I’m eager to see Thrill’s basketball updates after yesterday’s outing. While I’m waiting, I took a look at our remaining schedule and the results thus far of our upcoming opponents, and unfortunately, it’s hard to see where we get more than 4 or possibly 5 more wins. I went into the conference season thinking 9-9, or 8-10 were doable.
I know…, I know… we are a young team… we should expect some WTF wins as well as WTF losses, I remember that. And, I went into this recent stretch half expecting to be 1-4 right now. However, there are three things that concern me:
The way we lost to Oregon. We had chances to win that game, against a team that is good, but is not the juggernaut they were made out to be. A little better coaching and execution, would have resulted in a win.
The way we lost the last three road games. We were not competitive. I am not surprised by any of these results, but to appear to have no chance, to appear to be completely outclassed, to appear to be completely unprepared is disheartening.
The way Coach K left the game yesterday, in a fit of frustration. It felt like he had no idea of what to do next either.
I’ve not given on this team or Coach K; I hope they recover. However, I worry that these kinds of losses and the stress that results, will lead to more departures at the end of this year, and another young team next year. A young team is the result of what the coaches have done in the past in the way of recruiting, identification of player personality types, development,player expectation management, etc. I get that we are young, but there are reasons for that and the staff owns them.
I’ve consistently said that I plan to give Coach K this year and next, before I stop renewing season tickets, but the three items outlined above do not provide much optimism at this point.
I’ll still be in my seats every game this year and next, cheering and hoping for better coaching, development, and results.
Watching, sort of, the team from afar. It’s hard to watch the PAC12 games due to start times here on the East Coast. I do on the other hand look at scores and read about the games.
I’m beginning to wonder how Larry still has a job. Yes I realize, that compared to Giac, and Boylen he’s a wunderkind, but damn these types of losses are not unusual with Larry’s teams. Having 4 blowout losses in a row, while not unheard of, is certainly disheartening. You mentioned that Larry left the game yesterday looking unsure what to do next. Perhaps he’s lost the team, and they don’t pay attention to him anymore. I’m not privy to anything, I’m purely in a speculating mode here.
If we still lived in Salt Lake, I doubt I’d pay much more attention to the men’s BBall team than I do now. The desire to see the team in person is pretty low for me. The product on the floor isn’t compelling enough to keep my attention long. The persistent .500 or near .500 teams is getting extremely old. The turnover in the off season makes me wonder wtf is going on in the program. I’d like to see something resembling improvement.
Yeah, I know this is kinda rambling, but the point is, I’m not surprised to see the men’s team look lost. It seems to be Larry’s MO. The turnover in the off season can’t help, being young really doesn’t either, but that is a side effect to turnover. Is the turnover due to Larry? I don’t know. But I do wonder how he still has a job.
As much as I like the guy and hope he will succeed, I cannot shake the feeling that he is not on top of the job, but the job is on top of him. I would so love to be wrong.
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… I get that we are young, but there are reasons for that and the staff owns them.I’ve consistently said that I plan to give Coach K this year and next, before I stop renewing season tickets, but the three items outlined above do not provide much optimism at this point.I’ll still be in my seats every game this year and next, cheering and hoping for better coaching, development, and results.Go Utes!
[I am unable to watch at this point at time. every team Utah plays has at lease one or two players that come into the game and start popping three pointers, without any fear and are hitting at least 50%. which palyer other than Plummer comes into the game and is not afraid to shoot three;s? and Plummer is on the beanch most of the time. where does the thought process come from to only use 6 or 7 guys for the season? I want Tommy Conner coaching next year. remember what he did at westminister.