Night with Runnin Utes

Wasn’t that event scheduled for this evening?

I can’t find any report. Anywhere.

From the SL Trib
Sounds like the team was a bit sloppy and has a ways to go.

It could be a long season. Hope they can clean it up before we get to the PAC 12 season. ESPN’s guys picked us to be 11th this season.

Shocking. Who would have guessed :slight_smile:

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I did go last night. I was there for the women’s scrimmage and, as the tribune pointed out of the three freshmen, Maxwell was the one who hit her shots last night. The PA announcer said over and over again that this is the best incoming class that Utah has ever had. Martin and Pendandolo played well but the shots did not fall for them. Of the returners, Becker played very well. Her time with the Canadian U-19 team this summer served her well. Other of the primary returners, Gylten, Torres, and Moore, did not play because they were at class.

I wonder what it would be like to be on the team of males who scrimmage against the women in practice each day. I know they receive meals, gear, training, and other benefits, and playing ball would not be a bad gig.

Oh you are more interested in the men. Well, I stayed for the long men’s scrimmage as well. Here are some of my optimistic thoughts. But first let me say something more realistic. The play was rough and quite ragged. As we Utah fans say of late, hopefully they will come together for conference play.

Numerically, by player:

Allen looked great. Patient and strong in going to the basket and he finished well.

Van Komen was better than anticipated and I think he made all six or so of his free throws. He blocked a lot of shots, surprise surprise.

Brenchley-nothing special last night.

Haddock, who we overheard being called fish by those on the bench. He is short but he played okay and hit some threes. The team is short on point guards and so he played as much as anyone it seemed.

Gach looked good. More of the same good stuff from last year.

Ballstaedt was maybe the biggest surprise for me. He is a tough good player. Down the stretch he played as well as anyone. A great walk on.

Jones was as good as advertised. He is calm and a great distributor of the ball. Tough and a good rebounder. I watched him play at Olympus a lot and I always wondered how he would do against better competition. After seeing him against a little better competition last night, I can say that he has a little bit of Marc Jackson’s precociousness in him. We will see how he does against older elite guards but he is going to be a very good point guard.

Jantunen did not have much impact in the first half while he played with the second team but when he had more talent around him, he was able to be an excellent utility guy: rebounding; setting picks; defense; toughness, and a bunch of lay-ups (mostly off nice assists from Jones).

Battin played well and thought that he has taken a step forward from last year. He scored a lot of points. Hopefully, he can be a consistent scorer off the bench. I also saw him being a vocal leader during warm-ups.

Plummer is not afraid to shoot. Fading three-pointers, guy in his face, no problem. He will still put up the shots. We will see how he does.

Wenzel–Nothing special last night.

Thioune battled with the bigger centers, Carlson and Van Komen. He did not stand out.

Carlson is athletic. He easily out jumped Thioune at the opening tip. He is listed at seven feet and is coordinated. He is pretty thin and will get pushed around but he is a skilled offensive player and has great timing for shot blocking.

Again, there are some of my more optimistic thoughts. Did anyone else go?

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Here is the report from Utahutes.com

NWTRU

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He would have to double (maybe triple) in muscle to be like Doleac but in terms of shooting, his highlight video shows that he can hit threes. He did not take any last night though.

A Few Highlights from MBB Twitter

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