In All Honesty: The Aggies so far

The Aggies come out of the fall semester sporting a 5-1 overall record and one of the most efficient offenses in the country. The Aggies are shooting a staggering 56.6% from the field which is first in the country by 3.5% which is a rather large margin. USU is 2nd in 3 pt % at 47%. Lastly Tai Wesley (77.4%) and Gary Wilkinson (76.9%) are 2nd and 3rd in individual field goal percentage. This is a long way of saying when the Aggies shoot the ball there is a good chance of it going in the hoop.

All that being said the Aggies lost in their only true test this season falling to a pretty good BYU team @ Energy Solutions Arena last week. The tests don't stop as the Aggies play their next 3 away from the Spectrum against teams they should beat, but at the same time aren't gimmes. UVU is first on the docket and have the 4th leading scorer in the nation in Ryan Toolson at 25 a game. The Aggies then travel to Southern Utah on the 17th and end the road games at Idaho State on the 20th. Idaho State is a team without a great record (2-7) but has played a murders row of pretty good teams losing 3 games in OT (including one in double OT). The Bengals also hung tight at Wisconsin (losing 58-60) and were able to upset Utah in Pocatello.

The Aggies have never been a very strong road team. Under Morrill they have been a team that gets 23+ wins a season but a majority of them come in the friendly confines of the Spectrum. So the true test of how good this team can be will be if they can win a couple games on someone else's floor. They already were able to sneak away a victory @ UCSB thanks to a Formisano put-back, if they can come away unscathed after these road trips then this team might very well be for real.

The key for this team during the road trips, and all season will be if it can mature in a hurry. Inexperience cost them a win against BYU, but they still hung in there despite a pretty horrible shooting night from the outside. If the freshman guards (Myaer and Geiger) grow up in a hurry and along with Newbold and Quayle can keep knocking down open shots it will make it tough for teams to focus on Wesley and Wilkinson down low. If all that is happening this team will be hard to beat no matter where the game is.

Lastly if this team wants to contend for an at large bid to the big dance then it has very little room for error for the rest of the season. According to rpiforecast.com the Aggies currently sit at 73 in the RPI rankings but are expected to finish around 53. Anything above 50 will get the Aggies a look come selection Sunday (if the team fails to win the WAC tourney in Reno in March) but in order to do that 5 losses is the maximum this team can afford. The Aggies must be able to defend the home court throughout the rest of the season and only suffer a few trip ups on the road. Figuring the Aggies will lose at least a couple on the road during conference play it makes it an absolute necessity that they don't lose any more non-conference games or it will be WAC tourney or bust.

The test begins Saturday night (December 13th) in Orem. If you are a fan of the Aggies you should do what you can to get there and help this team gain some momentum on the road.

Sign of the game contest

We couldn't decide who should win the sign of the game at Energy Solutions Arena so we are leaving it up to the readers. There is a poll here on the blog with our nominees and we'll let voting decide who wins the title and the Refraction t-shirt.

BYU issue

Here is our BYU issue. In case you didn't know we at the Refraction don't like BYU very much. So here is our most immature and pissed off issue ever. Hope you enjoy it

http://www.usustats.com/refraction/Vol_2_Issue_5_-_BYU.pdf

Season Preview Issue

Please check it out:

http://www.usustats.com/refraction/

Montana State-Northern's student section

Seriously, you can't make up stuff like this...

This is a picture taken directly from MSU-Northern's athletics website advertising their student section as if this is something to brag about.

Notice there's less than a dozen people standing, little kids in the front row, and plenty of other people looking like they're there against their will. Also worth noting that I just correctly used all three spellings of "there, their, and they're" in the same sentence. Grammar kudos to me.

I also am entertained by the fat guy on the far right of the photo. He looks ready to fight/gut-slam somebody there.

Stew opens first practice with ceremonial ripping in half of a phone book… just to show who’s boss.

