 24, 2008

LOGAN, Utah - As has become the norm, expectations were high for Utah State Basketball entering the 2007-08 season, and why not? Under head coach Stew Morrill, Utah State has become one of the most consistent programs in the country with 20-win seasons and postseason play almost an afterthought.

One of the main reasons for those high expectations in 2008 was the return of senior All-American guard Jaycee Carroll who was named the Western Athletic Conference's Preseason Player of the Year. In addition to Carroll, USU returned two other quality starters in senior guard Kris Clark and senior forward Stephen DuCharme. Add to the mix a much anticipated recruiting class that included a junior college All-American and everyone associated with Aggie Basketball was excited about the potential of this year's team.

Utah State began the season as the preseason favorite to win the WAC despite returning just three players from the previous year. And after starting the season a bit slow, Utah State proved those preseason prognosticators right as it finished the year with a 24-11 record to notch its ninth-straight 20-win season, won a share of its first-ever WAC regular season championship with a 12-4 league mark, and advanced to its ninth straight postseason (5 NCAA, 4 NIT) as it played in the National Invitation Tournament.

Perhaps the biggest obstacle facing Utah State early on was the schedule as it played eight games in just 16 days to start the season, and had seven of its first 11 games away from home, before hosting its next eight opponents inside the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum.

Utah State began the 2007-08 campaign with an 11-point home win against Southern Utah before losing four of its next six games and leaving everyone associated with the program at a loss for what was going on. USU responded, however, by winning three of its next four games with victories against Austin Peay and Santa Clara at home to go along with a convincing 13-point win against Iowa to finish third in the prestigious South Padre Island Invitational over the Thanksgiving weekend.

As the calendar turned to December Utah State's young team, which included seven freshmen, began to find its way winning 10 straight games during a seven-week period. USU began its winning streak with an 88-66 victory at Cal State Bakersfield, followed by home wins against Prairie View A&M, Utah Valley, Northern Arizona and Oral Roberts to enter conference play with a 10-5 record.

With plenty of momentum and confidence, Utah State began WAC play with five straight wins against Hawai'i, New Mexico State, Boise State and Idaho at home to go along with a 10-point win at Louisiana Tech. During its winning streak, USU fans witnessed one of the most memorable weekends in school history in the middle of January as Coach Morrill became the winningest coach in Utah State history with an 82-78 win against Boise State, and Carroll became the school's all-time scoring leader two nights later in a 79-64 win against Idaho.

After losing its first conference game of the season in late January at New Mexico State, Utah State bounced back with wins against Nevada, Fresno State and San Jose State to improve to 8-1 in league play. The Aggies then faced its toughest portion of the WAC schedule with three road games in eight days at Nevada, Hawai'i and San Jose State, and USU dropped all three of those contests by a combined 13 points. Once again, Utah State picked up the pieces and responded by ending the regular season with five straight wins against UC Santa Barbara in the annual ESPNU BracketBuster game, to go along with league victories against Louisiana Tech and Fresno State at home, and Boise State and Idaho on the road to claim a share of its first-ever WAC regular season championship.

Fresh of its eighth regular season conference championship in school history, Utah State entered the 2008 WAC Tournament as the top seed and promptly disposed of San Jose State, 85-65, in the quarterfinals before being tripped up by eventual tournament champion Boise State, 88-78, in the semifinals.

With a 24-10 record and a share of the WAC regular season championship, Utah State was selected to participate in its ninth straight postseason and was matched up with Illinois State in the first round of the 2008 MasterCard National Invitation Tournament, losing to the Redbirds on the road, 61-57.

With team success comes individual recognition and Utah State had two players recognized for their accomplishments throughout the course of the season in Carroll and junior forward Gary Wilkinson. For the ninth straight season, USU had at least one player earn first-team all-conference honors as Carroll was named to the WAC's first-team, along with becoming just the fourth player in school history to receive conference player of the year honors. Wilkinson was also honored by the league, as he was named second-team all-WAC and to the conference's all-newcomer team.

Carroll also earned WAC Player of the Week honors three times during the course of the season, while senior forward Stephen DuCharme won the award once. Carroll's first honor came after being named the Most Valuable Player of the 2007 Gossner Foods Classic as he scored 32 points against Utah Valley and then had 33 against Northern Arizona. His second honor came in January after scoring 29 points against Boise State and 21 against Idaho to become the school's all-time scoring leader. Carroll's third player of the week award came in February after leading the Aggies to a pair of wins against Fresno State and San Jose State as he averaged 24.0 points and 10.0 rebounds. DuCharme was named the WAC's Player of the Week in November after scoring 20 points in back-to-back games against Vanderbilt and Iowa to lead Utah State to a third-place finish at the South Padre Island Invitational.

