This team has earned the support of fans

[NashvilleTNUteFan]

I made a comment a couple days ago about Erickson and though I still believe he doesn’t merit any playing time especially with Smith now playing, every guy has a role on the team as many of you pointed out and I shouldn’t have bashed on any one player. This team is playing really good basketball and deserves more support. The hunty was basically a ghost town today. Despite that, the guys fought their way back against a solid UW squad for one of our most impressive wins of the season. A packed arena makes a world of difference for the current team but also for recruiting. A fun and rowdy atmosphere is what every player wants to play in at home. Let’s show up for these guys and make the JMHC a great college basketball atmosphere again.

As a side note, I expect we will be ranked when the new poll comes out this week. That’ll be the first time since 2017 I believe. That’s a great step in the right direction

[Itacoatiara22]

Erickson doesn’t belong on Weber State’s court. It’s excruciating watching him.

[Kellso]

That’s harsh. He’s a Ute not a cougar. There is a place for him on this team.

[Itacoatiara22]

OK, I agree. That place is in the bench though.

[Kellso]

So you’re saying there’s a place. Ha ha.

[Hahnenwk]

I am starting to be a Craig Smith fan. He is using his players effectively. Both games this weekend he has gotten the team to have dominant second halves after not great first halves.

Lovering has got to keep his cool, however both his retaliation fouls early in the game should have been UW fouls before he committed them.

[Sanders]

Wow, 60 points in the 2nd half to come back to win it!!

[Minnesota Ute]

Totally agree, and like I point out to my kids all the time, it’s so much more satisfying welcoming folks onto the bandwagon when you already have a choice seat. In other words, I love watching a team develop and being able to say I told you so. I have been saying for a couple years now that Craig is the real deal, and I said last year I thought that team would make the tournament, but the Pac was good and this team just wasn’t there yet. This year has been a step change, and except for one cupcake early in the year before I squared away my Dish subscription, I have watched and savored every minute of every game.

On Hunter, he is a good example of a player that can develop in Craig’s system. I don’t agree that he is excruciating to watch, but he certainly needs to improve. He just flat has too many turnovers and that pulls all his numbers down. At present, he has the second to lowest defensive and offensive rating, which isn’t good. But he as you say, he is filling a role and we have to trust Craig that whether he is the best in the world at that role right now, #1 he is the best option at the moment, and #2 its a role that needs to be filled. It’s a long season, so we need to keep our studs fresh for the stretch run, so there is value in being able to soak up 10 min a game and not be a total disaster.

[Redblood]

I love how this team is playing but it is way too early to make a call on our head coach. When coach K orchestrated the incredible turnaround and took us from nothing to the sweet 16 I knew he was the right hire. Wasn’t too long after that I was wondering why we kept him for so long.

Coach Smith still needs to show us he can recruit NBA level players. All of our tournament runs came with NBA players. 3 are still playing in the league now from that sweet 16 team. All indications are this is a tournament team which is encouraging (although we haven’t played a road conference game yet). But, we are an experienced upperclassmen laden team and we’re excited about probably making the tourney.

If needing to be way experienced and upperclassman laden team is what it will take just to barely make the tourney we will grow tired of that. Very encouraging things happening but he is going to have to recruit better. Hopefully a tourney appearance gives him some recruiting momentum.

[Minnesota Ute]

Here is the difference as I see it. Even with 2-3 future NBA players, Krystko did not maximize their talent and impact because he was a bad coach. While we enjoyed the ride, there were some of us that were unsettled by some of what we were seeing. In 2017, which was the last time I was fairly active on this board, it all seemed to be settling in. We were smoked by Boise in the NIT, the team basically gave up, and it was clear that Larry’s teams would continue to be plagued by turnovers, rebounding issues, and lost possessions. We are not 100% there by any stretch, but I grade coaching not ultimately by W/L because that is a lagging indicator.

I look at leading indicators such as whether players are getting better game by game and year by year, whether the team is getting better similarly. While I don’t disagree that recruiting is a big part of it, realistically, there are only so many NBA prospects to go around. But we’ll attract players if they feel they’ll get better, and while Larry obviously failed at that, Craig looks like he could reestablish that reputation that the big guy had in spades. People will look at BC’s coming out party, they will see the development of Keba, see how Rollie has blossomed, see how Smith came here and in essentially half a season, inserted himself into the national conversation. A great season and good run in the tourney, and thing will be back on track.

All that said, we need to stay healthy, because BC, Gabe, Rollie, and to a lesser extent Keba are carrying us. We have some depth defensively, but offensively it drops off pretty hard. Enough weapons to keep defenses honest, but not enough to sustain with a missing piece. That’s why the play of other BC, Hunter, Pajama, Lovering, and others is so important to give those guys a break and keep them fresh. Tired players get injured, that may be what took us out last year in addition to inexperience and lack of depth.

[utefansince79]

Utah was poised to sneak into the Big Dance last year before the injuries to Madsen and Worster and we lacked the depth to overcome the loss. Great chance to make it this time (8 or 9 seed in some projections right now) but indeed fun seeing the team improve. Need fans to get out to the games now.

[fosternano]

I wish I was in SLC to go to the games. At the very least I’ll be at the ASU Utah game.

This team should be selling $10,000 seats per game at a minimum.

[Hahnenwk]

Glad I have my season tickets I wouldn’t pay that much.

Sorry I couldn’t resist jumping on the auto fill

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