USU "The TOTAL/Complete Team"

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USU "The TOTAL/Complete Team"

Post by AggieSox » March 16th, 2019, 9:09 pm

So, where did this USU Team Come from. Nobody even saw them coming, the only new player was Queta.


At End of Last year 2018, they Fired HC, Best player on paper Kobe McKweon left program for Marquette., USU hires a coach nobody had heard of.


So Lose HC and Lost best player( who was a ball hog, 4 start recruit, that the rest of team didn't care for).


USU did not have the most talented team in MWC this year, probably 4th in Talent, but by far they Played as a "Total Team", bought into coach's plan, and USU got 100% out of all 8-9 players. Sam Merrill was the Man to lead this team not Kobe, so glad Kobe left, this allowed USU to come together and KICK Ace all year. Not sure how else to explain it.



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Re: USU "The TOTAL/Complete Team"

Post by ChicAggie » March 16th, 2019, 10:25 pm

AggieSox wrote:
March 16th, 2019, 9:09 pm
So Lose HC and Lost best player( who was a ball hog, 4 start recruit, that the rest of team didn't care for).

Sam Merrill was the Man to lead this team not Kobe, so glad Kobe left, this allowed USU to come together and KICK Ace all year. Not sure how else to explain it.
Do you have any factual basis for making the bolded assertions? If so, please share. I understood the rest of the team liked Kobe and that he was one of the hardest workers on the team.

I can tell you how else to explain it: change in coaching, scheme, attitude and addition of defensive MVP changed everything. I think this team would be better WITH a Kobe coached by Smith, not Duryea.
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Re: USU "The TOTAL/Complete Team"

Post by hipsterdoofus21 » March 16th, 2019, 10:27 pm

Seriously. In my wildest dreams the best I could’ve hoped for was a top 4 finish and NIT invite. But a first year coach with zero time to recruit, losing two young high potential players (McEwen, Henson), losing 3 other scholarship players to injury (Janicek, Stall, and Grootfaam), losing your highest rated recruit before the season due to being academically unqualified (Davis) , and having one recruit decide school work wasn’t for him (John Knight) and you accomplish what we’ve accomplished? Just nuts! And all footage we had on Queta he looked knocked kneed and so raw that even his signing was met with disappointment.



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Re: USU "The TOTAL/Complete Team"

Post by flying_scotsman2.0 » March 16th, 2019, 10:43 pm

ChicAggie wrote:
March 16th, 2019, 10:25 pm
AggieSox wrote:
March 16th, 2019, 9:09 pm
So Lose HC and Lost best player( who was a ball hog, 4 start recruit, that the rest of team didn't care for).

Sam Merrill was the Man to lead this team not Kobe, so glad Kobe left, this allowed USU to come together and KICK Ace all year. Not sure how else to explain it.
Do you have any factual basis for making the bolded assertions? If so, please share. I understood the rest of the team liked Kobe and that he was one of the hardest workers on the team.

I can tell you how else to explain it: change in coaching, scheme, attitude and addition of defensive MVP changed everything. I think this team would be better WITH a Kobe coached by Smith, not Duryea.
I have been in the same boat as you, Aggie of Chicago, for most of the season. However, today I might be in a different boat. Near the end of the game today SDSU was making a run. USU had a couple stupid plays in a row and Sam pulled the team together and rallied them up. I don't know that he would be able to become the leader that he is with Koby on the team. And I think a huge part of our success comes from the leadership that Sam provides on the court. We would have been more talented with Koby, certainly, but MAN, we won 28 games! Could we have won 29-30 with Koby? Maybe. But I think it's more likely we drop a few based on team dynamics (not saying Koby is a bad teammate, just that this team meshes well as is).
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Re: USU "The TOTAL/Complete Team"

Post by Chupamedia » March 16th, 2019, 10:46 pm

What an incredible feat - really amazing. But really Queta has made A TON of difference. It’s not just his defense, which has an affect on almost every possession of every game, but also his presence on offense has allowed us to spread out and do more than shoot from the perimeter. Take him out of the equation as the only added player and we would likely be a few spots down in the conference standings. Not to take away from how much improvement there has been with all our current players and not to take away from an incredible coach and mentor. But adding Queta has been more than just simply saying we have one new player
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Re: USU "The TOTAL/Complete Team"

Post by ChicAggie » March 16th, 2019, 11:00 pm

flying_scotsman2.0 wrote:
March 16th, 2019, 10:43 pm
I don't know that he would be able to become the leader that he is with Koby on the team. And I think a huge part of our success comes from the leadership that Sam provides on the court.
THAT is the best and most rational defense of the argument that this team is better off without Koby: because Sam is a better team leader than Koby, and Sam may not have been able to assume that role if Koby were still on the team. You might be 100% right. Really hard to know. This team is just so different from top to bottom with Smith at the helm than with Duryea. A number of players that most of us expected little to nothing out of have become integral players under Smith. It's certainly possible that Koby would have become more of a "team" player under Smith. I think it's impossible to say.

