My expectations had risen with our recent play and hot start. With our starting 3 and backup 3 4 and 5 out my expectations have lowered. A competitive game with USC and a chance to win vs Cal will make for an interesting start to the season.
Things I’d like to see/develop.
Carlson and Worster keep up their hot start. Really like what I’ve seen from these two so far. Going to be a fun duo for the next few years.
Riley keeps up his play. Fewer turnovers more offensive boards would be nice.
Jenkins gets his mojo back. We need every point he can muster and one lick of defense would be great.
Gach has got to be significantly better on both sides of the court. He has been underwhelming so far.
Lazar keeps being aggressive on offense. We desperately need something out of him rebounding the ball. Improved defense, not super high expectations for freshmen.
Coming up on the 12:00 TO in the first half. Rebounding is still an issue but I like the scrappiness of these guys. They play like they want it. As I type this they’re playing even with a much bigger and more athletic team. Just the effort makes me feel good about the long term prospects. Down 2 at the TO.
I think it’s just bad luck, but sometimes I wonder what training and conditioning regiment programs have as well as trainers approach. Maybe that’s just a futile hope that some injuries are more preventable, but again, it’s probably just bad luck.
Reminds me of the 2015 and 2016 seasons when Utah played ASU at home. In 2015, Utah held ASU to just 8 points in the first half. The next year, I believe ASU improved to 9 or 10 first-half points. Utes won both games by about 40.
Utah’s first year in the PAC12 (when we had something like 6 wins all year long) we buried ASU in the Hunty. Believe it was our biggest margin of victory of the season.