I almost pooped my pants upon reading that headline for fear it might be Bobby Huggins!
Great hire.
Iām with @330ute, the headline had me concerned it was Huggins. Iām glad we got the great assistant. Now letās see if we can parlay these changes into wins.
Itās June, so nothing to get hyper-ventilated about, but some good news on the hoops front:
- this news is from June 3, but Utes landed 4 star transfer Mike Sharavjamts aka āMongolia Mikeā, from USF (San Francisco), beating out K-State, St. Marys and Villanova. āHmmmmā¦ā 6-8 / 190, heās not an inside player, but shoots the 3 well and is a good distributor.
- On the day the D-News ran a story about why Keba Keita transferred to BYU (spoiler: he followed Burgess), the transfer that may make Ute fans wonder what the anxiety was about, Ezra Ausar (6-9 / 240) - who has a nice 3 game and a middle game - broke out a backboard at the practice facility.
- 2nd visit by 6-6 G/F Veniamin Abosi from Greece
(Abosi is not a Greek last name, BTW. Think further south, across the Mediterranean)
Iām keeping an open mind on the '24-25 Utah basketball team. Ausar especially looks like heāll be good. We wonāt win the Big-12 ,but it will be interesting to see how we look.
Took a closer look at Mike Sharavjamts. Thereās a lot of film on him.
He was evaluated for the 2023 draft, decided to keep working on his game, and obviously sees an opportunity for PT at Utah in Big-12.
He impressively sees plays before they occur, sets up teammates in the area theyāve yet to occupy. Good shooter, good form.
6-8 or 6-9, good length, not an explosive athlete, really heady player. I think the idea with hims is can work on his physique enough to develop into a poor manās version Kyle Anderson of the Wolves (but not punch Rudy Gobert)?
(I had no idea that Kyle āSlow-Moā Anderson is part Chinese.)
Slow Mo has just 1/8 Chinese ethnic background, I think. This, unlike Heinz Ward (half Korean), much harder to tell.
I think Abosi would be another great get.
One point of clarity: it was his second overall school visit, but just his first to Utah. Some posts and tweets, etc. seemed to confuse that point.
Makes sense. One time I asked Steve Smith about a Chinese character tattoo he had on his arm. He said it was to honor his grandmother. It was impressive.
Iāve met so many different mixes of people - and mixes of mixes - that itās kind of pointless to try and figure things out. Nobody would look at my grandson and think heās 1/4 African American. Blonde, blue eyes, has some curly hair, butā¦ whatās the point?
People have sometimes tried to figure out where my kids are from - itās kind of amusing, but not important. ālast name is from Swedenā¦ 150 years agoā
A good part about the melting pot is all the derogatory terms of earlier generations for different ethnicities would unintentionally offend somebody today. I really donāt hear any of those terms, anymore.
Guesswork is an exceptionally poor pre-requisite for insults.
Iām half horse, half alligator, with just a touch of snapping turtle.
People who use āAmerican Melting Pot.ā We are a stew!
For sure. I have a niece and a nephew who are 1/4 Taiwanese/Chinese, but one can hardly tell at all. Because of my size, people often think Iām Hawaiian/Asian mix when I get dark during the summer.
Interestingly, at times, people would ask me where Iām from, to which I answer Utah ā I knew they were asking about my ethnic background. A few would also ask me if Iām Chinese American or Korean American. I donāt usually go around asking if people are Italian American, German American, Scottish American, or whatever. haha
p,s. If I happen to stand in line (e.g. grocery store) with other Asians, many would assume we are ātogetherā. LOL
Iāll ask if someone is Swiss-American if Iām in the need of an army knife.
You have a base of experience with this stuff many of us do not. Iāve been in multiple situations where I was the only white person, so Iāve had a small taste of what itās likeā¦ but itās not quite the same.
It is often amusing how people sort and stereotype, but those whoāve been sorted know how truly dumb it isā¦to put it lightly.
In the neighborhood of my recreational property itās kind of nice when folks realize Iām not a real estate developer or trying to reach remote areas of Utah with an MLM. Thatās a stereotype of folks who look like me with Utah platesā¦ but I canāt complain, seriously.
