I know a lot was made of how New Mexico was defeated by Boise St and now most teams will try to do the same do defeat UNM. I think SDSU had a blue print to defeat USU. Most teams double great in the post forcing him to pass it out. But most teams don't double quick enough or rotate over quick enough. The Aztecs didn't do any of that. They tried a new strategy. They pushed Great outside the paint, not letting him catch it down low on the block. So they didn't have to double and they could extend their defense out more and force the Aggies to take perimeter shots... and contested perimeter shots. While a lot of you whine about the officials as to why we lost (it wasn't). By pushing Great out, he couldn't do his work on the block, didn't get fouled and we didn't shoot any foul shots. It also forced USU to shoot a lot of threes that were contested and we are a real bad 3 point shooting team anyway. So, this will be the blue print going forward. Easier said then done when executing it, but the coaching staff will have to adjust quickly.

On the other end. We double Ledee, forcing him to pass out for wide open 3s. The Aztecs are also not a good 3 point shooting team, so we were hoping they wouldn't make them, but they did and they were wide open.

The thing is, how many other schools have a big man as good as Ledee to be able to push Osobor our of position?

Those are good points. Their game plan worked well. One of the reasons it worked so well is how physical they are at home. The Aggies will play better against them at home. The Aggies shot way too many threes which is not a recipe for success. Credit the Aztecs on making threes as they are not a good 3 point shooting team. I think sprinkle should have kept playing Mason with 2 fouls. When he sat the last 10 minutes of the first half things went south. The Aggies need to be more physical and they will especially at home.

Aggie84025 wrote: ↑

February 4th, 2024, 10:57 am

Those are good points. Their game plan worked well. One of the reasons it worked so well is how physical they are at home. The Aggies will play better against them at home. The Aggies shot way too many threes which is not a recipe for success. Credit the Aztecs on making threes as they are not a good 3 point shooting team. I think sprinkle should have kept playing Mason with 2 fouls. When he sat the last 10 minutes of the first half things went south. The Aggies need to be more physical and they will especially at home.

Agree we should have played Mason through that stretch. His competitiveness can be a real x-factor.

I fear the piece to make this Aggie team truly next level broke his foot preseason. Incredible to think about that given where this roster was last spring.

AgTime wrote:

Aggie84025 wrote: ↑

February 4th, 2024, 10:57 am

Those are good points. Their game plan worked well. One of the reasons it worked so well is how physical they are at home. The Aggies will play better against them at home. The Aggies shot way too many threes which is not a recipe for success. Credit the Aztecs on making threes as they are not a good 3 point shooting team. I think sprinkle should have kept playing Mason with 2 fouls. When he sat the last 10 minutes of the first half things went south. The Aggies need to be more physical and they will especially at home.

Agree we should have played Mason through that stretch. His competitiveness can be a real x-factor.

I fear the piece to make this Aggie team truly next level broke his foot preseason. Incredible to think about that given where this roster was last spring.

One thing that was made abundantly clear to me is that Jackson is NOT a starting point guard for next years team.


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Also SDSU hit way above average on threes and has a guy averaging 4ppg with a breakout game, not missing a shot.

I think Johnson being in foul trouble hurt as much as anything. There’s no protection behind him and Templin is a mess right now.

We lost because we still don't have any consistency out of the 5 spot. Fish and Sakho were net negatives on both ends of the floor. It was like 4 v 5 out there.

flying_scotsman2.0 wrote: ↑

February 4th, 2024, 12:19 pm

Also SDSU hit way above average on threes and has a guy averaging 4ppg with a breakout game, not missing a shot.

Yeah. Jay Pal isn't going to do that to us in Logan.

Look. Utah State has the most favorable schedule of the top 5 teams.

We've got SDSU, Nevada, UNM, and Boise State in Logan.
We only have Colorado State on the road which is a very winnable game. And we lucked out and don't play Nevada on the road.

IMO, this team will win out and no team will have an answer for us in Logan.

The real question is what will this team and other teams look like in March in Vegas and how will the refs call the game?

Regardless we'll be dancing. And on top of that we'll at least have a share of the MWC championship of not outright.

This team has far exceeded what I expected. They always talk about the MWC having such a great year and deserving 5 teams or more. The reason that the MWC is doing so well compared to years past is because Utah State was picked 9th. Boise State, SDSU, UNM, Nevada and Colorado State were expected to be the frontrunners. Utah State wasn't supposed to be in the conversation, let alone win the MWC. Yeah we haven't won the MWC yet but we will. Mark it.

Go Aggies!

hipsterdoofus21 wrote: ↑

February 4th, 2024, 1:15 pm

We lost because we still don't have any consistency out of the 5 spot. Fish and Sakho were net negatives on both ends of the floor. It was like 4 v 5 out there.

I’m no expert and could certainly be wrong but I like the strides fish is gaining. While not perfect I thought played decently well yesterday

slcagg wrote: ↑

February 4th, 2024, 3:08 pm

hipsterdoofus21 wrote: ↑

February 4th, 2024, 1:15 pm

We lost because we still don't have any consistency out of the 5 spot. Fish and Sakho were net negatives on both ends of the floor. It was like 4 v 5 out there.

I’m no expert and could certainly be wrong but I like the strides fish is gaining. While not perfect I thought played decently well yesterday

I agree, Isaac is playing pretty solid. He is never going to be a bruiser down low but even though made some decent post moves yesterday. He has been rebounding solid and is decent at defense. Hopefully he can start hitting his three's.

So Basically the blue print is to play tough, physical defense like SDSU does. Why didn't anybody else think of that?

For many years, SDSU players look and play like a bunch of linebackers. Their coach is defense first but it seems like we make an all-star out of a bench warmer every time we play them down there.

The key to beating USU is to surround Osobor and makes us hit threes or mid-range shots which we don't do very welol..

slcagg wrote: ↑

February 4th, 2024, 3:08 pm

hipsterdoofus21 wrote: ↑

February 4th, 2024, 1:15 pm

We lost because we still don't have any consistency out of the 5 spot. Fish and Sakho were net negatives on both ends of the floor. It was like 4 v 5 out there.

I’m no expert and could certainly be wrong but I like the strides fish is gaining. While not perfect I thought played decently well yesterday

Well he was guarding Pal. End of rebuttal.

hipsterdoofus21 wrote: ↑

February 5th, 2024, 3:57 pm

slcagg wrote: ↑

February 4th, 2024, 3:08 pm

hipsterdoofus21 wrote: ↑

February 4th, 2024, 1:15 pm

We lost because we still don't have any consistency out of the 5 spot. Fish and Sakho were net negatives on both ends of the floor. It was like 4 v 5 out there.

I’m no expert and could certainly be wrong but I like the strides fish is gaining. While not perfect I thought played decently well yesterday

Well he was guarding Pal. End of rebuttal.

Dang! Spicy tooday!

Well, he spent a lot of the game doubling in the post. That sort of explains why Pal was open so much. Looked like part of the strategy to leave him open, and they made us pay.

cval wrote: ↑

February 5th, 2024, 4:30 pm

Well, he spent a lot of the game doubling in the post. That sort of explains why Pal was open so much. Looked like part of the strategy to leave him open, and they made us pay.

Yep, they doubled Ledee and kept him to basically his average. The concern with doubling the post is someone is going to be left open for wide open 3's. The Aggies played the %'s that SDSU was going to shoot their average which is like 32% and they instead hit their 3's which was a big difference in the game.