Cal comes into the game at 13-16. Utah should take care of business tonight, padding our NIT resume.
This week I heard one of the league analysts call Cal “the team nobody wants to play right now”. They’ve played very well over the last seven or eight games, with big wins over Oregon, UW and ASU… close losses to Ucla and Colorado.
Pretty boring game so far. Just following Deivon’s stat line.
I’m watching the game on Fubo, but have no audio. Is anyone else having the same problem?
Disappointing crowds for senior night. I specially for 5th year Brandon Carlson. I get the weather is an issue, but it’s easy to add some extra travel time in a Saturday evening.
Where does Brandon go down as along the lol time great Utes? Never made the Big Danve, but played for 5 years, will be in the top 19 scoring, and 1st place in blocks.
All I can say for sure right now is that he will be missed next year.
3 Likes
Monster night for Brandon and Deivon. .
5 Likes
Ben Carlson & Gabe Madsen were honored on senior night. They still could both return for a Covid year. Talked to Carlson’s father—Ben is probably done here; might try to play “overseas”. Talked to Gabe—sounds like there is a good chance he will be back. They both will go through the pro evaluation like Brandon did last year & then decide.
The rest, other than Brandon & Bajema (both out of eligibility) will be back—not sure Craig Smith will want all of them back, assuming he will still be the coach.
3 Likes
Deivon and Rollie could have walked but didn’t. I’ll take that as a good sign.
How their last year goes is really dependent upon the Portal and NIL (wince).
I was starting to eyeball Cal’s roster, knowing this time next year those guys are going to wish they will never get on another airplane in their lives.
7 Likes
Utah annihilated Cal tonight. They looked the part of an NCAA Tournament team. If Utah beats Oregon State and Colorado beats Oregon Thursday night, the Utah-Oregon game will likely be for a 1st round bye, pending the outcome of the Colorado-Stanford game on Sunday
So… are the Utes in the Big Dance if they beat both of the Oregon schools? Or do they also need to win a couple Pac tourney games.
1 Like
Depends upon what else continues to happen around the country. But Utah could seriously help themselves out by winning next week. These last two games are the best Utah has looked this season. Especially defensively. Lack of defense is what killed them at Colorado, and there must’ve been a concerted effort on that side of the ball in practice. Because that’s why Utah won so dominantly against Cal and Stanford. It’s always the defensive side of the ball that determines their winning and losing. The two games they have won on the road are their two best defensive efforts this year on the road. If they’re going to win next week, they MUST continue their effort on the defensive side of the ball that they showed this week. It’s not really that difficult to understand. Defense is what leads to victories.
2 Likes
After the game, a couple of players mentioned that last Monday’s practice was a long “October” practice. Coach also said they focused on getting back to some fundamental things that had been lost the last few games.
Other than poor ball security the first 10 minutes, our fundamentals looked good. We out rebounded then by a ton, and as mentioned the defense looked a lot better.
7 Likes
Listening to Reilly on Friday, the prognosticators figure the Utes need to do something they haven’t done in a long time - sweep a road trip, and win a couple of games at the Conference tournament to get in.
1 Like
A loss to OSU ends any chances short of winning the conference tournament, of course. There is no reason Utah shouldn’t win. A loss at Oregon might be too much to overcome. Winning there is a tall, tall order. Utah has one win at Oregon as a PAC-12 member, and they have never beaten the Ducks twice in a season.
Utah also needs a win, maybe two, in the conference tournament. Can they do all of this? I think it’s possible. Will they? I am trying to be optimistic, but it’s not too likely. Hope I am wrong. This program needs to get back to the NCAA Tournament.
2 Likes
It might be easy to add some travel time, but it took me 75 minutes to get back to Park City after the women’s game and the line of cars trying to get down the canyon was just as bad or worse. I wasn’t going to do it.
I think Brandon is a great Ute because he not only has been the best player on the team for the past 3 years, he stuck with the Utes through a tough, tough time.
7 Likes
When you are on the bubble it matters what you do, but it also matters what the other bubble teams do. If they sweep this road trip and win 2 in the tourney I think they are in. If they split the road trip, I think they would need to get to the finals to have a shot.
I was listening to John Canzano with Bill Reilly the other day and he said he would not be at all surprised if Dana Altman retires at the end of the season. He said that he thinks the portal and the NIL are exhausting and Altman has hinted that he might not be a fit for how things are moving.
4 Likes
That’s too bad. I think Altman is a fantastic coach. He definitely has had our number.
2 Likes
I’d have just stayed in the valley for a while but that’s just me
1 Like
Hopefully things change Jo
1 Like