Last March, when Marquette defeated Utah State in the first round of the NCAA tournament, the typical Aggie fan had a bunch of questions surrounding Gary Wilkinson.
Who was going to replace the 6-foot-9 redhead? Who was going to provide production with the Western Athletic Conference player of the year moving on? And most importantly, perhaps, who was going to be the starter at center when the 2009-2010 season rolls around?
Those questions have been answered in the form of Nate Bendall.
Bencall is a 6-foot-9 junior and a Skyline High graduate. After leaving Skyline, Bendall attended USU for a season, went on an LDS Church mission, then played at Salt Lake Community College for two seasons before rejoining the Aggies.
Bendall has provided the minutes and the production that the Aggies needed coming into this season.
Heading into this week's Gossner Tournament, which features three games in three days, Bendall was third on the team in scoring with 10.6 points per game. He leads the Aggies with 7.1 rebounds per game and does this playing just 25 minutes every night out.
"I'm not surprised that he's contributing like this," Utah State coach Stew Morrill said. "We recruited him to come in and start. And he's contributing heavily and that's what we were counting on."
Bendall's done more than that. He's provided the Aggies, along with Tai Wesley, with a pure scoring threat in the low post. He's got a jump hook with either hand that goes in more often than not. He can back you in and hit the turnaround jump shot and he hits the medium range jumper with regularity.
Defensively, Bendall blocks shots and he rebounds extremely well.
And doing that has won him a lot of fans in the Spectrum, where Utah State owns one of the best home court advantages in the country.
Bendall knew what was expected of him when he came to Logan. After all, Bendall played for Morrill during his freshman season, before going off on a mission, coming back and then enrolling at SLCC for two years. So the system wasn't new to him, nor was Morrill's coaching style.
"Coach has always done a great job at instilling work ethic in his players," Bendall said. "If you come in and play lax, you're going to find yourself on the bench, it's as simple as that. As a player, if you buy into the system, you have a great chance at reaching your potential."
At SLCC, Bendall led his team to the national championship. And instead of going to another school, he re-committed to Utah State and made his way back up to Logan.
Bendall, although his second career as an Aggie is still just over 10 games old, has had some big moments.
In a win over BYU, he repeatedly abused Jonathan Tavernari in the paint, scoring at will over the Cougar senior. He played well against St. Mary's a few days later and he's been as consistent a threat as Utah State has had offensively this season.
It's safe to say that Morrill and the Aggies coaching staff are happy with Bendall's production. It answers a lot of those pesky questions.
Junior forward Nate Bendall entered the week averaging 10.6 points per game and 7.1 rebounds per game for the Utah State men's basketball team.
Bendall has also played for Skyline High School and SLCC.
Salt Lake City - Utah State's Nate Bendall, left,... (Steve Griffin / The Salt Lake Tribune)