That said, I will continue to believe that this team would be more dangerous in the tourney with a more talented and natural PG than we currently have. Look at what UNM did to us in the first round and how disjointed the Ags looked in the last 5 minutes of this game. While I am absolutely THRILLED about the outcome, we may not have been chewing our nails as much if we had a 4 star recruit breaking the press against UNM and cutting more aggressively on our in-bounds plays in the waning minutes of today's game.
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Re: USU

Post by ChicAggie » March 16th, 2019, 11:01 pm

Chupamedia wrote:
March 16th, 2019, 10:46 pm
What an incredible feat - really amazing. But really Queta has made A TON of difference. It’s not just his defense, which has an affect on almost every possession of every game, but also his presence on offense has allowed us to spread out and do more than shoot from the perimeter. Take him out of the equation as the only added player and we would likely be a few spots down in the conference standings. Not to take away from how much improvement there has been with all our current players and not to take away from an incredible coach and mentor. But adding Queta has been more than just simply saying we have one new player
Totally agree.


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Re: USU "The TOTAL/Complete Team"

Post by dyedblue » March 17th, 2019, 5:15 am

ChicAggie wrote:
flying_scotsman2.0 wrote:
March 16th, 2019, 10:43 pm
I don't know that he would be able to become the leader that he is with Koby on the team. And I think a huge part of our success comes from the leadership that Sam provides on the court.
THAT is the best and most rational defense of the argument that this team is better off without Koby: because Sam is a better team leader than Koby, and Sam may not have been able to assume that role if Koby were still on the team. You might be 100% right. Really hard to know. This team is just so different from top to bottom with Smith at the helm than with Duryea. A number of players that most of us expected little to nothing out of have become integral players under Smith. It's certainly possible that Koby would have become more of a "team" player under Smith. I think it's impossible to say.

That said, I will continue to believe that this team would be more dangerous in the tourney with a more talented and natural PG than we currently have. Look at what UNM did to us in the first round and how disjointed the Ags looked in the last 5 minutes of this game. While I am absolutely THRILLED about the outcome, we may not have been chewing our nails as much if we had a 4 star recruit breaking the press against UNM and cutting more aggressively on our in-bounds plays in the waning minutes of today's game.
On paper that sounds great, but last year we struggled to break the press. Part of that obviously was coaching. Look at the first half of the New Mexico tournament game. We inverted our press break from 2-1 to 1-2 to start the game and paid a price until we switched it. My point is you can't discount coaching.

This year our "walk on" PG more than held his own against the press. Against UNM, SDSU, and Reno he handled immense pressure much better than we did last year. I liked Koby and thought we'd miss him more than we have, but I'll take the guys we have this year over last.

I'd trade Koby for Queta every day of the week and twice in Sunday. Huge upgrade that makes us an elite defensive team and opens things in the perimeter that aren't there otherwise. If we learn how to feed the post more or throw the ball to Queta on the roll there's no reason he won't average 20 next year.

I'm not knocking Koby, other than he's an idiot for leaving, but i just don't see us being much different than we are without him. Think OKC without the "Hll of Farmer" Carmelo Anthony.


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Re: USU "The TOTAL/Complete Team"

Post by bluegrouse » March 17th, 2019, 6:00 am

hipsterdoofus21 wrote:
March 16th, 2019, 10:27 pm
Seriously. In my wildest dreams the best I could’ve hoped for was a top 4 finish and NIT invite. But a first year coach with zero time to recruit, losing two young high potential players (McEwen, Henson), losing 3 other scholarship players to injury (Janicek, Stall, and Grootfaam), losing your highest rated recruit before the season due to being academically unqualified (Davis) , and having one recruit decide school work wasn’t for him (John Knight) and you accomplish what we’ve accomplished? Just nuts! And all footage we had on Queta he looked knocked kneed and so raw that even his signing was met with disappointment.
In all seriousness, this team and coaching staff have accomplished the impossible.

I keep thinking I’m dreaming.

I don’t think we’ll ever see another year like it. We may well win other championships but I don’t think we’ll ever have such a shocking, stunning season again. Just unbelievable... and we’re still not done!



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Re: USU "The TOTAL/Complete Team"

Post by DaKineKane » March 17th, 2019, 6:32 am

If anyone had told me 4 months ago that Aggie basketball would win the MWC championships, I would have personally taken them to the loony bin.



