What are the expectations for Utah State hoops this season?

LOGAN — The story of Utah State's 2021-22 basketball season is often looked at through two different lenses.

Some see an 18-16 record with losses to Air Force and UC Davis, and the program missing the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2018 as a disappointing season. Others point toward victories over San Diego State and Oklahoma, and the fact the Aggies hosted an NIT home game, and claim success.

So what should be made of last year's results?

In Spring 2021, the Aggies lost their best player, Neemias Queta, to the NBA draft; and two starting guards, Rollie Worster and Marco Anthony, followed Craig Smith to Utah. Head coach Ryan Odom was hired from UMBC and supplemented the losses by bringing in RJ Etyle-Rock and Brandon Horvath with him and Rylan Jones from Utah.

Year 1 for Odom had its share of adversity: Sean Bairstow, Steven Ashworth, Jones, Etyle-Rock and Miller all missed games with injuries; COVID issues halted team activities in December; and several players got the flu in February.

All things considered, the program saw it as a success.

There are two different ways to look at the upcoming season, too. The Mountain West preseason media poll predicted the Aggies to finish eighth in the conference, but KenPom.com, on the other hand, currently ranks Utah State 62nd, which is second best in the conference.

So what's to be made of the Aggies this season?

Last year's top two scorers, forwards Justin Bean and Brandon Horvath, have moved on to professional endeavors; and losing two second team All-MWC guys undoubtedly impacted the Aggies in the preseason rankings.

On the contrary, the new coaching staff has had a full year to develop the team culture, ample time to replace Bean and Horvath, and now has a healthy roster at the start of the season. On paper, the Aggies look deeper, the backcourt is more experienced, and the coaching staff has a year of the Mountain West gauntlet under its belt.

Year 2 always provides a better indication of what a new coach brings to a program. All things considered, it's fair to say Odom has a responsibility to improve the team.

"I have no regrets with that particular team, and a four seed in the NIT is pretty strong," Odom said. "And for us this season, it's not about (building upon last season). Certainly, it's in some of the returners' minds, right, because they played in that building, they've experienced some of those tough losses and on the road, as well. And so they're motivated by that.

"But what is the ceiling? I don't know. How am I gonna put a ceiling on these guys for this coming season? We certainly have goals and our clear focus is one practice at a time."

The main goal the program has is clear: "We want to play in the NCAA tournament every year," Odom said.

Can this season's Aggies team play its way to an at-large bid?

Jones, Ashworth and Eytle-Rock are experienced, reliable guards who are expected play quality minutes. Center Trevin Dorius returns and will start, while Cal Baptist transfer Dan Akin provides extra length and athleticism in the front court.

It'll be the play of three guys, though, that could push Utah State over the edge: Taylor Funk, Max Shulga and Sean Bairstow.

Supplementing the absence of Bean is Funk, the St. Joseph transfer. A double-digit scorer in the A-10 last year, the highly sought after 6-foot-9 graduate transfer is the quintessential three-and-D player, with shooting and dribbling abilities on offense and sufficient length and athleticism to defend one through five defensively.

In his first game as an Aggie — a 75-58 win over Utah Valley on Monday night — Funk scored 18 points and grabbed 14 rebounds.

Shulga, the junior guard who saw his minutes and production progressively increase last season, is poised to make a big jump as an upperclassman. The 6-foot-4 smooth operating Ukrainian wing defends well and has a high basketball IQ. He averaged 4.4 points per game last year and played his best ball at the end of last season before having a productive summer.

Shulga's offensive game exploded at the FIBA U20 European Championships in July, where he scored 26 points against the Czech Republic. On Monday night, he showed his improvement by scoring 14 points in his second career start.

"Max won that spot," Odom said. "He's the youngest guy on our team, and I think that's one of the reasons that you're seeing his improvement. He just turned 20 at this point. And so all last year, he was 19 years old, playing with Justin Bean who's 25. We've always had a respect for his game. The idea has been, all right, it's just a matter of time."

For Bairstow, the year is already off to a better start than last. He suffered a broken wrist that was followed by a lacerated kidney, which affected Bairstow's offseason training and kept him off the court for all of November last year.

When healthy, the 6-foot-8 guard can defend one through four on the court, break defenders down on the dribble, and has a decent mid-range fadeaway. Last year, he averaged 9.5 points per game but went just 6-of-46 from 3-point range.

Similar to Shulga, the coaching staff believes he had a successful summer. The Australian native trained in Logan, remained healthy, and worked on his shot. Against Utah Valley, he scored 19 points and went 2-of-2 from beyond the arc.

"Teams are gonna give me (the 3-point shots) with the way I get to the rim," Bairstow said. "So it's a point for me to be able to knock it down. And I worked really, really hard on it in the offseason."

The Aggies continue their nonconference schedule on Friday night against Bradley, a sneaky good team out of the Missouri Valley Conference.

Odom believes he has a roster where "the younger players have improved" and there are "more combinations" of personnel to play. The strides Shulga and Bairstow have made, along with Funk's arrival, appear to be the biggest differences.

In his second year at the helm, there's no doubt the pressure is on Odom and his team to make a run at the NCAA Tournament.

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