Sam Merrill is one of the smartest basketball players I've ever seen play the game. His basketball IQ is through the roof.

my first aggie basketball experience ( and I was very young then) was in the old fieldhouse, sitting behind the basket, with the wire net between the floor and the first row of fans. The first row was below the court level and you looked up. I saw Nate Williams. But I was too young to understand the game. My first year at USU was the team that had Mike Santos, Oscar Williams, Dean Hunger, Preston Bayless, and Brian Jackson. ( loved Brian Jackson because at BYU he flipped the bird to their fans), I saw the Greg Grant years, Larry Eustacy years, the Stew years with Nate, Spencer, Wesley, ..
My point.....
my two favorite aggies would have to be Merrill and Jaycee.
I am not sure you get a more complete player, basketball IQ, leadership, demeanor, defense, offense, attitude, free throws, clutch, assists...on and on..... I think the most complete player with the most unselfish attitude in our history. He has the other teams best guarding him, while he has to defend the other teams best; and doesn't turn the ball over.

If I was drafting a team of aggies, Sam and Jaycee would be 1 and 2.

1888Aggie wrote: ↑

March 5th, 2019, 9:26 pm

pablohoney wrote: ↑

March 5th, 2019, 9:25 pm

Sam Merrill is my most favorite Aggie basketball player in my lifetime.

How old are you?

I know! I know!

I think Sam is a more complete player than Jaycee but no one in an Aggie uniform scores like Jaycee did.

My favorite stat from last night is that he was 15 of 23 on the night. That's 65.2% from the field with a lot of those shots being jumpers. That's amazing.

Talk about GOATs

That says it all.

double figure scoring in 30/31 games (6 pts @ Houston the only exception)
4 games with at least 30 points
15 games with at least 20 points
46.4%/39%/90.4% (fg/3fg/ft) shooting
21 ppg/3.9 rpg/4.2 apg
all while guarding the opposing team's best perimeter player (usually).
POY! POY! POY! POY!
(But I'm afraid they'll give it to Caroline...he's a senior and such a GREAT KID, afterall )

I loved watching Sam play at Colorado State last night.

It was great to see him mix in some jump shots that were not three pointers, I feel this opens the floor up for both the team and him.

Such a versatile player and I love his demeanor!! Glad we have him for another season, this has been an incredible ride this year.

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When do they announce awards? Is it after regular season ends?


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ShowMeAggie wrote: ↑

March 6th, 2019, 10:02 am

double figure scoring in 30/31 games (6 pts @ Houston the only exception)
4 games with at least 30 points
15 games with at least 20 points
46.4%/39%/90.4% (fg/3fg/ft) shooting
21 ppg/3.9 rpg/4.2 apg
all while guarding the opposing team's best perimeter player (usually).
POY! POY! POY! POY!
(But I'm afraid they'll give it to Caroline...he's a senior and such a GREAT KID, afterall )

I heard he's getting a bit punchy.

dyedblue wrote: ↑

March 5th, 2019, 10:36 pm

Sam only has 614 on the season. Not sure if that includes today but he won't catch Jaycee.

WWw.usustats.com


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I still need to update it with last night's stats. Had to go to bed after the game before the box score was up.

usufan1 wrote: ↑

March 6th, 2019, 10:20 am

I loved watching Sam play at Colorado State last night.

It was great to see him mix in some jump shots that were not three pointers, I feel this opens the floor up for both the team and him.

Such a versatile player and I love his demeanor!! Glad we have him for another season, this has been an incredible ride this year.

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Agree - I laughed when one of the commentators praised him last night and said, "Merrill will be playing city league basketball when he's 60."

sammyhagar wrote: ↑

March 6th, 2019, 8:05 am

my first aggie basketball experience ( and I was very young then) was in the old fieldhouse, sitting behind the basket, with the wire net between the floor and the first row of fans. The first row was below the court level and you looked up. I saw Nate Williams. But I was too young to understand the game. My first year at USU was the team that had Mike Santos, Oscar Williams, Dean Hunger, Preston Bayless, and Brian Jackson. ( loved Brian Jackson because at BYU he flipped the bird to their fans), I saw the Greg Grant years, Larry Eustacy years, the Stew years with Nate, Spencer, Wesley, ..
My point.....
my two favorite aggies would have to be Merrill and Jaycee.
I am not sure you get a more complete player, basketball IQ, leadership, demeanor, defense, offense, attitude, free throws, clutch, assists...on and on..... I think the most complete player with the most unselfish attitude in our history. He has the other teams best guarding him, while he has to defend the other teams best; and doesn't turn the ball over.

