i don’t know why we can’t
have you watched most of this season ???
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Yes. I have. Every single game. And what I see is a team who has improved that sometimes makes mistakes that cost them close games against good competition. Like the game against Oregon State, who is a team made up of seniors. Or the game @ Oregon, who is a team made up of seniors. My reasoning as to why Utah potentially could make a run in the conference tournament is because they’re going to be on the side of the bracket needed for them to make said run. They beat every team in the Pac-12 this year sans Oregon, Oregon State, and UCLA. Well, if Oregon wins at Oregon State tomorrow, that would make it so Oregon is the #1 seed while UCLA is locked into the #4 seed and Oregon State is locked into the #5 seed. Meaning, ALL THREE TEAMS THEY FAILED TO BEAT ARE ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF THE BRACKET FROM UTAH. Ergo, they would have beaten potentially any team they theoretically were to face up against in the tournament until the Championship Game. They play Washington on Wednesday, who they beat in Salt Lake but lost to in Seattle by 4 points. I think Utah beats them. They then would face up against #2 seed USC (if Oregon wins at Oregon State), who they beat 71-61 just last Saturday and split the season series with. Then, if they were somehow to get past that game, they’d face any of #11 seed Cal (who they split with 1-1), #6 seed Stanford (who they split with 1-1), or #3 seed Colorado (again, who they split with 1-1). A win in the semifinals means at trip to the Championship Game. This team seems quite similar to the 2012-2013 Utes (Krystkowiak’s second season). That team also had a “disappointing” conference season @ 5-13, but they then went on a run in the conference tournament. They got the #10 seed in the conference tournament, but they beat #7 seed USC in the opening round and then #2 Cal in the quarterfinals, only to lose to #3 seed Oregon in the semifinals. Well, they’re in a similar position now to that team, except they’ve proven during the regular season that they’re capable of beating just about any team in the league.
I don’t believe they will for one reason - consistency. The one thing that has been consistent about the 2020-2021 Utes has been just how inconsistent they have played the game. One game they look like an upper-echelon program only to turn around and look like the Washington Generals in the next game. This season we have actually seen this type of inconsistency play out during a single game.
A “higher seed” in the PAC 12 Tourney…if your team is not seeded #1 thru #4, you’re team is scrambling to get to a game that matters. It means you’re generally not very good. I will say this year’s team has some talent. It has no chemistry. It has no consistency. There weren’t even streaks of consistent play to provide an inkling of a possibility we might just “flip the switch.”
If it happens this week, awesome. Just remember if it does, this Utes team did nothing short of “catching lightning in a bottle.” I hope they do win and screw up the whole thing in doing so; but I have no expectations it will happen. They don’t have it.
If we make it past the first round I will be shocked.
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Not me, I’m fully expecting us to beat UW. I will be surprised if we beat USC again. We’ve held Mobley to basically nothing in two games. If we play them again, he’s going to go off.
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Except that Larry’s teams have historically underperformed in the conference tourney. This year won’t be the exception, they may win one game, but that’s it. If they win more than that I will eat my hat… happily.
First since Kuzma, right?
Utah has never won a tourney game at T-Mobile
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Sed was first team in 2019
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Game Day! I’m excited for at least one more win this season.
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exactly