When USU began official team practices on Oct. 17, head coach Stew Morrill wasted no time in using scare tactics to establish his dominance as the man in charge of things. Just prior to practice, Morrill walked out of the tunnel to the basketball court carrying only a copy of the yellow pages and his whistle.
“He came out, blew the whistle, and just pointed to get everyone’s attention without saying anything,” said freshman Jaxon Myaer. “He just paced back and forth for a minute or two staring everybody down along the way.” Morrill, still having not spoken a word to his team, presented the phone book for all to see, promptly tore it completely in half, and tossed the two halves behind his head.
“This wasn’t a weak-ass Cache Valley sized yellow pages either,” Myaer said. “This was a big one, probably from Salt Lake or something.”
After the pieces of the phone book hit the floor, Morrill soaked in the looks on the team’s faces for about 12 to 15 seconds before simply saying, “You’re next.”
“You could see the fear in the faces of all the players,” assistant coach Tim Duryea said. “Stew doesn’t mess around with this stuff.”
After 20 or 30 seconds more of stunned silence by his team, Morrill then blew his whistle and began the day’s practice as usual.

Logo Contest

Dear friends of The Refraction,
Hope you all have enjoyed the offseason, but season 2 of The Refraction and more importantly the 08-09 Aggie basketball season is just around the corner.

We at The Refraction are offering you, the loyal fan of The Refraction an opportunity to design a logo for us. If this is something that interests you, get on your photoshop or get out your crayons or whatever and draw us up a logo and send it to the_refraction@hotmail.com . The contest will run until the 17th at which point we will pick a winner from the submissions.

Submissions should:
Include The Refraction name on the logo
Look Cool
Be something that could theoretically be put on a shirt
Be Aggie Blue and Fighting White but also work in black and white
Not include any trademarked logos of Utah State University

The winning submission will win:
The awesomeness of having their logo picked
Something to put in your portfolio
A shirt with your logo on it
Respect from The Refraction staff

Hope to see a lot of cool submissions and we'll see you in 32 days for the first game of the season!

-The Refraction staff

My Top 8 Favorite Aggie Rivals

These are my favorite teams to see come into the Spectrum:

#8. Hawaii.

This isn't so much of a rivalry as the Rainbows rarely win on the mainland and the Aggies can win on the Islands, but there have been a lot of good games played between these two. Including the unforgettable "We Shot The Lights Out" Big Monday game a few years back

#7. Pacific

This one would be higher if the two teams still played each other every year. This old Big West rivalry used to be played for conference supremacy at least twice a year. Highlights from this one include the heartbreaking Pacific "overrated" comeback in the Spectrum and the Aggie redemption in the Big West Tourney Championship game lead by freshman and Big West Tournament MVP Jaycee Carroll.

#6. UVSC

This is more of a personal rivalry for me. These two in-state teams have only met three teams, and all came up in favor of USU. But after a weekend roadie to Orem and some poor treatment from the UVSC faithful (all 3 of them) I've always had a personal vendetta against this wannabe BYU school.

#5. Boise State

This is another up and coming rivalry in the WAC. Boise used to be a doormat in basketball until Coby Karl came along and brought the team to respectability. Then came the epic USU comeback in the Spectrum in 06-07 coming back from 9 down with just over a minute to go. Last year the Aggies played beat them twice in the regular season including in Boise on their senior night to rob them of an outright WAC title only to lose the Bronco's in the 2nd round of the WAC tourney. If Boise can keep up their program after graduating 4/5th of the starting lineup this could be a great rivalry

#4. University of Utah

For some reason I've never had the same hate in my heart for the U of U as I do for some of the others on the list but this rivalry always brings a great game to the Spectrum. An eventual sweet 16 Utah team led by future number 1 overall draft pick Andrew Bogut was embarrassed 71-45 in the Spectrum, and just 2 years ago Chaz Spicer showed a glimpse of things to come that season by hitting a jab-step 3 to beat the Utes.