Carroll was also named to the WAC's postseason all-tournament team as he averaged 22.0 points and 4.0 rebounds in two games and shot 54.8 percent from the field and 55.6 percent from three-point range. Carroll, who earned first-team all-WAC honors as a junior as well, finished the season ranking first in the nation in three-point shooting at 49.8 percent and second in free throw shooting at 91.9 percent. He also led the league and was 13th in the nation in scoring with 22.4 points per game, and shot 52.6 percent from the field to rank 10th in the WAC.

Carroll scored 785 points his senior season, which is the second-most in school history, and finished his Utah State career with 2,522 points to shatter the old record of 2,127 points scored by Greg Grant (1983-86). Overall, Carroll set 10 USU career records during his senior season, which is the most by any player in Utah State history.

For all of his success and accomplishments during the 2007-08 season, Carroll was named an honorable mention All-American by the Associated Press for the second straight year, becoming the first player in school history to receive the honor in back-to-back seasons. Carroll was also named an All-American by Collegehoops.net, as well as to the United States Basketball Writers Association All-District VIII team and to the National Association of Basketball Coaches District 14 second-team.

Along with all of his success on the court, Carroll was also nationally recognized for his involvement off the court as he was named one of 10 finalists for the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award and one of five finalists for the Chip Hilton Player of Year Award, which recognizes collegiate seniors who excel both on the court and in the community.

Senior point guard Kris Clark also had an outstanding season for Utah State as he set a new USU single-season record with 224 assists, breaking the old mark of 185 set by Jay Goodman in 1993. Those 224 dimes also rank tied for sixth all-time in the history of the WAC for a single season.

Once again, opposing teams found out just how hard it is to play at one of the best basketball venues in the West in the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum. Utah State went 17-0 at home during the season, marking just the fourth time in the 37-year history of the building that a USU team has gone undefeated at home during an entire season. That 17-0 record also marked the 12th straight year in which USU teams have lost two or fewer home games. USU also ranked second in the WAC in attendance in 2008 averaging 9,086 fans per game, including seven straight sellouts to end the season, which is the most in a single year in school history. In fact, those 9,086 fans per game are the most in the history of the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum.

As for head coach Stew Morrill, the 2007-08 season marked the 13th time that his teams have won 20 or more games and the 19th time that his teams have won at least 17 games. In his 10 years at USU, he has posted an amazing 237-86 (.734) record, including a 124-44 (.738) league mark, and an 18-6 (.750) record in conference tournaments.

Utah State finished the 2007-08 season leading the nation in both field goal (.514) and free throw shooting (.792) to become just the fourth team in the history of the NCAA to lead the nation in both statistical categories in the same year along with Auburn in 1960, Ohio State in 1970, and Michigan State in 1986. USU is also the first team to lead the nation in two of the three statistical shooting categories since Northern Arizona led the nation in overall shooting and three-point shooting in 1999.

As has been the case in each of the past eight seasons, unselfishness and an efficient offense served as the keys to success for Utah State. Along with leading the nation in field goal and free throw shooting, Utah State also ranked eighth nationally in assists per game (17.7), ninth in three-point shooting (40.1), and 22nd in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.26).

As for the Western Athletic Conference, Utah State led the conference in free throw shooting for the second straight year, and was the top field goal and three-point shooting team for the second time in the last three years, not to mention leading the league in scoring defense allowing 68.1 points per game. USU also ranked second in the WAC in assists (17.71), third in scoring margin (+5.7), third in field goal percentage defense (.438), third in rebound margin (+3.9), and fourth in scoring offense (73.9)

Utah State had several statistical categories that ranked among the top-10 in school history for a single-season including setting a new school record in free throw shooting at 79.2 percent. The old record was 78.0 percent set just last year. Other categories that USU entered the top-10 in for a single-season include finishing first in assists (620), first in assists per game (17.7), second in three-point field goals made (207), tied for second in three-point shooting (.401), third in total points (2,585), tied for fourth in field goal percentage (.514), fourth in three-point field goal attempts (516), and sixth in field goals made (923).

The Aggies finished the 2007-08 season with some interesting trends. They were 22-3 on the season when leading at the half; 21-5 when they shot better from the field than their opponent; 21-7 when they had more assists than their opponent; 9-1 when they blocked more shots than their opponent; 21-6 when they had more defensive rebounds than their opponent; 19-5 when their backcourt outscored its opponents backcourt; 20-1 when they held their opponents to less than 70 points; and 23-4 when scoring 70 or more points in a game.