Men's Basketball Hands Out Awards at Annual Banquet

Utah State's men's basketball team held its annual postseason banquet Tuesday [April 15], honoring the 2007-08 team that notched a 24-11 record and won a share of its first-ever Western Athletic Conference regular season championship in just its third year in the league with a 12-4 conference mark. Along with handing out individual awards, a highlight video recapping the year was also shown.

With its 24-11 record and an appearance in the National Invitation Tournament, Utah State extended a pair of school records as it posted its ninth straight 20-win season and advanced to postseason play for the ninth straight year. USU is now one of just three teams in the nation to win at least 23 games in each of the last nine seasons along with Gonzaga and Kansas.

 

Utah State recognized four players who were honored by the WAC during the course of the season in senior guard Jaycee Carroll, senior forward Stephen DuCharme, junior forward Gary Wilkinson and redshirt freshman forward Matt Formisano, while senior guard Kris Clark, freshman guard Tyler Newbold, Carroll and Wilkinson were honored by their teammates.

 

Carroll became just the fourth player in school history to earn conference player of the year honors as he averaged 22.4 points and 6.0 rebounds per game, while ranking first in the nation in three-point shooting at 49.8 percent and second in free throw shooting at 91.9 percent. Carroll was also named the WAC's player of the week three times during the year and was named to the league's all-tournament team.

 

Wilkinson was named to the WAC's second-team and all-newcomer team in his first year at Utah State after averaging 13.3 points and 7.0 rebounds and ranking fourth in the conference in field goal shooting (.584), fifth in free throw shooting (.815), eighth in rebounding and 13th in scoring.

 

DuCharme was named the WAC's player of the week after leading USU to a third-place finish at the South Padre Island Invitational with wins against Austin Peay and Iowa. DuCharme finished the year averaging 9.4 points and 5.0 rebounds, while shooting 57.9 percent from the field to rank fifth in the WAC.

 

Formisano, who played in 22 games in his first year of competition at Utah State, became the 13th player under head coach Stew Morrill to earn academic all-conference honors.

 

As for team honors, Carroll was voted the Most Valuable Player for the second year in a row as he became the first player in school history to earn All-America honors from the Associated Press in consecutive seasons as he was named to the honorable mention team. The MVP award is named in honor of the late H. Cecil Baker who played at Utah State from 1923-25 and later coached at USU from 1951-61.

 

Clark, who set a new Utah State single season record with 224 assists, was named the Most Inspirational Player for the second straight year, while Wilkinson was selected the player that Best Represents Aggie Basketball. The team's Defensive Player of the Year award went to Newbold who averaged 5.4 points and 2.5 rebounds, while Carroll received the seventh annual Varsity Award which was presented by the Big Blue Scholarship Fund and is awarded to a senior who best represents outstanding achievement in academic, athletics and community service.

 

 

H. Cecil Baker Most Valuable Player - Jaycee Carroll

Most Inspirational - Kris Clark

Best Defensive Player - Tyler Newbold

Best Represents Aggie Basketball - Gary Wilkinson

Big Blue Scholarship Fund Varsity Award - Jaycee Carroll

 

 

Player of the Year - Jaycee Carroll

Second-Team & All-Newcomer Team - Gary Wilkinson

Western Athletic Conference All-Tournament Team - Jaycee Carroll

 

 

Jaycee Carroll (3), Stephen DuCharme (1)