58. SMU Mustangs
60. Nevada Wolfpack
61. TCU Horned Frogs
63. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
65. Syracuse Orange
68. Iowa Hawkeyes
70. Butler Bulldogs
71. Princeton Tigers
74. Oklahoma Sooners
75. West Virginia Mountaineers
76. Georgia Bulldogs
77. UAB Blazers
80. Missouri Tigers
Here’s where each of our analysts had Utah State ranked:
| Steven | Maxwell | Kam | Cody |
| 67 | 80 | 26 | 66 |
Utah State has slowly, unintentionally become the premiere stepping stone school for up-and-coming head coaches. First, South Dakota’s Craig Smith turned three years at Utah State into the head coaching job at Utah. They replaced him by UMBC’s Ryan Odom, who replaced Mike Rhoades at VCU. Odom was replaced by Danny Sprinkle, who parlayed one season at the helm at Utah State to take the Washington job. Now, enter Jerrod Calhoun from Youngstown State.
Going into last season, the Aggies brought back just .2% of their minutes from the year prior. However, Sprinkle brought in Great Osobor and Darius Brown from his Montana State squad, among others. Both Osobor and Brown were All-MWC 1st Team last year, with Osobor winning MWC Player of the Year. Now, coming into this year, Utah State is returning 38% of their minutes from a team that won the Mountain West regular season last season. With Darius Brown off to the NBA and Osobor following Sprinkle to Washington, the Aggies roster will look very different once again in Calhoun’s inaugural season.
The heart of this team starts with two guys who initially entered the portal but decided to return with former Maryland Terp, Ian Martinez, as well as Utah native, Mason Falslev. The starting five should be rounded out by Isaac Johnson, Stetson transfer Aubin Gatereste, and Queens transfer Peyton Albury. The strongest part of this team’s transfer haul is their newfound depth. The bench unit will be rounded out by former Utah Valley senior Drake Allen, Oregon State grad transfer Dexter Akanno, and ASUN Freshman of the Year, Tucker Anderson from Central Arkansas. Additionally, the Aggies added Southern Utah’s Braden Housley who made the All-WAC Freshmen Team last season. In total, the Aggies have 9 guys on this roster that were in a rotation last season.
Yesterday in our 82 in 72 series, we discussed Mountain West foe, Colorado State. Last week, coming in at #60, we had the Nevada Wolfpack. Additionally at 79th in this series, we had San Diego State. While there is one more Mountain West team to be ranked in this series, Utah State has as good of a chance of winning the conference as any. The Aggies have made the NCAA tournament four of the last five tournaments, and they would’ve made it in the 2020 COVID season where they won the Mountain West tournament before March Madness was cancelled. While San Diego State typically is the cream of the crop in the Mountain West Conference, the Aggies consistency over recent years don’t put them too far behind. During this time, the Aggies have a record of 146-56 and a .722 winning percentage. With Calhoun now at the helm, I expect the Aggies are here to stay.
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