A legacy and memories are there to be made by Utah State in the NCAA Tournament – Cache Valley Daily
LOGAN – A 5 a.m. text message woke Ryan Odom up in his hotel bed. The head coach of the Utah State men’s basketball team had been trying to rest in preparation for his team’s Mountain West Conference Tournament semifinal game against Boise State. But a group text of 20-plus players and coaches were flooding Odom’s phone, preventing just that. The messages weren’t from current players and coaches, though. These came from Odom’s days as the head coach of UMBC. That morning, March 10, marked the five-year anniversary of UMBC upsetting Vermont in the American East Conference Tournament championship game — a game won on a Jairus Lyles 3-pointer made just four seconds before the final buzzer. Less than a week after that victory, Odom, Lyles and the rest of the Retrievers achieved sports immortality by becoming the first 16 seed to defeat a 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The messages in the group chat didn’t begin by reminiscing about either of those wins. Initially, those players and coaches were congratulating Odom — along with forward Dan Akin and assistant coach Nate Dixon, current Aggies who were part of that UMBC squad — on advancing in the Mountain West