#3. New Mexico State University

The All-Aggie WAC rivalry is one that rates high for the quality of teams playing in it. New Mexico for all their flaws and troubles always brings in a good team and is tough to beat in Las Cruces and it usually turns out to be a classic. Some highlights from this series are Jaycee Carroll's 44 points in the Spectrum against NMSU in 05-06 leading then head coach Reggie Theus to say to the crowd "What an ass kicking!" after the game, the Reggie Theus pictures and look-a-like contest and Tyrone Nelson's pizza boy chants which gave birth to the idea of the Refraction.

#2. Nevada

Even with all those good games against the southern Aggies there is no team in the WAC I'd rather play then Nevada. Always a quality opponent with potential pro players on the roster they are the class of the conference. And nobody will ever forget the night the Aggies beat #9 Nevada in OT 79-77 in the Spectrum.

#1 BYU

To be honest this list never had a chance of having a different number 1 team. I dislike the Cougars as much as humanly possible. From Austin Ainge telling the crowd that his name isn't Danny, to the ushers in Provo telling the Aggie crowd to cheer positively only, to the ultimate disrespect of Coach Rose pulling out of playing the Aggies in Logan I can't think of any positives to talk about. I hate the Y.

Top 8 series

In preparation for the 10 weeks remaining before Aggie basketball season tips off, I'm starting a new series called the Top 8. Where I will rank something Aggie related 1-8 much like many of our friends from other teams rank their myspace friends.

This week my top 8 former Aggie players during my USU tenure.

1. Jaycee Carroll
2. Nate Harris
3. Spencer Nelson
4. Cardell Butler
5. Mark Brown
6. Cass Matheus
7. Durall Peterson
8. Chaz Spicer

Utah State Football Preview

Hope for the best, prepare for the worst and always remember basketball season is right around the corner.

The Olympics are stupid

After a lazy Sunday afternoon with nothing better to do then watch TV I watched nearly 8 hours of Olympic coverage and have come to the conclusion that I hate the Olympics. I'm sorry I don't get into which country can best exploit 15 year old girls to do back flips on a balance beam or how Micheal Phelps can get 20 gold medals because there are about 35 different swimming events from men and women. Water Polo= Soccer-excitement+water.
The Redeem team might be the biggest joke of all. I'm really excited that D-Will gets to the recognition he deserves and gets to play for the USA, but when I hear quotes from the team that a gold medal would mean more than a Larry O'Brien trophy I want to throw up. The only sports that actually care about winning an Olympic medal are the ones that don't get a chance to win any other time. Do you think Rodger Federer would rather win an Olympic Medal instead of a Wimbledon title? The only reason they say stuff like that is to save face after America got embarrassed by not winning a gold medal with the best players on the planet because they picked 12 ball hogs that didn't once pass the ball. Whooptdy Do

I'm sorry I hate America and Freedom but the Olympics are boring. Thank god preseason football is on to give me something to do.

Rooting for Laundry

As Jerry Seinfeld once accurately put it, "sports fans don't root for players they root for laundry. " Truthfully we as sports fans don't care who wears our uniform as long as they are good, and if they aren't good enough find someone else. I reflect upon this as my favorite sports team the Superbowl Champion New York Giants just traded one of my favorite players Jeremy Shockey to the Saints. Shockey has always been a favorite of mine since he trucked over a poor Texan in his first preseason game. Through the years he's provided a lot of my favorite Giants moments, winning jump balls over Brian Dawkins, running people over without a helmet on, and providing big plays rarely seen from the tight end position. At the same time he was a headache for almost his entire career with the Giants, if he wasn't fighting off an injury then he was taking shots at the coaching staff in the media or not training with the team.
So without Shockey the Giants had a run to the Superbowl and completed one of the happiest moments in my life (sad, huh?) and so despite enjoying his time with the Giants I'm not really sad to see him go.

