Runnin Utes who AREN’T in the portal

This topic has 10 replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 5 days, 18 hours ago by TomahawkCruise.

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- 04/03/2025 at 10:16 AM #242495
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  TomahawkCruise
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  Why isn’t Ezra Ausar in the portal yet? The feeling among the insiders is that he probably won’t return to Utah. So what is he waiting for?
  
  I’m just real surprised that with 10 Utes in the transfer portal right now, Ausar isn’t one of them.
  
  Frankly, I’m also very surprised Sharavjamts isn’t in the portal either. I definitely expect him to leave, after he had an up and down, but mostly down, season. That plus the fact he’s been to three different schools in his three years in college. Why isn’t he in the portal yet?
  
  The only others that aren’t in the portal are Traore and Keller. Traore I imagine will return to Utah, but I’m not sure what’s in store for Keller. Maybe he wants to stay?
- 04/03/2025 at 12:18 PM #242502
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  Minnesota Ute
  Participant
  
  I don’t know much about Traore, but I will be happy if Ezra and Mike stay, and hopeful for Keller if he decides to stay. Keller is a good shooting big, but he needs some significant improvement before I see him playing a lot of minutes on what I hope is a much better team, but I think he has all the tools.
  - 04/04/2025 at 12:48 AM #242513
    
    TomahawkCruise
    Participant
    
    If Keller can play more like he did vs Butler, I’d be much more interested in keeping him. I guess we’ll just have to trust Jensen and his guys to make the right call on whether he’s worth keeping and developing.
- 04/03/2025 at 12:56 PM #242504
  
  FountainofUte
  Participant
  
  I thought I read or heard somewhere that Ezra IS in the portal.
  - 04/04/2025 at 12:47 AM #242512
    
    TomahawkCruise
    Participant
    
    I don’t think he is. None of the portal sites list him there and there’s no news anywhere saying he’s jumped in.
    
    He still has plenty of time to do it, but he hasn’t yet. Just makes me wonder if he really does want to leave. It feels kind of like Deivon last year. He didn’t enter the portal until late in the window.
- 04/04/2025 at 8:57 AM #242514
  
  Fred
  Participant
  
  Per On3: Keller has now entered the portal.
  - 04/04/2025 at 1:10 PM #242520
    
    TomahawkCruise
    Participant
    
    Saw that.
    
    It’s so interesting how portal timing works. Just makes you wonder what goes into it.
    
    Wahlin, Little, Lovering and Erickson all jumped in pretty quickly, but Keller and Dawes waited a little. Ausar and Sharavjamts still haven’t jumped in, but they probably will at some point.
- 04/04/2025 at 12:09 PM #242517
  
  Charlie
  Participant
  
  I think we are in a better place with NIL and feel the biggest reasons for leaving Utah is to move down from the Big-12 to find more playing time or having played well can make a better team. Utah will still be a destination better than lesser conferences. One factor to consider is the likelihood that Utah will be better next year and will have better coaching. Hopefully, some improvement comes next year without waiting for the second year. Those moving for playing time don’t concern me. With Dawes staying we quickly get to Ausar and Sharavjamts for the list of folks we need to stay. We do need to fill out a roster but I think that is likely. The big mystery becomes who is in the pipeline as possible prospects. One or two Big-12 level signings would help us relax. Some players may view Utah as a good opportunity.
  - 04/04/2025 at 1:19 PM #242521
    
    TomahawkCruise
    Participant
    
    A lot of players would see Utah as a good opportunity. I don’t think it would be very difficult to sell prospects on playing in SLC.
    
    A high major team in one of the best leagues with the best visibility where you don’t have to compete with a bunch of other blue chippers, like you would at Kansas, Houston and Arizona.
    
    That, plus a staff replete with NBA qualifications… It won’t be hard to get good players here. Watch and see.
    
    I actually think Utah will compete for the ncaa tournament in the first year. That’s probably the best thing about the transfer portal. Never before has it been more possible to put together a tourney caliber team in one year.
- 04/04/2025 at 2:14 PM #242531
  
  Minnesota Ute
  Participant
  
  That is one of my biggest hopes for Utah basketball is to be seen once again as legit. I feel like we went too long not being in the mix in March, and with a coach whose name just wasn’t known by anyone outside of the local fan base. A staff that just didn’t have NBA credibility and players leaving every year for other college programs rather than leaving for the NBA.
  
  I was surprised and disappointed that Larry couldn’t parlay his success with Poetle and Delon into some sustained success. Part of that I blame on the Pac12 because that conference completely botched the media exposure. The big names (Oregon, Arizona, USC, UCLA) persisted because they could, but it seemed like the rest of the conference labored in obscurity with 10pm tipoffs and limited distribution. But most of it I blame on him not being a very good coach (IMHO).
  - 04/04/2025 at 10:55 PM #242544
    
    TomahawkCruise
    Participant
    
    Yeah it’s tough to come to a conclusion on whether Larry was a good coach or not. If you look at his record, it looks pretty good. Most seasons he won 20+ games, but for some reason some of those weren’t good enough for a tourney bid.
    
    His last 2 seasons were pretty mediocre and fan apathy took hold. It is strange that he wasn’t able to continue what was a great deal of success between 2014 and 2018. After Kuzma we struggled to attract NBA talent and things just snowballed from there.
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