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Re: USU

Post by hipsterdoofus21 » March 17th, 2019, 7:46 am

Chupamedia wrote:
March 16th, 2019, 10:46 pm
What an incredible feat - really amazing. But really Queta has made A TON of difference. It’s not just his defense, which has an affect on almost every possession of every game, but also his presence on offense has allowed us to spread out and do more than shoot from the perimeter. Take him out of the equation as the only added player and we would likely be a few spots down in the conference standings. Not to take away from how much improvement there has been with all our current players and not to take away from an incredible coach and mentor. But adding Queta has been more than just simply saying we have one new player
Queta is a main cog, with him we became a top 4 MW caliber team but this machine really started to hit the higher gears it has currently reached when Bean and Porter kicked in the doors and took over their roles. To some extent, you could say Brito too and even Brown has made big contributions in small minutes down the stretch as well. It’s just a total team effort. I love it.
Last edited by hipsterdoofus21 on March 17th, 2019, 7:57 am, edited 1 time in total.



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Re: USU "The TOTAL/Complete Team"

Post by usufan1 » March 17th, 2019, 7:51 am

DaKineKane wrote:If anyone had told me 4 months ago that Aggie basketball would win the MWC championships, I would have personally taken them to the loony bin.
It was hard to imagine anything remotely close to this type of season.

I was away from home so I watched the game with some family members that don't know much about USU.

After the Aggies won it didn't seem real. I was blown away by the way the team played and my family members kept saying how much fun it is to watch the Aggies play together.

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Re: USU "The TOTAL/Complete Team"

Post by brownjeans » March 17th, 2019, 8:03 am

Smith gave us the coaching we needed and Queta gave us the player we needed - and then some

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Re: USU "The TOTAL/Complete Team"

Post by NVAggie » March 17th, 2019, 9:01 am

I agree. It was a total team effort. Great coaching, great defense, and timely offense. Queta makes us elite defenders. Smith makes great changes and brought the team together. Sam is our leader. Bean is our energy off the bench. Just unbelievable.



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Re: USU "The TOTAL/Complete Team"

Post by ThunderAggie » March 22nd, 2019, 7:51 pm

I think Kobe McEwen would have been a huge boost in the game tonight! We needed an athletic guy that wouldn't be afraid to create something. He can jump and elevate over the defense for defensive or offensive rebounds and slash his way through the zone. I'm not saying we would have won, but I think these are the games he thrived in.



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Re: USU "The TOTAL/Complete Team"

Post by FloridaAggie13 » March 22nd, 2019, 8:37 pm

Last I checked, Kobe didn't want to be here so he left. It isn't as though Smith asked him to leave. Time to let it go already.



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Re: USU

Post by Aggie formerly in Hawaii » March 22nd, 2019, 8:58 pm

dyedblue wrote:
March 17th, 2019, 5:15 am
ChicAggie wrote:
flying_scotsman2.0 wrote:
March 16th, 2019, 10:43 pm
I don't know that he would be able to become the leader that he is with Koby on the team. And I think a huge part of our success comes from the leadership that Sam provides on the court.
THAT is the best and most rational defense of the argument that this team is better off without Koby: because Sam is a better team leader than Koby, and Sam may not have been able to assume that role if Koby were still on the team. You might be 100% right. Really hard to know. This team is just so different from top to bottom with Smith at the helm than with Duryea. A number of players that most of us expected little to nothing out of have become integral players under Smith. It's certainly possible that Koby would have become more of a "team" player under Smith. I think it's impossible to say.

That said, I will continue to believe that this team would be more dangerous in the tourney with a more talented and natural PG than we currently have. Look at what UNM did to us in the first round and how disjointed the Ags looked in the last 5 minutes of this game. While I am absolutely THRILLED about the outcome, we may not have been chewing our nails as much if we had a 4 star recruit breaking the press against UNM and cutting more aggressively on our in-bounds plays in the waning minutes of today's game.
On paper that sounds great, but last year we struggled to break the press. Part of that obviously was coaching. Look at the first half of the New Mexico tournament game. We inverted our press break from 2-1 to 1-2 to start the game and paid a price until we switched it. My point is you can't discount coaching.

This year our "walk on" PG more than held his own against the press. Against UNM, SDSU, and Reno he handled immense pressure much better than we did last year. I liked Koby and thought we'd miss him more than we have, but I'll take the guys we have this year over last.

I'd trade Koby for Queta every day of the week and twice in Sunday. Huge upgrade that makes us an elite defensive team and opens things in the perimeter that aren't there otherwise. If we learn how to feed the post more or throw the ball to Queta on the roll there's no reason he won't average 20 next year.

