There Was Basketball Last Night

Football is king and will always be the priority for most fans imo. Basketball has had a couple of rough years – it will take more than a few wins to get fans back to games. It’s a process but moving in the right direction.

Admittedly, I haven’t been to a game in a couple of years but plan to attend the Utah/BYU game + a couple of conference games this season

Making progress. First time that can be said for a rong time. 

I don’t think it’s football success so much as the very rough recent basketball years. A lot of traditional football powers have actually parlayed that success into better basketball, so I think they can reinforce one another.

But the last 4 years of basketball have been REALLY bad (really the last 17 years have had only a few bright spots) so I think fandom has waned and (more than that) people are also a little hesitant to trust again (especially considering expectations going into this year – we were predicted 10th in the conference).

Right now we’re doing great…but the malaise of the last few years is going to take a while to overcome unfortunately. That said, I’d love to see basketball become a big thing again and think football is more likely to help with that than to hinder it.

College basketball just isn’t what it used to be. I find it difficult to be that invested in it with the annual exodus of players. College basketball is largely ignored until January anyway. 

IF, the BB keeps winning, let’s see how attendance looks after the New Year when the P12 conference starts, students are back from break, and football is over. Student/MUSS support right now is worse than most highschool BB games. IMO, students will come back if the team wins. The HC is a cold, dungeon when 5K fans are spread out even with the curtain coverage. If Utah can get wins against BYU and TCU, guessing we’ll turn the corner and get behind this team as a fan base. Craig Smith is a very good coach and has a good group of kids presenting match up problems for a lot of teams. I am optimistic BB will turn the corner. Go Utes!

I can’t speak for everyone, but I just have never really been interested in college basketball.

I have this perception (deserved or otherwise) that watching a college basketball game is like watching a very boring NBA game (minus the whining).

Are NFL players better than college football players? Of course! However, college football is fun and exciting in it’s own way. I don’t feel this way about college basketball.

At the end of the day, we watch sports for entertainment. If you are not entertained, why watch? Utah basketball has not been very entertaining for a long time. That is why there are few fans. Perhaps this will change if the team can manage sustained entertainment value.

If Utah can finish in the top half of the conference this year, you’ll see fans start coming out again. Basketball fans throughout the country struggle to support bad teams, so it takes some success over a span of time to get people there

Its a bit of a haul for me to attend but I rarely miss a game. I’m excited by what I see. keita is the real deal. Quite possible the best player we’ve seem come through in some time. I bet we see him and BC on court together more and more as conf ramps. 

i am baffled by Exacte, as he is anything but 😛

i need to check his line and season stats but annedotally he is a liability. Cant shoot, turnover machine, defense is suspect, not in mix on most rebounds, just not sure why he is still seeing the court. 

bottom line, craig is delivering steady improvement which is all I ever wanted and never got out of larry. I think this team has a real shot at tourney.

to question of attendance, i remember vividly the 1990-91 season where Ricks first full season squad came out of nowhere. It took until halfway thru january before stands started filling. We got courtside seats in student lottery!!  

I know I’m part of the minority… but I’m a season ticket holder and attend almost every game. Unfortunately caught the rona last week, so had to watch from my couch last night. Anyways this team team is fun to watch compared to years past. They play tough D and rebound well. We should be in most games if they limit the turnovers. Go Utes!

The thing that has been so fun to watch with Utah football has been the development of players from one year to the next. Watching teams build into contenders over the course of several years made me a year-round fan. That has been missing from the basketball program for the last 15 years.  It felt like anytime a player improved, they hit the transfer portal, and there was never team continuity.

Craig kept most of last years team together, and you can see the improvement in individuals and in the team.  This is how you get real fan interest and passion.  I’ve already caught a few games and probably will be a season ticket holder next year. 

PS: If you like basketball the WBB team is so much fun to watch, with ball movement, shooting, an amazing inside game.  Give them a chance if you haven’t this year.     

The longer the basketball team is good enough for this to be a discussion worth having, the more support they will get. If we can finish the season off strong, and bring in an exciting player or two, things will be back on track.

Utah basketball has been down for a long time other than a few years here and there where unfortunately they went right back to being bad and couldn’t build off the success. Had Krysto kept it going after 2016 with regular tournament appearances, the Huntsman would continue to be a rocking place. I was at the Utah-Wichita State game in 2015 when the Utes beat a team with Ron Baker and Fred VanFleet. The place was full and extremely loud. It was awesome. It can get that way again. Just have to win and win consistently.

Hopefully with winning, it will lead to an upgrade in scheduling. Sorry, but outside of a few games the OOC is really bad. That is fine when you have a bad team, but people aren’t going to brave the snow for Jacksonville State and UTSA.