So it occurs to me would I be heartbroken if anyone left one of my teams? Would I still root for them after they left? Lets say after his Sophomore year Jaycee Carroll transferred from the Ags to a big name school. Would anyone in this area still like him? Would anyone still follow his career in the Logan area? Probably not. And its absurd to think that we would. Its the paradox of being a sports fan. As committed as we are to our teams we only care about the jersey, not the player who fills it out.

Now you'll have to excuse me while I store my Jeremy Shockey jersey next to my Tiki Barber, Micheal Strahan and Ron Dayne jerseys and look back on the good times.

Utah State 08-09 Basketball Schedule

2008-09 Utah State Men's Basketball Schedule
Date Opponent Time
Fri., Oct. 31 NORTHWEST NAZARENE (Ex.) 7:05 p.m.
Sat., Nov. 8 CONCORDIA (Ex.) 7:05 p.m.
Fri., Nov. 14 MONTANA STATE-NORTHERN 7:05 p.m.
Mon., Nov. 17 at UC Santa Barbara 8:05 p.m.
Tues., Nov. 25 WEBER STATE 7:05 p.m.
Sat., Nov. 29 CAL POLY 7:05 p.m.
Tues., Dec. 2 UC IRVINE 7:05 p.m.
Sat., Dec. 6 &vs. Brigham Young 4:05 p.m.
Sat., Dec. 13 at Utah Valley 7:05 p.m.
Wed., Dec. 17 at Southern Utah 7:05 p.m.
Sat., Dec. 20 at Idaho State 7:05 p.m.
Mon., Dec. 22 UTAH 7:05 p.m.
Mon.-Wed., Dec. 29-31 DUEL IN THE DESERT (Sponsored by Gossner Foods)
Mon., Dec. 29 Wyoming vs. Houston Baptist 5:30 p.m.
Utah State vs. Howard 8:05 p.m.
Tues., Dec. 30 Wyoming vs. Howard 5:30 p.m.
Utah State vs. Houston Baptist 8:05 p.m.
Wed., Dec. 31 Howard vs. Houston Baptist 5:30 p.m.
Utah State vs. Wyoming 8:05 p.m.
Mon., Jan. 5 *IDAHO 7:05 p.m.
Thur., Jan. 8 *at Louisiana Tech 6:05 p.m.
Sat., Jan. 10 *at New Mexico State 7:05 p.m.
Thur., Jan. 15 *FRESNO STATE 7:05 p.m.
Sat., Jan. 17 *BOISE STATE 7:05 p.m.
Thur., Jan. 22 *at San Jose State 8:05 p.m.
Sat., Jan. 24 *at Hawai'i 10:05 p.m.
Thur., Jan. 29 *NEVADA 7:05 p.m.
Sat., Jan. 31 *at Fresno State 8:05 p.m.
Thur., Feb. 5 *NEW MEXICO STATE 7:05 p.m.
Sat., Feb. 7 *LOUISIANA TECH 7:05 p.m.
Thur., Feb. 12 *at Idaho 8:05 p.m.
Sat., Feb. 14 *at Boise State 7:05 p.m.
Wed, Feb. 18 CS BAKERSFIELD 7:05 p.m.
Sat., Feb. 21 ESPN BRACKETBUSTER TBA
Thur., Feb. 26 *HAWAI'I 7:05 p.m.
Sat., Feb. 28 *at Nevada 8:05 p.m.
Sat., Mar. 7 *SAN JOSE STATE 7:05 p.m.
Tues.-Sat., Mar. 10-14 WAC Tournament Reno, Nev.
Thur.-Sun., Mar. 19-22 NCAA First & Second Rounds TBA
& at Energy Solutions Arena.
* Denotes Western Athletic Conference game.
Home Games in BOLD AND ALL CAPS.
All times are Mountain time, tentative and subject to change.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The good news: 18 home games, and a lot of local roadies. @ ISU, @SUU, @ UVSC, BYU at Energy Solutions are all reasonable drives during the pre-season. The bad news: same lack-luster schedule with no big names. The coaching staff did say they were planning on having an easier schedule than last year because they believed we would be in a rebuilding stage without #20 and the schedule reflects that.

