Favorite Utah basketball teams

[ProudUte]

I got thinking today about my favorite Utah basketball teams. Here are mine in chronological order:

1965/66 – They went to the Final Four. The starters were Jerry Chambers, Tate, Merv Jackson, Lyndon McKay, and George Fisher. Chambers won the Final Four MVP.

1980/81 – They lost in the Sweet 16 to a loaded North Carolina team. The starters were Vranes, Chambers, Bankowski, Martin, and Mannion.

1997/98 – Played for the National Championship. The starters were Doleac, Jensen, Mattola, Miller, and Drew Hansen. This was a team of over-achievers. Very fun to watch.

I doubt many of you on here remember the 65/66 Redskins. It was a very talented team coached by Jack Gardner. They played in the old Einer Nielsen Fieldhouse.

What are your favorite teams?

[UtesRule]

I’m going to respectfully disagree with your comments that the 1998 team was a group of overachievers.

At least 4 guys from that team played in the NBA (Miller and Doleac had long, very successful careers, Britton and Hanno both had stints in the NBA). If you have 4 NBA players, that’s a lot of talent.

[UtesRule]

I loved the 1991 30-4 team. Rick’s breakout year. Josh Grant, Jimmy Soto, Big Walter Watts (I’ll never forget him stealing a ball at mid-court and rumbling down the court to jam the ball), Byron Wilson…that was a fun team! The double OT win against Michigan State was an epic battle been Josh Grant and Steve Smith!!

[Minnesota Ute]

That was the team that got me hooked. The 1989-90 school year I was in Austin Hall on the same dorm floor around the corner from Bryon and Tyrone so Phil and Barry (Ute Dub below forgot Barry Howard who was a defensive stopper on that team) were always around too. Other plyers would come around time to time too, Walter threw a fastball to me out on the quad that scared the s**t out of me, he had a hell of an arm. They were all super nice guys. Byron once borrowed my mitt for a coed softball game and accidentally left it at the field so he bought me a new one, I never expected that and wouldn’t have cared if he didn’t.

That next year they were unstoppable, what fun!!

[ProudUte]

Doleac and Miller were not highly recruited out of high school. Drew Hansen was not really recruited at all. Jensen was a local hero but had little national attention. Jensen had recently returned from a mission in 1998. Mattola was from Finland.

Yes, Miller and Doleac had nice NBA careers. But, I believe it was because of how hard they worked to make themselves great players.

Britton Jophnson was the only McDonald’s AA on the team. But, he was not a starter that season.

I think they over-achieved. I mean that as a huge compliment. Regardless, they were a great team and so fun to watch.

[ProudUte]

I enjoyed that team as well.

[UtesRule]

Andre Miller would have been VERY highly recruited if not for his being a Prop 48 kid. Good thing he was or he never would have ended up at Utah.

Utah signed Doleac as a Junior in the early signing period. He then went on to have a HUGE senior year and would have also been highly recruited if he hadn’t signed early with Utah.

In today’s world Hanno would have been a big time recruit.

Britton Johnson was an McDonald’s All American.

That team was LOADED with talent!

Even Big Rick himself said the greatest coaches are only as good as their talented players.

And don’t forget David Jackson, who was a Parade All American (used to be BIG deal) on that team!

[pedro]

The reality was though, these players were all seen as role players at the time, including Miller. This season made many of their NBA careers possible. I wish more players understood how important ‘role’ players played on a team.

[Ute Dub]

Was it Majerus’s 2nd year but first full year with the team where they went 30-4 or something like that?

Josh Grant
Phil Dixon
Byron Wilson
Jimmy Soto
Walter Watts
Paul Afeaki
McKay McGrath
Craig Rydalch
Tyrone Tate

[Sanders]

Chambers, Vranes and Martin are the ones that got me addicted to Utah basketball. Seems like yesterday playing AAU little league as 5th and 6th graders with Rydalch. We represented Utah, went to Washington and got our butts handed to us in a tournament against Vegas and Yakima, WA.

