Hoop Utes 2025 Reg Season

I have rapidly lost interest in college sports, with NIL’s “pay to win” result requiring the boosters to buy your championship and the Big 12’s horrendous referees; I’ll gladly follow arena football instead of the NCAA Tournament :laughing:

2 Likes

Join me in following WBB, volleyball, and softball. :slight_smile:

5 Likes

Classic Utes we’ve come to know. Run off to a 15-4 lead after five minutes, then only score 4 over the next 11. It’s maddening.

1 Like

I was going to say the same thing. It’s astounding how bad this offense is away from home. I don’t get it. It’s hard to stomach this after watching BYU score 96 at Arizona (a place Utah hasn’t won since 1986). Sigh.

3 Likes

Maybe the worst ball handling team I’ve ever seen at Utah and I started as a student there in 1978. It was comical to me when the announcers complimented Utah’s positioning because who cares when the pass goes to where there isn’t anyone? That plus drive/pick up dribble/jump/wonder what to do now, or having the ball so far from your body it’s easy to steal, is just incredibly sloppy. We have no business only being down one, and only speaks to how bad UCF is.

4 Likes

Yeah, 12 turnovers in the first half is inexcusable. Lack of talent and poor coaching.

3 Likes

Too often we see things like the time Lovering got the ball right on the baseline and behind the backboard. UCF doubles, nobody on Utah moves to an open spot and Lovering tries to make a reachy lay in only to get stripped. MOVE!!! Four guys watch way too often.

1 Like

Falling apart here in the second half—to a team that has lost seven in a row no less. It’s painful to watch Runnin’ Utes basketball.

2 Likes

Hey, let’s botch our last shot by not catching the inbounds pass! UFB. :man_facepalming:t3:

2 Likes

It seems like under Smith, they are losing a lot more of these close games than they are winning. They don’t seem to have set plays of what to do to set up a decent last shot.

2 Likes

This went through my mind when watching the game at WVU, scrap back to be only down 6 on the road, and he takes out Dawes, who was really the only good performer that game, and then doesn’t put him back into the game until late. I understand he needs a blow, but there was a TV timeout about a minute after he removed him, and he could gone back in and he didn’t. Malpractice.

2 Likes

Devion Smith best collegiate year was at Utah. He hasn’t done nearly as well at St. Johns. Every statistic is down considerably from last year, despite playing the same amount of minutes. His assists are down 3 per game, points 4 per game, rebounds 2 per and FG% is down 7%.

But, he’s clearly on a much better team and they dont rely on him or need him like Utah did/does. And he got paid.

1 Like

I thought this before Smith was fired, but my guess is Ausar is this years Deivon Smith. Utah will need to pay him to have him stay.

1 Like

Ausar can score but he has some bad habits. Utah is going to struggle next year anyway so he may not be as big of a loss as Smith was.

1 Like

My impression (from a small sample) is Ausur, onfe he gets the ball, is going to shoot and try to get to the basket. At least during the byu game, I noticed he did not pass it back out, even when covered. It was going to be a shot or try to draw the foul. With 25 pts and 1 assist against ASU, maybe that’s his role, but good things can happen if you kick it out every once in a while.

4 Likes

My observation exactly. There’s a lot to like in his game, but him being the guy to make he extra pass isn’t one of them. Over the course of the season that’s shown in how he’s defended.

4 Likes

Saturday night was my first trip to the jmhc this year and it stood out to me how much ezra whines to the ref while hes on d. Drives me nuts.

3 Likes

Ausar’s skill set is very limited. He scored at will against ASU b/c the Devils had the worst interior defense of any team I can remember. Ausar’s performance Saturday is an extreme outlier and does not reflect his overall value. IMHO

2 Likes

Ausar indeed does sometimes need to pass the ball a bit more, especially when he has a couple of players defending him meaning there should be unguarded teammate somewhere.

In comparison I noted to my seatmate last Saturday that Lovering is a damned good passer.

4 Likes