Holladay Ute

I don’t blame anybody for giving up their tickets. Last year was brutal. And it’s obviously really expensive.

Somebody else is in line to take your place though. They still have a lot of goodwill built up within the fan base. And we’ll probably have a pretty good team in 2025. And it’s not like we were getting blown out in 2024. As painful…[Read more]

Spot on. We really needed a couple more of those road games against beatable opponents. And that’s really the difference between us and TDS.

Even in the unlikely scenario we finish 3-2 AND make it to the quarterfinals of the B12 tournament, I think we’d be on the bubble but I don’t think we’d make it in. We’d be 19-14 at that point w/ a weak…[Read more]

This is a good point and I agree w/ it. Although, none of those players transferred until after Coach K was fired. It’s too bad Coach Smith couldn’t convince any of them to stick around. Maybe we could’ve had a year or two of the best of both worlds (good recruiting + decent coaching).

Well, I’ve been a season ticket holder for 15 years (including the last year or two of Boylen) so I think I lived the whole experience and then some. I grew up going to the Majerus games w/ my dad. The best coach we’ve had since Majerus was Coach K.

I agree, we were underperforming w/ good talent, it felt like Coach K was possibly checked out,…[Read more]

I wouldn’t want them to replace the Huntsman Center unless they were doing something really cool and if it was close to RES (downtown would be a really bad idea, in my opinion).

Consistently winning will get people back to the games. RES isn’t downtown and they’ve sold out for 15 years. Why? Because we’ve been good. The U is investing in stude…[Read more]

It’s not surprising and I think that’s b/c of what we have on the roster: too many decent or good players but no great players. And it doesn’t feel like anybody on the roster has really separated themselves from the pack to clearly claim the consistent lions share of the minutes. On a given night, Ausar has a great game and then he follows it up…[Read more]

The current state of the basketball program doesn’t feel great and so I understand the criticisms.

That said, I agree w/ Kellso. It’s hard to be disappointed w/ a 5-6 conference record (and a win over TDS) in what is one of the best conferences in the country, if not the best, during our first year transitioning in and after we lost our two best…[Read more]

Great point on Kuzma. It’s also a shame that w/ three legit NBA players (Wright, Poetl, and Kuzma), we only got one Sweet 16 appearance. Obviously grateful for that one year, but it seems like we had the talent to potentially go deeper than we did. Unfortunately, we ran into the eventual champs that year!

I like Craig Smith and I think he’s…[Read more]

Good points. To me, it feels like we have too many guys who deserve 20 minutes per game and not enough guys who deserve 30 minutes per game. The best teams in our conference (and in the country) seem to have 3-4 guys that clearly carry the load and where the team is built around them. We have Gabe and Gabe is great, but he seemed to thrive as…[Read more]

Here is a summary of all the games that were either losses or against conference opponents:

Cincinnati: Dawes was hot and got the minutes. Ausar didn’t have that bad of a game though. Both of them had 4 turnovers, but Ausar produced an efficient 11 points in the 16 minutes he played.

Baylor: Ausar was hot and got the minutes. He was basically…[Read more]

The tough thing w/ both of these players is that they lack consistency. One night, a force to be reckoned with. Another night, super pedestrian. Until one of them shows more consistency, I think you play whoever shows up to the game in attack mode.

I like both players and think they both deserve good minutes. Ausar won us the BYU game, almost…[Read more]

I said this after the TDS game as well. We wouldn’t have won that game w/out him either. He’s gotten a lot better versus last year.

26 turnovers in a college basketball game. Ouch.

I agree price isn’t keeping people from the games and that winning is the #1 factor.

I do think there’s embedded interest and if the Utes were consistently (i.e. for more than one season) winning and competitive, the Huntsman Center would gradually fill up again. Why?
1) Utah is a basketball state. Yes, the U has become a football first school.…[Read more]

I’m glad that nobody is talking about the Utes as a contender for the conference. Better to set expectations low and hopefully outperform. Utah performs better as the hunter rather than the hunted.

That said, I think the Big 12 is wide open. I do not think last year’s records are any good indication of what we’ll see next year. Sure, we were…[Read more]

I like old school basketball better. I used to be a diehard Jazz fan and would watch most games. Over the past five years, I have almost completely tuned out for two main reasons:
1) The NBA has turned into layups and a heavy dose of free throws and 3s. It’s so boring. Defense is heavily undervalued (not just by players or team executives but…[Read more]

This is sad! I think basketball is a great sport…one that people in the state still clearly love (e.g. the Jazz, the Aggies, etc.). I do enjoy watching football more than basketball, but the basketball games are still a lot of fun if there’s a good crowd and if we’re competitive.

I think the biggest thing for Utah is building a stronger…[Read more]

I’ve seen a lot of players shoot air balls in college and the NBA. It’s obviously rare, but it happens. Props to him for hitting the 3 and making 3/4 free throws w/ all the pressure of the world on his shoulders. I have criticized Erickson for his entire tenure w/ us. He made the clutch plays to win us this game = he deserves nothing but love…[Read more]