So begins the countdown.

NBA Draft thoughts

With the NBA draft tomorrow here are my thoughts on who I'd like the Jazz to take or not take

WISHFUL THINKING LIST:
Joe Alexander WVU 6'8 SF
Kevin Love UCLA 6'9 PF
Unless the Jazz made some sort of blockbuster trade they aren't getting anywhere near either of these two guys and they would be playing positions where there are already too many players on the roster. I really like Alexander's long term potential and game. Some draft websites call him Matt Harpring with athleticism. Harpring is clearly on his last legs and maybe has a year or two left. Love is just a great basketball player with a head for the game and I think would be an instant Jerry Sloan favorite.

BIG GUYS WISH LIST:
Roy Hibbert Georgetown 7'2 Center
The #1 option for the Jazz in my opinion. He's the most NBA ready and could possibly contribute by mid season. Is very smart and understands how to play around the basket. Is a good defender and developing on offense. Knock on him is that he isn't athletic enough for the NBA, but he's not going to be asked to run a lot so that doesn't bother. The Jazz need a player that can step in and play center for short periods of times when Okur is on the bench or the Jazz need more of a defensive presence. He's the ideal fit

Jason Thompson Rider 6'10 PF/Center
Thompson is a project and didn't play against a high level at Rider College but is a very good rebounder and a good defender. Much more athletic than Hibbert but needs a lot of polish on his offensive game. If the Jazz take him he's going to need to spend at least a year in Orem before he will be up with the big team so don't look for instant impact.

Omer Asik Turkey 7'0 PF/Center
Omer is a bit of a wild card because mock drafts have him all over the board. Right now he's being projected end of the first round on NBAdraft.net and Draftexpress has him more middle of the 2nd round. He's a work in progress, and would probably be better slotted for a 2nd rounder but given his Turkish ties I think he might get extra consideration from the Jazz. He's really the inverse Memo, not much of an offensive game, poor FT shooter, limited range but good shot blocking and much better defense.

Alexis Ajinca France 7'0 PF/Center
Has the size and is a good shot blocker and rebounder (the two things the Jazz need most from a backup center). Doesn't have a lot of polish on his offensive game and will probably spend some more time in Europe or go to the NBDL before making it to the Jazz. Staying in Europe could be a plus though as the Jazz don't have a lot of roster spots to go around right now (1 open with CJ Miles situation yet to be determined)

NO THANKS:
Robin Lopez Stanford 7'0 Center
The other Lopez twin wouldn't be an awful pick but I just would rather see a gamble with one of the other players first. Doesn't have a very high ceiling but will probably be a Jarron Collins type, a guy who can come in and play some defense and might score a bucket or two when left alone right below the hoop.

JaVale McGee Nevada 7'0 Center
Has a freakishly long arms and could be a force with a little work, but after seeing him up close and personal a couple times against the Aggies I just don't see it happening. Easily gets frustrated when things aren't going right, doesn't show a lot of effort on the defensive end of the floor and watching him against the Ags I didn't see a lot of offensive game, mostly scored on put backs and garbage buckets.


PREDICTION:

1st round: The Jazz take someone completely off the board like Chris Douglas-Roberts and then trade him and a second rounder or future considerations or something for Roy Hibbert who will be taken a few picks earlier. If the Jazz don't make a trade I'm going with most of the mock drafts and think that Jason Thompson will be the guy.
2nd round: Foreign player who they can keep in Europe for a year or two with so little room on the roster its almost a must to either trade one or both of the second rounders or take a couple of Euro's.

I'll give an update on how I feel about the Jazz draft and the draft in general later, after I've talked myself into whoever the Jazz took.