[Ute95]

The ‘80-‘81 team with Chambers and Vranes is probably my favorite, however, the 1983 team with Manny Hendrix (Freshman year) and Pace Mannion was fun to watch. I’ll never forget the on court celebration of Chris Winans when the Utes upset UCLA to advance to the sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament. Unfortunately, they lost to Jimmy V’s NC State Wolfpack in the next game up in the Dee Event Center in Ogden. Other players of note included Angelo Robinson, Peter Williams and the pride of East High George Furgis. Unfortunately, it was coach Jerry Pimm’s last year and the rest of the ‘80s were “meh” before Majarus was hired.

[homer]

IIRC, Utah went to the NIT finals between Pimm and Majerus. The JJs played and Jonas still has the most assists.

[Ute95]

The only time the Utes went to the NIT finals in the ‘70s and ‘80s was in 1974 against Purdue. Jonas was a Freshman and Judkins wasn’t on the team until the following year. I was too young to remember that team, however, it had some serious ballers with Burden, Sojourner, Medley, Jones and Menatti.
Anyways, another team that I liked was the ‘77-‘78 team with Judkins, Matheney, Vranes, Chambers and Deane. It was the first Ute team I remember and I would religiously listen to Marcroft’s play-by-play on the radio (this was way before every game was televised). I remember attending the Wyoming game that season with my dad and little brother in which Buster Matheney scored on a break away dunk and the Special Events Center “blew up.” In my juvenile mind, he jumped from beyond the free throw line. What great memories.

[GranolaUte]

I agree Ute95, that was an incredible team that is often forgotten. However, in my juvenile mind Matheney wasn’t that close to the free throw line, it was a great dunk, though.

[slcpunk]

Boy oh boy, if I recall correctly that Buster Matheney “dunk” was actually a baseline finger roll. Great game and an even better team. Go Utes!

[ProudUte]

I remember the 1974 team well. It was a great team which improved throughout the season. Sojourner won the NIT MVP award even though we lost to Purdue. Had Spojourenr stayed, the 1975 team would have been one of the top teams in the country.

[homer]

Those would be the three I pick too. I tried so hard to get tickets to the Utah NC game.

[ProudUte]

I was there at the NC game. We lost by 5. NC played four corners for the last 5 minutes of the game. There was no shot clock in those days. If I remember correctly, Chambers got in early foul trouble.

[Jim Vanderhoof]

Man what great memories. Jerry Chambers was a 6’4 center that averaged close to 40 a game in the NCAA tournament. Merv Jackson had a great ABA career. Einar Nelson field house days. One team not mentioned was Mike Newlin and the late Kenny Gardner team. Jim Mahler was the center. That team opened the Huntsman center around 1969.

1998 team was special. Vranes Chambers era was fun to watch. The NIT with Sougerner,Burden, Menatti. Andrew Bogut, Jackson tournament run. Judkins and Metheny along with Jeff Jonas.

I was fortunate to see all these teams play and since my dad had played for Jim Williams at CSU we got to go in the Colorado State locker room after the game. I hope AJ can bring back the once proud and sold out Huntsman center.

[loyter]

LDFC!

2008-2009 was a fun year with Luka Drca, Luke Neville, Tyler Kepkay, Shawn Green, Carlon Brown, Kim Tillie, and Lawrence Borha.

They finished 24-10, with a MWC regular season tie for first and a conference tourney championship – and a 5 seed in the NCAAs (where they lost to a 12 seed Arizona). I never could decide whether that team overachieved or underachieved. They lost their opener to Southwest Baptist, which was a complete embarrassment, but then they came back and finished atop the league. At the end of the day, I feel like this team really exposed Jim Boylen’s inability to get the best out of his players night in and night out. Boylen was a good energy guy but he was pretty consistently outmatched when it came to game planning and strategy.

All that said, Luka Drca’s swan song was really fun to watch at the Thomas and Mack.

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