In all of the time the Aggies have spent in the Spectrum for games and practice, it’s probably fair to say that prior to Sunday afternoon, they had never been watched while watching from the stands.
But thanks to the giant television screen on its new scoreboard, Utah State was able to turn the north side of the Spectrum into Cache Valley’s largest living room and share the NCAA Tournament Selection Show experience with a couple hundred Aggie fans.
Just as important as witnessing the announcement of the time and place of the Aggies’ first-round tournament game, though, was witnessing the Aggies’ reaction when they discovered their fate.
And they certainly didn’t disappoint.
Thanks to a heavy dose of drama generated by the fact that CBS saved Utah State until the final half of the last regional, the tension was, well, dang near similar to what the Aggies endured during the final three minutes of their 57-54 victory over Cal Poly Saturday in the championship game of the Big West Tournament.
Early on, an off-the-wall prediction by Al “Voice of the Aggies” Lewis nearly came to fruition when Stanford was given a fourth seed and shipped up to Spokane. But rather than set up an intriguing clash between USU head coach Stew Morrill and his former boss, Mike Montgomery, in the town where Morrill played his college ball, the committee matched the Cardinal up with San Diego of the West Coast Conference.
There was a tense moment in the East Regional when Louisville was tabbed as a No. 4 seed, but the Cardinals were slated to face Austin Peay.
And in the Midwest, No. 4 seed Dayton got Tulsa and No. 3 Marquette was given Holy Cross.
That left just the West.
And with half of those 16 teams slated to play at the Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City, there was an awful lot of hope the Aggies and an army of fans would end up a mere 90 minutes away.
Those hopes quickly grew even greater when a No. 13 seed matched up against Illinois was given to Sun Belt champion Western Kentucky.
That left just eight more teams and prompted USU guard Cardell Butler to predict, “We got Duke!” in anticipation of a No. 3 vs. No. 14 clash with the Blue Devils.
Instead, just seconds later, the Aggies were suddenly a No. 15 seed and paired up with another hallowed college basketball program which had recently fallen from potential, No. 1 seed status — Kansas.
Needless to say, just about everyone at the Spectrum responded to hearing “Rock Chalk Jayhawk” with mixed emotions.
On one hand, it’s Kansas. And it just doesn’t get bigger than Kansas and Dr. James Naismith and Phog Allen and Wilt Chamberlain and Danny Manning. The Jayhawks are college basketball.
But on the other hand, Utah State is a proud program just two seasons removed from a tournament victory over Ohio State, and simply attending The Big Dance isn’t the objective. There’s a determination to be competitive on Thursday night and, as Morrill repeated throughout the day, Kansas is “obviously a tremendous challenge” with a couple of All-America caliber players in Nick Collison and Kirk Hinrich.
But, like the Aggies on Sunday, we’ll just have to wait and see.