If I was drafting a team of aggies, Sam and Jaycee would be 1 and 2.

Did they have the wire net there? Cool! That is the origin of why basketball players are called "cagers". Started more in the eastern mining districts if I recall...crowds would get so rowdy, they put that netting up to keep stuff from being thrown onto the floor. That would have been cool to see.

USUStats is updated to include the entire regular season.

You can see a breakdown of where Merrill ranks with lists to the categories here:

http://www.usustats.com/players/Sam+Merrill

aggies22 wrote: ↑

March 5th, 2019, 10:05 pm

Sl7vk wrote: ↑

March 5th, 2019, 10:04 pm

Blue42 wrote: ↑

March 5th, 2019, 10:01 pm

SLB wrote: ↑

March 5th, 2019, 9:53 pm

Merrill in my mind won the POY in the MWC.

Unfortunately the MWC tends to not think as highly of our players as we do. But Sam sure made a strong case for himself over this last week especially. Played every minute of the last four games!

No way and I mean no way he’s not MWC player of the year.

I don't know. Obviously the Mountain West Conference loves them some Nevada Woofpack.

Looks like even some Nevada leaning media is picking Sam for POY.

http://nevadasportsnet.com/news/reporte ... f-the-year

Go_Aggies wrote: ↑

March 6th, 2019, 3:25 pm

aggies22 wrote: ↑

March 5th, 2019, 10:05 pm

Sl7vk wrote: ↑

March 5th, 2019, 10:04 pm

Blue42 wrote: ↑

March 5th, 2019, 10:01 pm

SLB wrote: ↑

March 5th, 2019, 9:53 pm

Merrill in my mind won the POY in the MWC.

Unfortunately the MWC tends to not think as highly of our players as we do. But Sam sure made a strong case for himself over this last week especially. Played every minute of the last four games!

No way and I mean no way he’s not MWC player of the year.

I don't know. Obviously the Mountain West Conference loves them some Nevada Woofpack.

Looks like even some Nevada leaning media is picking Sam for POY.

http://nevadasportsnet.com/news/reporte ... f-the-year

I continue to be more and more impressed by Chris Murray's levelheaded approach to his writing.

Great article and well written. It's great when you have facts to back up your article. Much to the chagrin of Nevada Nation.

aggiesdotcom wrote: ↑

March 5th, 2019, 10:30 pm

He's still about 1,000 points behind JC. 2522 to 1,489. He'll likely pass Wayne Estes and Greg Grant but fall a couple hundred shy of Carroll.

you have to remember that Estes, Green, and Roberts stats did not include their freshman year since Freshmen were not
eligible in that era.

AGGIEFIGHT wrote: ↑

March 6th, 2019, 4:15 pm

aggiesdotcom wrote: ↑

March 5th, 2019, 10:30 pm

He's still about 1,000 points behind JC. 2522 to 1,489. He'll likely pass Wayne Estes and Greg Grant but fall a couple hundred shy of Carroll.

you have to remember that Estes, Green, and Roberts stats did not include their freshman year since Freshmen were not
eligible in that era.

But, for the last two seasons that Merrill has been in an Aggie uniform, he has not played any postseason basketball and we have either lost in the quarters or semis of the conference tourney. This year, and hopefully next year, we could make a run further into the MW tourney and make the NCAA tourney/NIT. Those extra games mean he will likely play 2 - 3 more games than he has played the last 2 seasons. So, I think he has a chance if he continues to put up big numbers, as he could score almost 80 - 100 more points this season, depending on how we do in both tourneys, considering he hits his average.

They also wouldn't have been playing against the big boys i'd assume?

AGGIEFIGHT wrote:

aggiesdotcom wrote: ↑

March 5th, 2019, 10:30 pm

He's still about 1,000 points behind JC. 2522 to 1,489. He'll likely pass Wayne Estes and Greg Grant but fall a couple hundred shy of Carroll.

you have to remember that Estes, Green, and Roberts stats did not include their freshman year since Freshmen were not
eligible in that era.

That rule changed in 1973 to make freshman eligible.


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During Jaycee's freshman season, I was widely mocked on the old forum when I predicted that he'd become the all time scoring leader.

freakboy wrote:During Jaycee's freshman season, I was widely mocked on the old forum when I predicted that he'd become the all time scoring leader.

Same for me and Braden Bell


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QuackAttackAggie wrote: ↑

March 6th, 2019, 8:56 pm

freakboy wrote:During Jaycee's freshman season, I was widely mocked on the old forum when I predicted that he'd become the all time scoring leader.

