Did you miss Division I basketball being played in the Pyramid?

I know, I totally did too.

Long Beach State hasn’t played at home against another D-1 squad since last March, a stunning realization when you take into account that of their nine games thus far they’ve played just twice at home this season; both against D-II teams.

A return home against good competition is just one of the reasons that Friday night’s contest against Utah State is so meaningful.

The other reason you’ll see Monson Maniacs with a little extra bounce in their step tonight is that Utah State is the perfect team for the 49ers to face at this point in the season.

This year has been nothing if not an attempt to move out of the college basketball doldrums and into higher society; a Gonzaga-style push to play the country’s best that has been copied in recent years by programs like Butler. A similar style worked for Pacific in the early 2000’s. It’s also worked for Utah State, one of the nation’s premier mid-major programs.

So far in this season, Long Beach State has performed pretty much the way we expected they would – beating the teams they should beat and losing to the teams that we thought they would lose to. In each case, it’s been clear which side of the coin the 49ers would likely end up on.

With the visiting Aggies tonight, two power mid-major programs will battle. Head coach Dan Monson said it best last week when he explained, “It’s the best barometer game for a coach.”

Just how good are the 49ers? We didn’t learn an answer to that question in their recent drubbing of Cal State Monterey Bay, or their blowout road loss to Texas. Even a convincing win over UCLA was more of a historical triumph than a season-defining win. The closest the 49ers have come to winning a game they were truly tested in was a road win at Green Bay, which is currently ranked #23 in CollegeInsider.com’s mid-major poll (Long Beach State is #24).

Utah State isn’t currently ranked in that poll, but the Aggies are a nationally-renowned program at has grown over the years into one of those teams that coaches hate to schedule. They’re not big enough to give you a boost with a victory, but they also very well might beat you. The Aggies dominated the Big West for years before leaping to the WAC, so this is Long Beach State’s chance to not only take down a program that has achieved what the 49ers are currently reaching for, but also to prove that Long Beach State is able to beat teams that were once believed to be too strong for the Big West Conference.

With losses to Notre Dame, West Virginia, Clemson and Texas, it was clear that Long Beach is not yet ready to beat programs of that level (but doesn’t the fact that the 49ers are 5-4 with that schedule tell you something?). A win against Utah State would prove that the 49ers are ready to beat quality programs outside of their own conference, which would be a huge step for the Long Beach program and for the Big West, which hasn’t had a flagship team since Pacific was ranked as high as #17 and earned an at-large Tourney bid in 2005.

This 49er team isn’t going to make it to the Big Dance without winning a conference championship (like that Pacific team did) but it took Pacific years to achieve that success and Long Beach looks to be on their way. A win tonight would go a long way toward that goal. They’ve beaten the teams that were clearly worse and lost to the teams that were clearly better.

What happens when they face a team that is on their level?

We’ll find out tonight when the Aggies and senior guard Jared Quayle step into the ‘Myd.

Quayle’s numbers instantly jump out at you, and not just because he leads Utah State in scoring with 12.4 points per game. He also runs the offense with a team-high 4.6 assists per game, and at just 6-foot-1, is second on the team in rebounds with 6.7 per game.

Tai Wesley and Nate Bendall also score in double figures for the Aggies, but Quayle is of particular concern because Long Beach traditionally has trouble with penetrating, scoring guards – especially being thin inside with the season-ending injury to Arturas Lazdauskas. It’ll be up to T.J. Robinson and Eugene Phelps to keep Quayle from causing too much damage around the basket once he drives.

Wesley and Bendall are also excellent rebounders, but Robinson and Phelps have been a force on the boards lately. These matchups will be particularly interested under the basket and could determine the game’s outcome; especially if foul trouble becomes a factor.

Both teams typically score in the mid-70’s, but Long Beach comes into the game allowing far more points per game than the Aggies do (this likely has to do with playing teams like Texas and West Virginia).

Will the teams try to outgun each other, or focus on shutdown defense? If the 49ers focus defensively, they may have an easier time stopping Utah State than vice versa. The Aggies have three players that score in double figures, but the 49ers boast six that score more than 9.0 (four that score more than 11.0). A high-octane pace may work in Long Beach’s favor, though depth has been an issue with the 49ers and coach Monson has experimented with several different lineups in the past few games. 

Whatever happens on Friday night, we’ll be courtside from the Walter Pyramid with a live game blog to keep you updated on exactly what’s going on.