I'm not knocking Koby, other than he's an idiot for leaving, but i just don't see us being much different than we are without him. Think OKC without the "Hll of Farmer" Carmelo Anthony.


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I agree with your points although carmelo isnt a good comparison. The thunder were 4th last year in the west. This year without carmelo they are going to be somewhere 5-8. They didnt become a better team. Usu has absolutely become a better team post koby regardless of where anyone wants to place credit and blame.



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Re: USU "The TOTAL/Complete Team"

Post by Aggie formerly in Hawaii » March 22nd, 2019, 8:59 pm

FloridaAggie13 wrote:
March 22nd, 2019, 8:37 pm
Last I checked, Kobe didn't want to be here so he left. It isn't as though Smith asked him to leave. Time to let it go already.
That isnt what was being discussed and obviously a USU message board is going to discuss players who wore the aggie uniform.



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Re: USU "The TOTAL/Complete Team"

Post by ThunderAggie » March 22nd, 2019, 9:02 pm

Aggie formerly in Hawaii wrote:
March 22nd, 2019, 8:59 pm
FloridaAggie13 wrote:
March 22nd, 2019, 8:37 pm
Last I checked, Kobe didn't want to be here so he left. It isn't as though Smith asked him to leave. Time to let it go already.
That isnt what was being discussed and obviously a USU message board is going to discuss players who wore the aggie uniform.
I didn't want to start an argument, just wanted to point out that I think Kobe would have helped us in this game. Hopefully he does well at Marquette.



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Re: USU "The TOTAL/Complete Team"

Post by oleblu111 » March 22nd, 2019, 9:07 pm

ThunderAggie wrote:
March 22nd, 2019, 9:02 pm
Aggie formerly in Hawaii wrote:
March 22nd, 2019, 8:59 pm
FloridaAggie13 wrote:
March 22nd, 2019, 8:37 pm
Last I checked, Kobe didn't want to be here so he left. It isn't as though Smith asked him to leave. Time to let it go already.
That isnt what was being discussed and obviously a USU message board is going to discuss players who wore the aggie uniform.
I didn't want to start an argument, just wanted to point out that I think Kobe would have helped us in this game. Hopefully he does well at Marquette.
Of course he would have helped.



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Re: USU "The TOTAL/Complete Team"

Post by Aggie formerly in Hawaii » March 22nd, 2019, 9:14 pm

ThunderAggie wrote:
March 22nd, 2019, 9:02 pm
Aggie formerly in Hawaii wrote:
March 22nd, 2019, 8:59 pm
FloridaAggie13 wrote:
March 22nd, 2019, 8:37 pm
Last I checked, Kobe didn't want to be here so he left. It isn't as though Smith asked him to leave. Time to let it go already.
That isnt what was being discussed and obviously a USU message board is going to discuss players who wore the aggie uniform.
I didn't want to start an argument, just wanted to point out that I think Kobe would have helped us in this game. Hopefully he does well at Marquette.
I didnt say you started an argument. It wss directed at Florida. The idea that we cant discuss former players is ridiculous. If someone is bothered about koby being discussed they dont have to participlate in the conversation. An impact player leaving the program is a relevant topic.
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Re: USU "The TOTAL/Complete Team"

Post by FloridaAggie13 » March 22nd, 2019, 9:17 pm

Aggie formerly in Hawaii wrote:
March 22nd, 2019, 8:59 pm
FloridaAggie13 wrote:
March 22nd, 2019, 8:37 pm
Last I checked, Kobe didn't want to be here so he left. It isn't as though Smith asked him to leave. Time to let it go already.
That isnt what was being discussed and obviously a USU message board is going to discuss players who wore the aggie uniform.
I didn't bring his name up, others did. Mentioning Kobe could have helped is no different than saying John Stockton would have helped. They don't play here so why mention it?



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Re: USU "The TOTAL/Complete Team"

Post by ThunderAggie » March 22nd, 2019, 9:21 pm

FloridaAggie13 wrote:
March 22nd, 2019, 9:17 pm
Aggie formerly in Hawaii wrote:
March 22nd, 2019, 8:59 pm
FloridaAggie13 wrote:
March 22nd, 2019, 8:37 pm
Last I checked, Kobe didn't want to be here so he left. It isn't as though Smith asked him to leave. Time to let it go already.
That isnt what was being discussed and obviously a USU message board is going to discuss players who wore the aggie uniform.
I didn't bring his name up, others did. Mentioning Kobe could have helped is no different than saying John Stockton would have helped. They don't play here so why mention it?
Agreed. I will not mention him anymore. He is long gone. Just wanted to talk about what type of player would be good as a PG against a physical, Washington type zone and thought Kobe would have done well.



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