Is it an advantage or not?

We came across this item on the Utah State men's basketball site:

AGGIES YET TO LOSE WITH TWO FRESHMEN IN THE STARTING LINEUP

"Utah State is 5-0 since head coach Stew Morrill inserted Tai Wesley and Tyler Newbold into the starting lineup before the Cal State Bakersfield game. Prior to the that game, Morrill had started a total of three freshmen in his first nine-plus years in Logan in Tony Brown, Nate Harris and Jaycee Carroll."

Wesley is averaging 11.6 points and 7.2 rebounds in his last five games, while shooting 76.5 percent from the field. He is a 21-year-old freshman.

Newbold -is averaging 5.2 points and 3.2 rebounds as a starter. He is also a 21-year-old freshman.

Name any other team with two freshman in their twenties?

Plus, believe it or not, junior Gary Wilkinson is 25 while senior Jaycee Carroll is 24. Even sports trivia masters would have difficulty coming up with a college team sporting a newcomer junior college transfer who is a quarter of a century old.

Obviously, thse young men are these ages primarily due to serving a mission as part of their LDS faith.

An 'older' player (it's really difficult to twine old with someone in his 20s) is typically more settled and mature, with a body grown into itself -- both a height/ weight and an athletic package of strength/speed that more than likely has reached its best.

So is this an unfair advantage in favor for athletic programs that recruit a high percentage of LDS members?

There is also an argument to be made that two years away from practicing basketball fundamentals is a major hindrance in skill development, along with no participation in any sort of an organized weightlifting program.

It's an aspect that seems to cut both ways. Plus, many of the LDS players either enter their two-year mission after signing with a college basketball program or play an initial college season and then go on the mission, forcing their coaches to plan out their recruiting at least a couple of season off into the future. Many college coaches prefer not to have their recruiting cycles disrupted so.



Speaking of Wilkinson, here's a thorough background story -- an intriiguing one at that -- on him:

Making large strides
Shawn Harrison
Logan Herald Journal
January 2, 2008

Gary Wilkinson has come a long way — on and off the basketball court.

The Aggie forward is already becoming a fan favorite. Chants of “Ga-ry, Ga-ry” have been heard several times this season. The junior is one of just three Utah State athletes to start all 15 games so far and is second on the team in scoring with 11.9 points per game.

It all can be a bit hard to believe if you go back 10 years. You see, Wilkinson didn’t play high school basketball. He didn’t even graduate from Bingham High School, where he had attended.

“To be frank about it, why I didn’t play high school ball is I had a bad attitude,” Wilkinson said. “I didn’t have an attitude that was conducive to being a coachable player, to being a player that a coach would want to put on the floor. I really didn’t have a strong desire to play.”

That sure has changed.

Aggie head coach Stew Morrill has praised Wilkinson for being “very coachable.” USU assistant coach Tim Duryea, who is in charge of the big men, shared similar feelings.

“Gary is an eager learner, very attentive,” Duryea said. “... He’s a guy that really listens to you. Some guys act like they are listening, but he listens to you, takes it in and tries to put it into habit.”

Sounds like a totally different person than the guy who sat on the bench in junior high, didn’t try out as a freshman, then was cut his sophomore year because “I wasn’t willing to do what the coach asked,” Wilkinson said. And don’t even ask about his junior and senior years of high school.

Not that the South Jordan native won’t tell you about dropping out of school because the “scene wasn’t fitting for me.” It’s just that he was hanging out with friends, playing his guitar in a band and doing some DJ work. Basketball was not on his mind. In fact, he wasn’t sure where he was going in life...

Go here for the remainder.