Huge victory for Utah tonight.

This topic has 16 replies, 11 voices, and was last updated 5 years, 10 months ago by Tony (admin).

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- 01/25/2019 at 2:18 AM #89533
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  Matthew Thomas Castleton
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  I know that it is like required to hate on the Men’s Basketball team this season for some reason, but they’re suddenly looking like a very formidable team lately. They’ve made huge strides on the defensive side of the ball, and it’s paying off big time in Pac-12 play. I’m making the prediction right now. Utah’s going to go 14-4 in conference play, which will get them to 20 regular season wins (20-10 (14-4)). That looked unthinkable going into conference play. However, with their wins @ ASU and @ Stanford coupled with other teams looking less than stellar lately (I mean you Arizona and UCLA), Utah suddenly looks like a top four or better team in the league. Their only remaining games that look like for sure losses are @ Washington and @ USC. Other than that, I really do think that Utah is legitimately capable of winning all of their other remaining conference games. That would get them to 14-4 and 20 regular season wins, which would be more than last season actually (Utah went 19-10 (11-7) before the conference tournament last season). Where are all the Krystowiak haters now? Gotta give shout outs to some unsung guys tonight. Here’s looking at you Jayce Johnson and Charles Jones. Jayce was huge with his interior defense (including 11 rebounds), one-made free throw (that gave Utah a two-possession lead in the final seconds), and most importantly, setting the screens on Stanford’s guys to get Barefield those series of huge three-pointers late in the game. Charles Jones was also huge with his crucial six points in absolutely pivotal moments in the game plus his solid defense. Go Utes!
- 01/25/2019 at 6:36 AM #89538
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  dystopiamembrane
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  Utah had lost six straight in Maples Pavilion and last won at Stanford in 1971. Although that 47 years stat is skewed, it felt wonderful to get that win last night. Go, Utes!!
- 01/25/2019 at 7:09 AM #89541
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  ProudUte
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  I agree it was a nice win for the Utes and I am pleased that this team, that played so poorly early in the season is now starting to play better. However, it was a four point win against a team with a losing record. We are not suddenly a great team. I doubt we will go 14-4 in Pac 12 play. But, we will likely have a much better record than I thought in December. Although, this is in part becauce of how pathetic the PAC 12 is this season
  
  I am happy that the team is headed in the right direction. This bodes well for next season. I hope we keep improving. I have no expectations of anything more than that this season.
  
  Go Utes!!!
- 01/25/2019 at 7:50 AM #89544
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  Tony (admin)
  Keymaster
  
  I agree. Big victory. We are in a good position. I want us to win. I want us to be good. But the whole pac-12 is obviously not good. So we are in the upper 3rd of a bad conference.
- 01/25/2019 at 7:50 AM #89545
  
  Dante Guardi
  Participant
  
  I agree with everything u say except the part about Jayce Johnson. He couldn’t do anything against sharma. It seemed like Stanford missed shot, Sharma was there to grab the rebound, I dont think Johnson should shoot the ball at all unless its wide open. His post moves are HORRIBLE and when he shoots he doesnt even look to pass. Anyway, great win for the utes!
- 01/25/2019 at 8:20 AM #89547
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  Staples
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  I don’t know about going 14-4, but top 4 in the conference is certainly appearing doable. Jayce Johnson is what he is by now, a decent role player. He’ll give you 8 points, 8-10 boards, a blocked shot, an adventure every time he’s at the foul line, and will look awkward in every single one of those moments. And he might be my favorite player on the team because of all those things. Jones has come on as of late and is contributing a big shot or two every game now. The freshmen all show flashes of being really good, particularly Gach and Allen. Battin still looks lost at times, but even so the future is bright for the Utes … assuming everyone sticks around.
  - 01/25/2019 at 9:46 AM #89552
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    Tony (admin)
    Keymaster
    
    You have a strange set of criteria for determining your favorite player.
    - 01/25/2019 at 3:01 PM #89577
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      Staples
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      I never claimed it made any sense.
      - 01/25/2019 at 3:32 PM #89585
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        Matthew Thomas Castleton
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        I like Jace Johnson because he gives superior effort every single game. He shark provides tough interior defense. Yes, his offensive game is not there yet and his free throw shooting is just awful. However, you can tell that he’s been working hard to improve both areas.
        