Quick Thoughts

Finals Thoughts:

So I was very wrong about the NBA finals. The Lakers don't look like they belong on the same court and losing a 24 point lead is pretty deflating. They are toast and I'm pretty happy about that.

Also maybe its just me but I expected more from the Finals. After being bombarded with flashbacks of great Boston-LA finals of the past I'm waiting for these teams to raise their game to another level for the finals. It seems more like just a regular season game rather than a NBA Finals game.

Jazz Thoughts:

The Jazz are probably about halfway through workouts leading up to the NBA draft. I still think Roy Hibbert is the best possible solution if available at #23. They have also worked out Jason Thompson who wouldn't be a bad option, but would be more of a developmental prospect and Trent Plaisted who would be a bench warmer for the Flash and should never ever play for the Jazz.

Utah State Basketball Thoughts:

"Rat Ball" is starting up for the summer. You can read some excellent recaps of what went down and how we are looking for next year on the Utah State Message Boards.

Assistant Coach James Ware took a promotion to be the top Assistant at Santa Clara. Ware did a fantastic job for the Aggies the last two years especially in the area of recruiting. Hopefully they are able to replace him with a good coach and good recruiter. And the Refraction wishes him all the best in Santa Clara.

Quick Sports Book Review

Over the last few days my boredom has lead to a lot of reading so here's a couple of recommendations:

God Save The Fan: How Preening Sportscasters, Athletes Who Speak in the Third Person, and the Occasional Convicted Quarterback Have Taken the Fun Out of Sports (and How We Can Get It Back) by Will Leitch.
This is a real good read. The chapters on Athletes and Media are both excellent and humorously point out a lot of the problems with sports today. Some of the innerworkings at ESPN that he uncovers are hilarous. the owners and fans chapters have some good parts but overall aren't as strong as the others. Overall its a quick read and great for any sports fan.

Can I Keep My Jersey? 11 Teams, 5 Countries, and 4 Years in My Life as a Basketball Vagabond- Paul Shirley
This book contains diary entries from Paul Shirley a basketball player that is just good enough to not quite make the NBA. In his travels he goes from Greece, to Spain, to Russia, to the ABA, CBA and NBA. Finding out some of the innerworkings of a team from an insiders perspective was really interesting and Shirley has a very dry sense of humor that comes across well. A good book for any basketball fan.

Dear ESPN

Hi ESPN,

Long time fan. I'd just like to kindly ask you to quit ramming stories down my throat that I couldn't give less of a shit about. Why on gods green earth would you think anyone cares that Big Brown got new sutures on his hoof and waste space on the bottom line informing me that Big Brown ran five furlongs. Its a friggin horse. A lot of people are saying that Big Brown is the savior for horse racing after everyone was saddened by the euthanization of Eight Belles (except the fine people at Elmers!) but guess what nobody cares about horse racing to begin with except for jockeys, and gamblers who don't have anything better to bet on this time a year.

Also while we are on the subject I don't need an hourly update on how Pacman Jones is doing (unless he makes it rain again, in which case please interrupt whatever re-run of trick shot pool you are showing and wake up Bob Ley for a special Outside the Lines). What's lost in the whole Pacman Jones saga is that he is really not that great of a football player. In 2 years with the Titans he registered a whopping 4 interceptions! This isn't like Champ Bailey shutting down one side of the field, its a slightly above average CB with a taste for strip clubs and guns. Whoopty do. Let me know when Pacman practices by running five furlongs with Big Brown and then I might be interested.

