By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Columnist

Temperatures were unseasonably warm in the low-to-mid 50s, but not even a rare appearance by the sun could pierce the enduring cloud hovering over the Utah State University campus yesterday.

There was a collective case of the blues for the Aggies and it had nothing to do with the school colors.

"Somber, disappointed, disconcerted ..." — pick a word — school spokesman John DeVilbiss used them all to describe the dark mood. "Shock and awe," said Clark Livsey, USU ticket manager.

The day after being passed over for the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament and being relegated to the National Invitation Tournament despite a 25-3 record and Top 25 ranking, the Aggies were still in collective critical care. Critical of the NCAA selection committee that put them in the NIT, mostly.

Whether they will recover in time for tomorrow's 4 p.m. (Hawai'i time) tipoff against the University of Hawai'i is the $64,000 question of the week.

Powder keg or pushover? Fired up or focused? At this point, it is anybody's guess which team the Rainbow Warriors (19-11) will run into in Logan, Utah.

There is no question, however, that the Aggies, the first nationally ranked team not on probation to be denied a place in the NCAA Tournament, were done wrong.

While Richmond (20-12) dances on, a USU team that has spent seven weeks in the Top 25 is going to the sock hop. While Texas-El Paso (24-7) got an invitation, the Aggies, who were 17-1 in conference, were left empty-handed and disbelieving. An experience made all the more painful by the presence of a live CBS remote there on campus to record the snub.

Even for a school hardened by disappointment over the years, this latest episode was staggering. "This is my sixth year here and I haven't seen anything like (the disappointment)," said Doug Hoffman, a staff member.

"People haven't gotten over it yet, they're still pretty shocked," said Julie Harps, a junior who works in the campus bookstore where huge headlines in the Utah Statesman, the school paper, heralded, "Aggies Denied NCAA Bid."

Yesterday head coach Stew Morrill was declining phone interviews. Players weren't available after practice.

The Rainbow Warriors are scheduled to arrive in Utah this morning as decided underdogs far from home.

Two years ago the Aggies were a disappointed NCAA reject and had a home NIT game, but didn't bother to show up in a first-round loss to Montana State.

If — and that remains the operative word for this game — the Aggies find their focus, DeVilbiss said, "I feel bad for Hawai'i because I think they'll take their anger out on (the Rainbows)."

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.