        01/25/2019 at 9:37 PM #89612
        
        Tony (admin)
        Keymaster
        
        He may work hard, but I question the coaching on this kid. Has nobody shown him how to shoot a foul shot with two hands? Make a layup? Box out? He’s got the physical ability, it seems.
- 01/25/2019 at 9:51 AM #89556
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  Puget Ute
  Participant
  
  Krystko is showing he has a significant strength in drawing the team together by mid-season. He has done that consistently over the last several years. I hope he can start getting the team on the same page earlier in the season in the next few seasons.
  
  Still, I miss the games when we had Delon and were blowing out conference teams by 40+. Those were fun times.
- 01/25/2019 at 10:19 AM #89557
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  Minnesota Ute
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  I am right here. As long as Larry can’t generate any consistency year after year, the story will remain the same. S**tty start, dig a hole, improve but hole is too deep, NIT bound. And every so often, we have a stellar player like Delon or Poeltl that can get us over the hump, for a year or two, but that’s about it. Should we be satisfied with that?
  - 01/25/2019 at 10:37 AM #89558
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    User Suspended
    Member
    
    Fair enough. But based on your thinking you also are not satisfied with khitt….correct?
    - 01/25/2019 at 12:26 PM #89563
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      Stone
      Participant
      
      My standard for Utah hoops should be to make the NCAA tournament regularly (maybe 50% of the time). I also expect progress (upward trajectory). Larry is struggling to meet this standard.
      
      My standard is similar for football. Making a bowl game is slightly easier than making the NCAA tournament, so I expect bowl games most years and upper level bowl games mixed in (the trouble with bowl games though is that so much of it is political and revenue based, i.e., do the fans travel, versus purely on merit, so it is tougher to gauge). I also expect an upward trajectory. Whitt has met this standard.
      - 01/25/2019 at 3:26 PM #89583
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        Matthew Thomas Castleton
        Participant
        
        I would argue that making bowl games is far easier to do than to make the NCAA Tournament. Utah had an NCAA Tournament-level team last season. They just didn’t have the resume to merit inclusion. They proved this by making it all the way to the NIT Championship Game. Their problem is scheduling. They under scheduled last season and over scheduled this season. It’s too bad that Utah’s main contributors from last year were all seniors, otherwise Utah would have had a fantastic team from the start this year. Also, this season is no where even close to being lost. They actually can still make the NCAA Tournament. All they’d have to do is win the Pac-12 Tournament in Vegas. Also, if Utah were able to find a way to get to 20 wins or more this year, I think they’d be solidly on the at large bubble. So what if the Pac-12 isn’t the best it’s been this year? Utah can’t control that. They can only play the teams on their schedule with the players they have. Also, that Stanford team now only has a losing record because Utah beat them (they were 9-9 going into the game last night). They also gave Arizona State their 2nd conference loss (the other was to Utah). That win @ ASU night prove huge if the Sun Devils keep winning. They did beat Kansas after all.
        
        01/25/2019 at 5:49 PM #89593
        
        Stone
        Participant
        
        Agreed, making NCAA is probably harder than making a bowl game; hence, I expect a bowl game more often than I do an NCAA appearance (I may not have phrased it clearly). I would like to see the roundball team in the NCAA tournament 50% of the time, in the NIT 25-30% of the time and then maybe 2 out of every 10 years they miss both due to unpredictable things (injuries, rebuidling, etc.)
        
        Football, I would like to see in a bowl game 8 out of 10 years (similar to making the NCAA or NIT), with some years being upper level bowl games and some just eeking into a bowl game. And then 2 out of 10 years, they might not make a bowl game.
  - 01/25/2019 at 3:24 PM #89581
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    GameForAnyFuss
    Participant
    
    Here’s my take on Larry: He’s proven he can coach. You can see it in how his teams get better throughout each season and the inordinately high number of NBA players he produces.
    
    As a recruiter, I’d say he’s average. He gets players about on par with where we are as a program.
    
    The real knock on Larry (and the thing holding us back from being a consistent tournament team) is clearly the transfer problem. Whether it’s his coaching style or the type of kids he recruits I don’t know. But he did say once “we don’t recruit turds”, so I’m blaming his coaching style. But every year we see the promising young talent and say “once these kids grow up a bit, this team is going to be amazing”. But they never grow up because they leave us. So we’re always left with that same feeling every year.
    
    So that’s Larry in a nutshell: Good coach, average recruiter, bad retainer. And I think he’ll be held accountable soon if he doesn’t fix that last part.
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