but joining the MWC had little to do with things coming crashing down. Several years of sub-par recruiting, an attitude of "all is well" while ignoring the warning signs, and other problems within the basketball program are the real issues.

I know everyone likes to say, "yeah, you join a real league and look what happens!" Well, when we joined the WAC back when it was still a good basketball conference everyone said the same thing. There were a number of good programs, and Nevada was a top-10 team; USU still beat them. USU actually won 4 conference titles in a row.

What's happened is a slow decline since about 2004 that fans (myself included) have tried to ignore but now it's getting critical. Combine that with a new league and it's a perfect storm. Sure USU would have struggled a bit more with better competition, but right now USU is losing games they never would have 10 years ago.

The biggest problem is recruiting. We used to get some amazing talent (I remember one year we had a guy go to the college slam dunk contest) and I don't know why that's dried up. Honestly, it feels like Stew found some "blue collar" types who could get it done (Spencer Nelson, Nate Harris, etc.) but now that's all he looks for. And you still need some athletic wings to spread the floor and play shut-down defense. I haven't seen that in about 5 years.

Finally, it's starting to show up in the Spectrum crowd. It's still a great home-court advantage, but it feels a bit contrived now. The raw energy isn't there, and that's largely due to the product on the court. If it's another down year, the huge home-court advantage that USU has long enjoyed could take a serious hit.