It's long been rumored that Utah State has the best student section in WAC men's basketball.
It's not a rumor anymore. It's fact.
More than a hundred Utah State students traveled to Reno, Nev. for the WAC tournament.
And they just didn't sit. They were loud. REALLY LOUD. Utah State forward Gary Wilkinson said the fans call themselves "the Spectrum on wheels," a reference to the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum, in which USU plays its games.
I was surprised at how loud they were, actually.
But man, they put Fresno State's fanbase to shame. The Bulldogs fans who showed up were loud and proud, but there weren't many there. (Here's when you note that the Bulldogs were 13-21 this season). It looked like they were mostly carryovers from the Boyd Grant days, not that that's a bad thing. White-haired or not, those fans gave it their all.
One even went too far.
With Utah State up 80-64, one Fresno State fan yelled to a ref who had just whistled a Bulldog foul. What did he say? "Hey ref, is your green card up today?!"
Way to represent Fresno. Real classy. That was the only foul thing I heard, though. There's always at least one bad fan in every crowd.
I believe the contest for best WAC student section was over by a longshot the day USU entered the WAC. To put it plainly, no other WAC school is even close. After attending a game over the holidays, with the crowd at only half strength because of students being gone for Christmas, (now former) ESPN.com writer Kyle Whelliston said in a chat later that week that Utah State's student section was "easily top-5" in the nation.
The debate now is just where exactly USU students can stack up with the rest of the nation's. Definitely in the top-tier nationally.
I'm sure they appreciate the shout out.