Thanks,

Kraig

I hate the Lakers, but they are going to win a title

After some soul-searching after the Jazz were eliminated from the playoffs by the Lakers I've come to grips with how good a team they really are. Between the much talked about theft of Pau Gasol helping give them a legitmate big man (even if he still is pretty soft and flops a bunch) and the leadership, defense and steady play Derek Fisher gives them I think they are just too much for the Celtics. The Celtics too often this post season have had their weaknesses exposed. They can't create offense on a consistent basis, they have no go-to guy in the clutch, the bench is thin and can't be relied upon for a consistent contribution and even Carlos Boozer thinks Ray Allen has had a pretty tough post season. The Lakers on the other hand never had a problem with any team they played so far (and it pains me to say that). Fisher should have Rondo on lockdown, Odom's length should be a problem for Pierce, and Bryant should easily be able to take away Ray Allen but I can't imagine Allen staying with the MVP. The only advantage the Celtics have is KG but as well documented he shys away from the inside in the clutch and tends to settle for jumpers when he could take guys like Gasol to the woodshed. Considering the finals is a 2-3-2 format I'm thinking the Lakers take it in 5 or 6 and Bryant puts gets a finals MVP to keep his regular season MVP company, and the scary part is they will be better next year with a healthy Andrew Bynum and Chris Mihm.

Brady Jardine. USU basketball freshman

http://youtube.com/watch?v=iaRQOJBzDAA

Thanks to the good folks on http://utahstate.scout.com/ you can now view some excellent highlights of Brady Jardine, a 6'6 wing from Twin Falls. Jardine is currently serving an LDS mission so he may red shirt this year and spend the time getting his game back or if he doesn't redshirt he may not be able to contribute immediately but if he still has the unbelievable athleticism shown in this video he could be a special player for the Ags in the very near future.

What to do with the Utah Jazz?

During halftime of the final Jazz game of the season (an eventual 108-105 loss to the LA Lakers) I sat in my seat in the last row of the upper bowl and pondered where the Jazz can go from here. The knee-jerk reaction is to wonder if the Jazz will ever be able to get over the hump and seriously contend for an NBA title. However after some reflection the 07-08 Jazz season still has to be considered a success and the future still seems bright.

The most important thing to remember is that the Jazz are still a very young team and essentially will all be back next year with third-year guard/forward C.J. Miles being the only free agent (restricted). With that youth improvement has to be expected.

At point guard the Jazz are should be set for the foreseeable future. Deron Williams gets better with every game and could easily factor into the MVP race next year if his numbers (18.8 ppg and 10.5 apg) were to improve even slightly (Chris Paul averaged 21.6 and 11.6 this year and finished 2nd in one of the most competitive MVP races in recent years). The only question mark in his future is will he sign an extension this off season and for how long. Backup point guard play improved drastically when Ronnie Price was given the reigns mid-season. Price still has a long ways to go before he can be relied upon as an effective option if D-Will were to go down for an extended period of time, but has all the tools to become a quality backup guard. His hustle and ability to push the ball up the floor make him a great change of pace, but when the transition offense isn't there Price doesn't get the team into the offense like Williams resulting in an ugly shot now and then. Jason Hart has a player option to become a free agent this year, but isn't expected to do so. The Jazz would be best served to keep him at 3rd string

Shooting guard is the least settled of all the positions. Ronnie Brewer had a tremendous sophomore season responding to an increase in playing time by improving his scoring from 4.6 ppg to 12 ppg and shooting a blistering 55% from the field. The problem with Brewer is his outside shot isn't great (only shoots 18% from 3 for his career) and that allows defenders to sag off and play help defense in the low post (Kobe Bryant was almost always doubled on Memo or Boozer during round 2 resulting in a lot of Brewer points early, but leading to a lot of Boozer frustration). Brewer's defense is good but not great but expected to improve. Mid-season acquisition Kyle Korver is the exact opposite of Brewer. Korver is a great streak shooter and will chuck it up from anywhere on the court, but leaves a lot to be desired on the defensive end. With a full off season in the system I'd expect Korver to understand the offense a little better and should result in some better looks. C.J. Miles has shown flashes of greatness and might eventually be the best of both worlds. Miles has a sweet stroke (39% 3-point shooter this season) and can put the ball on the floor and get to the rim and finish strong. Miles is young (turned 21 in March) and still has a lot of potential for improvement but could easily be in the rotation at either of the wing spots next year if re-signed. Morris Almond ripped up the D-league this year for the Orem Flash scoring 25 a game but until he shows the same skills on an NBA court will be an unknown commodity.