Same for me and Braden Bell


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Thanks for that laugh, needed that tonight!

Oh wow, Braden Bell...

Braden Bell had a sweet rainbow jumper.

AGGIEFIGHT wrote: ↑

March 6th, 2019, 4:15 pm

aggiesdotcom wrote: ↑

March 5th, 2019, 10:30 pm

He's still about 1,000 points behind JC. 2522 to 1,489. He'll likely pass Wayne Estes and Greg Grant but fall a couple hundred shy of Carroll.

you have to remember that Estes, Green, and Roberts stats did not include their freshman year since Freshmen were not
eligible in that era.

To add to that, Estes didn’t have the 3-point line either.

pablohoney wrote:Sam Merrill is my most favorite Aggie basketball player in my lifetime.

Is it “most favorite,” “most favoritest,” or “mostest favorite?”

Or maybe just “favorite.”



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TrueBlueFan wrote: ↑

March 6th, 2019, 11:03 pm

AGGIEFIGHT wrote: ↑

March 6th, 2019, 4:15 pm

aggiesdotcom wrote: ↑

March 5th, 2019, 10:30 pm

He's still about 1,000 points behind JC. 2522 to 1,489. He'll likely pass Wayne Estes and Greg Grant but fall a couple hundred shy of Carroll.

you have to remember that Estes, Green, and Roberts stats did not include their freshman year since Freshmen were not
eligible in that era.

To add to that, Estes didn’t have the 3-point line either.

Nor Green and Roberts. The 3 point line came into college basketball in 1986.

ChicAggie wrote: ↑

March 7th, 2019, 12:32 am

pablohoney wrote:Sam Merrill is my most favorite Aggie basketball player in my lifetime.

Is it “most favorite,” “most favoritest,” or “mostest favorite?”

Or maybe just “favorite.”



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Queta is my favorite but Merrill is my most favorite. Just like Merrill is the best player and Carroll is the most best player of my lifetime.

freakboy wrote: ↑

March 6th, 2019, 8:52 pm

During Jaycee's freshman season, I was widely mocked on the old forum when I predicted that he'd become the all time scoring leader.

No. That wasn't it.

freakboy wrote: ↑

March 6th, 2019, 8:52 pm

During Jaycee's freshman season, I was widely mocked on the old forum when I predicted that he'd become the all time scoring leader.

You were widely mocked for many reasons, freak.

My opinion, Merrill is MVP but won't win POY. Without Merrill we were toast. Take away any Nevada player they are still top 2 in the league.

FloridaAggie13 wrote:I still like Jaycee. Stew's offense was designed differently than Smith's (not a knock against either) where Jaycee always had a true point guard so he wasn't expected to create much, though he had a soft touch on floaters inside the lane. Anyone who remembers watching him play can recall his constant sprinting across the baseline two or three times during a possession - not jogging, but sprinting to get through three screens for his shot, or taking the pass off the screen and immediately passing it to the screener for a layup. This also wore out the opposing team's best defender making him irrelevant on the other end of the floor.

I still remember the 2007 tourney game where the USU crowd chanted, "Jaycee's winning, Jaycee's winning" after he had outscored the opponent over the first six or seven minutes of the game.

We should have been doing this last week. Sam was winning when he had 15. We never chant that anymore but I wish we would.

I have seen the Aggie play since 1965, and since I never saw all of Wayne Estes' career, I'll set him aside for the moment.

The greatest Aggie I have ever seen play was Shaler Halimon. 6-6, played forward and big guard. Could score and rebound and handle the ball and do all of the things Sam does. But Halimon was so stinking athletic and fast. He scored 47 points against BYU, and if the game hadn't been in Provo (where some very questionable fouls were called on him), he would have broken Estes single game scoring record that day. He averaged 25 points a game over the two years he played here and was the top pick of the 76'ers when he finished up.

Estes was called "the greatest variety shooter I ever saw" by LaDell Andersen, and everyone who saw him play agreed. Athletic? No. But he could shoot every shot with dead-eye dick accuracy, guarded or unguarded. His baseline hook shot was killer. But Sam is right there as a shooter with both Estes and Halimon. He's smooth, handles the ball, makes shots that shouldn't be made, and passes that are unbelievable. He's one of those kinds of players that comes along once a generation at USU. Go down that scoring list that was provided a few posts back and there are some names on their due to longevity-- they played long enough to make the list. Sam Merrill is not just making the list, but climbing it!

We have a very special player doing his thing for us right now, and it behooves all Aggie fans to get their arses into the Spectrum next year and see greatness in action.