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LOGAN — On Nov. 5, 2019, the season-opener for the 17th-ranked Utah State Aggies was a home contest against a Big Sky opponent with a new head coach.
That team? Montana State. The coach? Danny Sprinkle.
In that contest, the Bobcats' fight was outmatched by the Aggies' talent and experience, which ultimately resulted in an 81-73 Utah State victory. Four years later, that same Sprinkle will open his season at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum, once again, but this time from the opposite side of the court.
"The people here are just so supportive and they're just great," Sprinkle said of his new home in Cache Valley. "And they love their basketball."
Despite taking over a program with a culture of success, Sprinkle, in his first year as the Utah State men's basketball coach, has inherited quite a mess.
With just three returning players, none of which return any significant production from last season, Sprinkle is tasked with building a program that has reached the NCAA Tournament four of the last five seasons from the ground up.
"If we'd had a lot of those guys that were eligible to come back last year, this team probably would have been picked in the top three in the conference," Sprinkle said, while adding that it's getting "harder and harder" to keep players or recruit players to smaller markets like Cache Valley.
"We've got to do better if we want to continue our winning ways," he added.
Regardless of his difficulty in recruiting, Sprinkle said they have made sure each player that plays at Utah State will "fit Cache Valley" and have "high character."
"I really feel like we did a really good job of getting really good kids, good people," Sprinkle said.
One of the Aggies' most talented and most potentially impactful players is transfer Darius Brown II, who played for Sprinkle last season at Montana State. The guard shot 39.7% from beyond the arc last season and averaged 4.9 assists per game on offense and won the Big Sky Defensive Player of the Year.
"(Brown has) been our best player pretty much every day," Sprinkle said. "He's just a really good point guard … he can do everything. He can dribble, pass and shoot."
Another impactful player, Great Osobor, came with Sprinkle from Montana State, as well, but is currently dealing with an ankle injury. The exact nature, length and severity of the injury is still uncertain. Other players that Sprinkle highlighted as fall camp standouts are Coastal Carolina transfer Josh Uduje and Cache Valley native Mason Falslev, both guards.
"Mason and Josh, they've both had practices where they've been really, really good, and they've had practices where they're inconsistent," Sprinkle said. "We've been patient with them because they have all the talent in the world."
Despite certain standouts in practice, Sprinkle noted there is no set starting five and that it will be unlikely to see a consistent starting five until well into the season.
"They're just going to have to kind of see who plays under the lights and competes when the fans are in the stands and the popcorn's popping," Sprinkle said.
Due to the uncertainty of the team, the Aggies were picked to finish ninth in the Mountain West; in fact, Sprinkle was surprised they were picked even that high.
"We're going to need the fans," he said. "I hope they stick through. There's going to be a lot of adversity this year. There's going to be some tough times that they're probably not used to, but it is what it is, and this team will keep fighting and we'll keep getting better."
The first chance to see what Sprinkle's new team looks like will come Friday (7 p.m. MDT) in a home exhibition game against Montana State before the season tips off at home Monday against the South Dakota Mines.
