LOGAN — Saturday was a celebration of Utah State as a team, with its claiming of the first outright Mountain West regular season championship in program history. Monday has become a day for individual recognition for those on the team.
Starting in the morning, Darius Brown and Mason Falslev were each honored by the conference as the Player of the Week and Freshman of the Week, respectively. Brown scored at least 19 points in both games this week with 21 against San Jose State and 19 against New Mexico, including a game-winning 3-pointer against New Mexico to seal USU’s championship. He also racked up exactly nine assists in both games and four total steals. It is the second time Brown’s earned POTW this season. Falslev earned his fourth FOTW by averaging 15.0 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists in his two games this week along with shooting an overall 13 of 16, including 2 of 3 from three.
Later in the afternoon, the collective Mountain West media announced their all-conference selections. Voting was conducted by a panel of journalists divided into 11 ballots representing each team market. USU junior forward Great Osobor was named to the First Team and also received Newcomer of the Year. Danny Sprinkle was a near-unanimous selection for Coach of the Year. Junior guard Josh Uduje was named co-Sixth Man of the Year alongside New Mexico’s Mustapha Amzil. Brown was named to the Second Team with Falslev and Ian Martinez were both Honorable Mentions.
Osobor leapt onto the scene for Utah State with his interior scoring presence and top-notch rebounding. He set career-highs in all five main statistical categories and led the Aggies in points (17.6), rebounds (9.0), and blocks (1.5) and was second on the team in assists (2.9) and steals (1.3). In January, Osobor earned back-to-back Mountain West Player of the Week awards. His 14 double-doubles this season are two shy of joining the top 10 in USU history for single-season double-doubles.
Sprinkle’s resume for Coach of the Year is about as perfect as any. His unprecedented turnaround of the Aggies from a team without any notable returning production and into a Mountain West regular season champion has him not only as the easy COY candidate for the conference, but also a national COY candidate.
Uduje began the year as a starter but moved to the bench early in the season, starting just three games after Nov. 21. As a sixth man, Uduje averaged 8.8 points on the season and was one of five Aggies to record a 20-point game this season. His best outings included his 20 points at Wyoming along with two games were he perfect shooting nights — 18 points on 8 of 8 shooting in the season opener against South Dakota Mines and another 18 points on 6 of 6 shooting at Boise State.
Brown, alongside his clutch shot-making, has been one of the most prolific assist artists in Aggie history. His current 198 assists on the year is second all-time for a single season in USU history and is 26 assists shy of the record set by Kris Clark in 2007-08. Brown is third on Utah State in scoring at 12.4 per game and led the Aggies in steals (1.5 per game).
Falslev has posted one of the better freshman seasons in USU history. His 360 points is currently sixth among Aggie freshmen all-time. He’s also top 10 among freshman seasons in rebounds (seventh, 137), assists (seventh, 78) and steals (fourth, 70).
Martinez enjoyed a breakout season of his own, averaging career-bests across the board with averages of 13.3 points, 3.7 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 0.9 blocks and 0.8 blocks. In December, Martinez became the first of three USU players (later Osobor and Brown) to eventually be named Mountain West Player of the Week.
2023-24 All-Mountain West Team – Media
FIRST TEAM
- F Jaedon LeDee, San Diego State (161 votes)
- F Great Osobor, Utah State (144)
- G Isaiah Stevens, Colorado State (135)
- F Tyson Degenhart, Boise State (119)
- G Jarod Lucas, Nevada (118)
SECOND TEAM
- G Darius Brown II, Utah State (110)
- G Kenan Blackshear, Nevada (95)
- G Donovan Dent, New Mexico (75)
- F JT Toppin, New Mexico (71)
- G Jaelen House, New Mexico (63)
- G Dedan Thomas, UNLV (63)
THIRD TEAM
- F O’Mar Stanley, Boise State (37)
- G Sam Griffin, Wyoming (27)
- F Rytis Petraitis, Air Force (19)
- F Nick Davidson, Nevada (17)
- G Jamal Mashburn Jr., New Mexico (15)
HONORABLE MENTION
Kalib Boone, UNLV (14); Nique Clifford, Colorado State (9); MJ Amey, San Jose State (8); Ian Martinez, Utah State (6); Lamont Butler, San Diego State (4); Chibuzo Agbo, Boise State (3); Mason Falslev, Utah State (2); Max Rice, Boise State (2); Brendan Wenzel, Wyoming (2); Enoch Boakye, Fresno State (1).
PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Jaedon LeDee, San Diego State (7)
Others receiving votes: Darius Brown II, Utah State (3); Great Osobor, Utah State (1)
COACH OF THE YEAR: Danny Sprinkle, Utah State (10)
Others receiving votes: Steve Alford, Nevada (1)
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Jaelen House, New Mexico (4)
Others receiving votes: Lamont Butler, San Diego State (3); Tré Coleman, Nevada (2); JT Toppin, New Mexico (1); Luis Rodriguez (1).
NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR: Great Osobor, Utah State (8)
Others receiving votes: Darius Brown II, Utah State (3)
FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR: JT Toppin, New Mexico (8)
Others receiving votes: Dedan Thomas, UNLV (3)
CO-6TH MAN OF THE YEAR: Josh Udeje, Utah State (4); Mustapha Amzil, New Mexico (4)
Others receiving votes: Cam Manyawu, Wyoming (3)
