It’s Stew Morrill versus Don Verlin, Deremy Geiger versus his former Aggies and two teams jockeying for the highest seed in the upcoming WAC Tournament.
When Idaho and Utah State clash in the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum tonight, it will be more than your average late-season WAC match-up.
The relationship between Morrill and Verlin? It’s complicated. Verlin acquired every trick he knows from his days as an assistant under Morrill — a legendary coach-turned-basketball-genius, some might say.
“He knows what he’s doing,” Verlin said. “You go 12 straight 23-win seasons and graduate the guys he did and put the home-court advantage they have… I bet they haven’t lost 20 games in the 13 years he’s been there.”
It’s no surprise the teams share unique but similar playing styles, something Utah State associate coach Tim Duryea attests to.
“The core structure of the system is basically the same and so a lot of times our games have been kind of made-up or consisted of, you know, who can figure out how to tweak things,” Duryea said. “It really is a lot like an intra-squad scrimmage when we play.”
Verlin has learned just about everything he could about Utah State, a team the Vandals have beaten twice in two years after not having beaten the Aggies in 12 tries and seven years. It’s been eight years since Idaho left the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum victorious and 15 since the Vandals have swept the Aggies.
Morrill is cautious of this year’s Vandal team that travels to Logan with a five-game win streak and took down the Aggies 57-54 Jan. 21 in Cowan Spectrum. Not to mention that the 2011-2012 Aggies haven’t seen near the success Morrill’s team did in the past three NCAA Tournaments.
“It’s always a tough place to play. but hopefully if there’s ever a year we’re going to get them it’s going to be this year,” Verlin said. “They’ve been so good for so long and they lost four or five really good seniors last year and for whatever reason they’ve lost a ton of close games.”
The Aggies (14-14, 5-6 WAC) have lost four at home this season, after only having lost three in Logan in the three years prior.
Duryea mentioned the early loss of 6-foot-7-inch junior forward Brady Jardine. Jardine, a pre-season all-WAC second team candidate, suffered an injury during Utah State’s third game of the season.
“We lost arguably the best player on our team,” he said. “It would’ve been the equivalent of Idaho losing Kyle Barone in game three, it’s not something you plan for.”
Still, Geiger says it’s crucial to prepare some of the less experienced players for the WAC’s most hostile home court — one that brings in a WAC-leading 7,983 people per game.
“Some guys played last year, played in that atmosphere and some guys didn’t so really the biggest thing is to help them get ready for that,” Geiger said.
One Vandal who won’t be fazed by the hostile Aggie crowd is center Kyle Barone, recipient of back-to-back Verizon WAC Player of the Week awards. After pouring in a career-high 25 points against Portland State a week ago, the junior is getting attention around the WAC and may be the conference’s most feared big man.
After somewhat of a slow start to the season the preseason all-WAC second team candidate has catapulted the Vandals to five straight.
Barone said a change in mindset helped his game progress.
“It’s just what I want to accomplish, it’s all up to me,” he said. “Mainly effort, just attacking the ball, shooting the ball is my main thing. Attack the glass and good things happen.”
Idaho appears to be peaking at the right time and Barone said team chemistry is at a season-high.
“We got a lot of confidence,” Barone said. “We’re practicing hard right now. These guys like each other and everything is coming together well at the right time.”
Tipoff at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum is at 6:05 p.m. and the Aggies will honor the team’s two seniors, Morgan Grim and Brockeith Pane. The game will be broadcast on ESPN3.com.