At the 3 the Jazz have Andrei Kirilenko and Matt Harpring (C.J. Miles may also factor in here as well). Kirilenko has been much maligned for not getting enough done to deserve a max contract. While this is true, the fact of the matter is with the current roster the Jazz don't need a great scorer at this position, and Kirilenko fits the role nicely. His shot was much improved this year (21% 3-point shooter in 06-07 to 38% in 07-08) which has been credited to a lot of time with shooting coach Jeff Hornacek. Even with that improvement teams still leave him open a lot and dare him to shoot, which leads to problems when Brewer and Kirilenko are in the same lineup. Matt Harpring has brought a toughness to the team that Sloan loves, but at this point in his career I would say his body has given out on him. He didn't look like the same player this year and was a liability on the offensive end of the floor during the playoffs.

Power Forward was the most settled position before Carlos Boozer threw up a stinker of a postseason (dropping from 21 ppg in the regular season to 16 in the playoffs) now a lot of Jazz fans are calling for him to be traded. Unfortunately guys who average 20 and 10 don't grow on the trees and the Jazz would be hard-pressed to find equal value in a trade so don't expect Booz to go anywhere even if his defense resembles a matador on a consistent basis. At backup PF Paul Milsap is everything you can ask for. He hustles, grabs rebounds and can be a great offensive option when given enough touches. Milsap is probably never going to be an all-star in the league but is the perfect guy off the bench for the Jazz.

Mehmet Okur is the only true center to play significant minutes for the Jazz in the post season, with Jarron Collins riding the pine most games. Memo's ability to hit the money ball and stretch the defense is the key to the Jazz offense. It allows Boozer more room to operate down low and can break the back of a team. Just like Boozer, Okur plays very little defense most nights, but when especially motivated can give an acceptable effort on this end of floor. Jarron Collins is a career backup and shouldn't be relied upon for more than the occasional garbage time minute. Kyrylo Fesenko has become a fan favorite even though he saw only 70 minutes of action in 9 games for the team this year. He's an intriguing option down low and could become an enforcer and great shot blocker, but his game is so raw it would be unrealistic to expect him to contribute anytime next year.

So what should the Jazz do this offseason to improve?

1) Be patient. The Jazz pushed the Lakers in every game and with a couple of breaks could easily still be playing right now. As the team picks up more experience they should become better and could easily improve on their 54-28 record and be playing at least 1 or 2 rounds with homecourt advantage next year.

2) Negotiate an extension with D-Will. He is the franchise, give him whatever he wants to keep him in Salt Lake

3) Re-sign C.J. Miles. The kid has a ton of potential and at 21 years old is only beginning to scratch the surface. I think he's the long term answer to start at SG or SF.

4) If possible get a defensive minded big man that can protect the rim. The Jazz had one of the most efficient offenses in NBA history over the last few months of the season, so getting another scorer wont add much to mix. The Jazz need a big man who can spell Boozer and/or Memo and play tough D and be an enforcer. DeSagana Diop is a free agent this offseason and would be ideal for the right price, but will probably be wildly overpaid. Roy Hibbert or Robin Lopez at #23 in the draft would also be a great addition, but couldn't be counted on to immediately contribute.

The Basics

This is the official blog of The Refraction which is the unofficial gameday newsletter of Utah State basketball. The primary goals of this blog will to be:

1) Become the official host of The Refraction and all related content. Last year we were a little spread out being based on myspace, facebook, and usustats.com (Thanks again for all your help last year Nick). This will try and condense all of those areas to here in hopes of more circulation.

2) With school out for the summer I have way more time on my hands and am going to try and use some of that time constructively to keep writing about sports in general.

3) Get me a job that involves giving my opinion on sports related matters.

Hopefully I'll be able to accomplish 2 out of 3 of those.