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LOGAN — To the chagrin of some Aggies players, Utah State's coaching staff hatched an unorthodox plan to motivate its team prior the season: They started a book club.
The book of choice was James Kerr's "Legacy," about the renowned New Zealand national rugby team, the All Blacks.
"It kind of started out as something everyone was a little bit hesitant to do, because like who wants to do book club in the summer?," junior center Trevin Dorius said.
Soon, a tedious summer assignment evolved into a fruitful experience for the team. The Aggies learned about a once unstoppable All Black's team that looked to revitalize itself following a disappointing World Cup in 2003. With the weight of a nation on its back, the book highlight's how the team built a strong team culture and helped them respond to setbacks en route to winning the 2011 World Cup.
As Utah State welcomes No. 25 San Diego State into the Spectrum on Wednesday night (8 p.m. MST, CBSSN) in undoubtedly the biggest game of the season to date, the lessons learned from "Legacy" are still at the forefront of the team's mind and have helped shape the culture of a team currently contenting for a Mountain West championship and NCAA Tournament bid.
When asked about the book, head coach Ryan Odom points up to where names of former Aggies greats hang in the rafters of the Spectrum.
"You look at those banners up there, there's plenty of players and coaches that I've never met," he said. "And certainly this particular team feels a responsibility to add to that legacy, right? Leave our program in a better place than when they got here."
Though Utah State isn't a world-beater program with multiple national champions — nor a downtrodden program looking to relive the glory days — parallels can be drawn to the "All Black's" team that battled to deliver despite the weight of expectations.
Being picked ninth in the conference preseason poll — a reasonable spot after graduating two All-Conference forwards in Justin Bean and Brandon Horvath that led the Aggies to a sixth-place finish — the team had massive expectations for itself as it entered the season. In the era of the one-time transfer, every non-graduated rotational player returned, and two key transfers were added — highly sought-after St. Joseph forward Taylor Funk and former UMBC and Cal Baptist forward Dan Akin.
For the most part, the Aggies have succeeded in some aspects thus far. In Year 2 of the Odom era, the Aggies are 19-5 — already surpassing last year's 18-16 record. The team matched the program record for best start at 9-0 and currently have eight wins over Top 100 KenPom teams — its most since Ken Pomeroy began tracking the data in 2002 — and is first nationally in 3-point shooting at 40.8%.
It hasn't been perfect, though. The Aggies suffered two head-scratching Quad 4 losses in nonconference play, lost their starting point guard Rylan Jones due to injury, and endured three double-digit defeats on the road in conference play.
The key, however, was that blowing a 17-point lead at home to Weber State to lose a perfect season wasn't the end of the world, nor was getting embarrassed at rival Boise State in a 20-point defeat. In the 2007 rugby World Cup, after all, the heavy-favorite All Black's were upset by France in the quarterfinals and managed to maintain a strong identity.
"Anyone looking at our schedule knows that we came out of the gates running, we were firing, we were shooting well, we were playing well," Dorius said. "Then it kind of started to taper off, and I think one of the things that helped us get over those little road bumps, those early losses, some at home and some on the road, was that we really focus back on the process that we established and the culture that we have as a team.
"All great teams have awkward losses, but what makes a great team a great team, and what makes a championship team a championship team is how you answer those losses and how you answer frustrations and how you answer the defeat. And I think that our team is perfectly showing that we are a great team, because we can answer frustrations and defeat and come back and win ball games by pretty wide margins."
Things have gone off the rails in moments, including giving up an 18-0 run against Nevada in Reno, and a 16-0 run to San Diego State at Viejas Arena, both of which resulted in losses. But nothing has carried over into the following game. The Aggies are undefeated in games after losses — defeating Seattle, Washington State, Wyoming, UNLV and Fresno State by an average of 15.6 points.
It's a testament to the way the culture the coaching staff brings. It's a program that trusts itself, expects to win, but refuses to let failure have say. Odom's confidence in his team is high, but it can be mistaken for nonchalance due to his easy-going temperament following certain losses.
Leaving the Extra Mile Arena following its 20-point loss at Boise State on Jan. 4, Odom and Steven Ashworth walked together and glimpsed an advertisement for the entertainer Steve-O. They glanced at each other, and for whatever reason laughed aloud. Odom's been calling Ashworth "Steve-O" ever since.
Forward Taylor Funk mentioned the uniqueness of his new team in a press conference following the Aggies' win over UNLV on Jan. 8.
"Big words for us are champs always answer," Funk said. "And I'll tell you what, it's pretty easy to come into practice after a loss like (the Boise State loss) with heads down, but that's just not this group whatsoever. We come in with the same energy as if we just won by 20. It's kind of hard to imagine that, but it's the truth for sure."
The strong culture is reflected in the improvement of players on the team. Ashworth and Max Shulga have increased their scoring average by 7.2 and 6.9 points, respectively, from last year. Sean Bairstow's increased his 3-point percentage from 12.5% to 45.3%; and Dorius has doubled both his block-rate and points per game.
The improvement has resulted in a lethal offense.
The Aggies have three players shooting above 40% from 3-point range (Ashworth, Funk and Bairstow) and two other guys (Shulga and RJ Etyle-Rock) shooting at least 34%. With the development of Dorius, and the addition of Akin, who averages a double-double, Utah State's lethal in the pick-and-roll and dribble-drive, and boasts the 12th adjusted offensive efficiency nationally, according to KenPom.
"Watching our offense click, you just look over at the other team and they're just frustrated and distraught," Dorius said. "It's awesome to watch, but I understand that it would be frustrating to scout for."
Things are certainly clicking for the Aggies as of late; they've won three straight, five of their last six, and are averaging 78 points per game in that span. Utah State nabbed its best win of the season last week in a 88-77 victory over New Mexico, and entered the week in a three-way tie for second place in the conference.
As Odom put it after the Colorado State game, though, the Aggies aren't "pleased with themselves quite yet."
The main goal of the season is to win the Mountain West championship and make the NCAA Tournament. Wednesday night could be a massive step forward in making that happen; beat the Aztecs and Utah State enters a three-way tie with San Diego State and Nevada for first in the conference. It also gives them their first Quad 1 win of the year, which most certainly lifts them to the right side of the bubble with six games remaining.
Sounds like prime opportunity to build upon the legacy.
"We went out to San Diego a few weeks ago, but it didn't go our way," Dorius said. "It's time to make a statement to the conference that we're not gonna get pushed around and that that was a fluke, and it's not gonna happen again. ... Everyone's mindset as we go into this game is that we're going to win. Sure, it'll look great on a resume, but more importantly, it's going to prove to everyone, prove to ourselves, that we are one of the best teams in the country."
