[ COLLEGE BASKETBALL ]
Aggies still smarting
after missing DanceDespite being shocked, Utah State
is happy to be in the postseason
LOGAN, Utah >> Shock. Disappointment. Frustration.
Hawaii at Utah State
What: First round of NITWhen: Tomorrow, 4 p.m. Hawaii time
Where: Logan, Utah
TV: None
Radio: Live, 1420-AM
The words still hung in the air in the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum a day after the Utah State Aggies were left out of the NCAA Tournament.
Stew Morrill checked off his team's credentials as if still trying to fathom how the Aggies could have their invitation to the Big Dance torn up before their eyes.
"We were nationally ranked. We were 25-3, 17-1 in the league," said Morrill, Utah State's head coach for the last six seasons. "So it was a shock to everybody."
Despite winning the Big West regular-season championship and holding a spot in the national rankings for the last seven weeks, the Aggies are preparing to host Hawaii in a National Invitation Tournament game tomorrow night rather that packing up for the NCAA Tournament.
Utah State tried to sweat away the frustration at practice yesterday. The Aggies said all the right things about appreciating the value of any postseason invitation after the workout. But the topic inevitably turned to the disappointment of Selection Sunday.
"It doesn't make sense to me," Aggies guard Cardell Butler said. "I don't know what it is, it's weird. To be the only ranked team to not get in the NCAA, it's ludicrous."
Utah State was on the fast track to the tournament before being derailed by a 63-62 loss to Cal State Northridge in the semifinals of the Big West tournament last week. Pacific then earned the conference's automatic bid by winning the title game.
Consequently, the Aggies' fifth straight postseason appearance will come in the NIT against a Hawaii squad playing in a postseason tournament for the fourth consecutive season.
"You never want to snub your nose at the NIT," Morrill said. "I always laugh when I hear about people who are not sure they're going to take the bid. That's crazy. NIT is postseason, two out of every three Division I teams are done. We need to feel honored that we've been invited to participate in postseason play."
The circumstances surrounding Hawaii's second straight appearance in the NIT are similar to last year, when the Rainbows faced a UNLV squad still smarting from a conference tournament loss that cost the Rebels a spot in the NCAA Tournament. UH won that game convincingly to advance to the NIT's second round.
Utah State has had a few days to recover from the loss, and the players will try to put Sunday's disappointment behind them in time for tomorrow's game.
"We've already had a couple of disappointments and it would be a shame to end the season on another loss," center Nate Harris said. "We want to make sure we come out and play hard and enjoy playing in the NIT."
The Rainbows, who arrived in this mountain town in Northern Utah late last night, are also coming off a heartbreaking defeat, a 70-68 loss to Rice in the quarterfinals of the Western Athletic Conference tournament last Thursday.
Utah State, which is 84-7 at home during Morrill's tenure, climbed into the polls with a balanced attack led by Butler's 14 points per game.
Although Hawaii and Utah State haven't met on the court since 1967, the coaches are familiar with each other. Morrill coached against Riley Wallace over seven seasons at Colorado State, formerly a WAC member.
"As I've watched film, some of the things come back," Morrill said. "But it has been seven years since we played so I'm sure they're doing a lot of things different.
"I think they're a very solid team and their size concerns me. We were very aware of (UH forward Julian) Sensley coming out of junior college and they're physically imposing with their size."
While the Aggies prepare to face UH, they are looking to channel the emotions built up since Sunday to the court tomorrow.
"We're going to take some of that frustration to the basketball court," Butler said. "We really don't need to show that we need to be in the NCAA, because everybody knows already. We're just going to come out and play hard."
