I don't wanna revel in it, but did I not call it dudes?

[mesovanhorny]

I said this team would be a force to reckon with come late January & early February.  They aren’t unbeatable, by any stretch of the imagination.  But they have heart, and they are shooting the lights out.  They play pretty good D.

I love this team, and I can’t WAIT to see what they’ll do next year.

[leftyjace]

I don’t remember you calling it, but if you did, then congrats and props!

So fun to watch right now. Next year has me walking around with a constant…….. good feeling in my tummy.

[Tony (admin)]

I didn’t call it. I had serious doubts.  We are exceeding my expectations and I’m thrilled about it.

[we5utes]

You said it!  But I’m sure everyone agreed with you when you did.  

THis is certainly the deepest team LK has had.  It just seems like every player he rotates in and out of the games contributes in some way.  It’s been fun to watch this team gel.  LK said on the radio today that the biggest reason for the improvement they’ve seen is each player is finding and getting comfortable with his individual ‘role’ and understanding how his role fits into the whole system.  I love that kind of basketball.

 

Go Utes!!!  Please beat the Ducks!  Not just becasue it wouldbe a huge win, but because no team with a home court that ugly should ever deserve be in the top 25!!!

[Minnesota Ute]

I sure didn’t see it coming togther like this.  I had no idea Devon would turn out to be so good, he certainly didn’t look this good in the non-conference.  While I had heard Cedric was good and had watched some film on him, I had no idea how great Collette was.  Early on I really liked Rawson, but didn’t forsee him turning out to be role player off the bench.  We turned over a bunch of guys, and when this has happened in the past, it hasn’t always gone well.  But have to admit, Krystko knows what he is doing.  These guys are true full PAC12 quality D1 athletes.  I’m so excited for the game tomorrow night, win or lose, we are going to see two really good teams do battle.  So awesome!!

[pedro]

Can we get you to call a PAC 12 championshiop now?  Either BBall or Fball, I’m not picky!

[mesovanhorny]

My pleasure, pedro.

Football in 2021. Bank on it. 😉

We’ll have to wait until ’23 for a return to the NCAA title game, but we’ll lose to Duke by 3. Damn! It hurts to even say it.

[rbmw263]

I liked our talent but my questions about our defense and our schedule holding us back still remain. This is a fun team though and I’m going to enjoy the ride

[Minnesota Ute]

I think our defense is pretty solid, and I wouldn’t worry about the schedule.  We’ll be dancing, and with this team, I’m not as worried about seeding as I used to be in the Old Majerus days.  In the P5 conferences, the 4th or 5th teams often still get fairly decent seeds.  On top of that, I used to fear the seeds because although we were well coached and disciplined, we lacked the athleticism that many of the top tier programs had.  That is one of the reasons Kentucky was our nemisis, because they always had a bunch of great athletes.  I don’t fear that as much, if at all, anymore because I’d put this team up against most top tier teams in the country.  Certainly Kentucky, UNC, Kansas, etc are still deep as hell with athletes and well coached, but we took a huge step forward in that respect, and I think we saw that in both the AZ and UCLA games this year.  

The only thing the schedule is holding us back from is being ranked, but we’ll be dancing and probably get in at between a 6 and 9 seed if the season plays out the way I think it will give or take a game.  And based on the last two years, I don’t think we are going to get jobbed by the committee anymore like we used to.  Back in the MWC/WAC days, you could see us getting set up to fail.  We can expect that they may put us up against someone that the media can set up as a possible first round upset, like SFA two years ago, but not a biggie because I don’t fear the upset.  Bottomline is that rebounding, defense, and penetration travel way better than shooting.  This team doesn’t rely on outside shooting but we have the shooters to make them pay if the pack it in.  We’ll be fine, relax and enjoy the ride.

[rbmw263]

Our defense is passable (and improving with Jayce as a rim protector) but unless our offense starts churning at a top 10 quality it will hold us back. Anybody in Kenpom top 30 with a sub 50th defense has a top 15 offense. 

 

So, we can do well with our defense, our cieling is just limited.

[FountainofUte]

Responding to Minnesota Ute, I agree that our athleticism is better than in the Majerus years. What also used to vex us back then was depth. In the WAC/MWC we could usually put a starting 5 on the court that could hang with some pretty good teams. Where I remember the Utes getting thrashed was when P5 powers could just keep bringing 6’6″+ studs off the bench one after the next. Eventually our stars and starters would wear down.

The biggest difference I’ve noticed in the PAC-12/Krystko era is bench depth. And frankly, I don’t think we’ve peaked out yet in that area. We lost a lot of talent after last season, and like others have said above, this group has seemed to exceed the average fan’s expectations. But this group will make for a great base that Larry can build around for the next three seasons.

Next year should be a good one. But knowing that we have Barefield for two more seasons (maybe a third with some luck) and Jayce and Daniels for sure for three more seasons, that’s a solid foundation. I think we need to fill about a half dozen scholies in the next two years. Hopefully we can reel in Akot and a couple other solid prospects. And even if we fill out the remaining spots with “solid contributors” this program could really go places in the next 4-5 years.

[Uterider]

I don’t see Daniels playing four years of college ball. Maybe three. He’s just a phenomenal player.

[Author]

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