āStereotype at your own riskā is good life guidance, in my book.
Itās a breath of fresh air when the realization occurs that people are people, far more similar than different.
I donāt usually take it personally at all. To me, typically, people are just curious about those who are different from they are. Itās just that many donāt have any substantive world views and donāt have the proper etiquette to acquire that information.
I have even more interesting personal experience ā being a 6ā1", 220# Asian American ā as someone who competed in free-style pistol shooting at the national level and all over south. Thatās a topic for another time. Haha
Justa, you just donāt have any respect for the social order, for ālong established and beloved ways of lahfeā. LOL. Me, too, especially in the previous century, in that part of the country.
I work with a lot of stereotype busters. I try to break a few, myself, hopefully for the better.
People in my neighborhood are often surprised that I grew up in this neighborhood. At first, I didnāt know how to take thatā¦ but now I think itās actually not a bad thing (no disrespect to my neighbors).
Stereotypes are meant to be bustedā¦ at least the bad & annoying ones.
You might get a kick out of this story: I have a coworker, who happens to be from Taiwan, via Atlanta. She broke away from her familyās expectations, and came out to the U to study Dance, now does Admin work in an IT group.
So, you could say, she fits right in with the misfits in IT. lol
Sometimes when weāre talking about some technical details, deep into the IT dialect of English, and she feels maybe a little sheepish for not knowing the lingo, she will blurt out āIām not good in Math, OK!?!?!?ā (Thatās her tag line.)
Itās a good laugh, but thereās also a little family expectations history, and a related escape story.
Iām an Army brat and my Dad spent a rotation at Ft. McClellan in Alabama. During one summer, I ran to my Mom, very excited to show her that I would soon be as dark as all of my friends. She had to explain to me that I probably wouldnāt ever catch up. I know there is Native American blood in there somewhere, the family discussion is around just how much.
Weāre seeing method to Coach Smithās recruiting that I think makes a lot of sense for a program situated like Utahās.
First, he pursues players who were highly rated out of HS, had big offer lists, but have taken longer to develop than expected or failed to get playing time or rack up gaudy stats to expectations or just werenāt in the right place. See Miro Little (no. 39 ESPN out of HS in 2023, enrolled at Baylor), Zach Keller (Wake Forest), Keanu Dawes (offered by Texas A&M, Texas, Oklahoma State, Utah and BYU out of HS in 2023), Mike Sharavjampts (ESPN no. 100 out of HS). See also, Lawson Lovering (no. 74 ESPN, enrolled at Colorado out of HS).
This approach paid off with Devion Smith, a rolling stone who was a reserve who made limited impact at two prior programs after being highly rated and heavily recruited out of HS.
Ezra Ausar, however, appears to have been less pusued out of HS than the foregoing players but vastly increased his market value at a more obscure program but still competitive conference. He appears to have demonstrated the skill set and body to compete in the Big 12.
Some insiders bemoan that Utah doesnāt have more NIL, but there was a strong market for each of these recruits. Smithās 2024 recruiting success tells me that he does have NIL resources.
There is much uncertainty but much reason to hope with this roster.
Of course money is not unlimited. Itās possible to make a rational decision between keeping Devion Smith (who is just one player and has one year left) and recruiting the several solid prospects that the program landed. Kind of like how the Seahawks traded Russell Wilson for all those draft picks,
As for Keita, he is devoted to Chris Burges, a 45 year old assistant coach who seems only desired by Utah and BYU, as an assistant. Whatever. Iād much rather have Ausar. Heās a better shooter, has a three, and is bigger, likewise strong, more mobile,
Rumor is the Y is paying the two one and done guys $2 million each. THank you Ryan Smith.
One and done maybe. Itās not even clear how good they are. One is a Russian 18 year old with limited data and the other a no. 40 ESPN prospect apparently Purdue was content to let go rather than bid against BYU. No. 40 prospect is no sure NBA first rounder. Maybe Smith will recruit him next year. See my prior post.