Weekly Postseason Tracker

Conference RPI: #3

NCAAs:

	Arizona (21-1, 8-1) | RPI: #2 | SOS: #9 Top-100 Wins (9): vs. Duke (11) | at Michigan (14) |at San Diego State (17) | at UCLA (19) | Colorado (25) | Arizona State (47) | at Stanford (50) | New Mexico State (73) | Washington (80)  Sub-100 Losses (0): None.
	UCLA (17-5 6-3) | RPI: #19 | SOS: #20 Top-100 Wins (7): at Colorado (25) | California (43) | at Oregon (46) | Arizona State (47) | Stanford (50) | Northwestern (85) | UC Santa Barbara (99) Sub-100 Losses (1): at Utah (118)
	Colorado (16-6, 5-4) | RPI: #25 | SOS: #11 Top-100 Wins (6): Kansas (1) | Harvard (41) | Oregon (46) | Oregon State (88) | Wyoming (93) | UC Santa Barbara (99) Sub-100 Losses (0): None.
	Oregon (15-6, 3-6) | RPI: #46 | SOS: #51 Top-100 Wins (5): BYU (45) | at Ole Miss (57) | vs. Georgetown (62) | vs. Illinois (69) | San Francisco (91) Sub-100 Losses (0): None.
	California (15-7, 6-3) | RPI: #43 | SOS: #45 Top-100 Wins (6): Arizona (2) | at Oregon (46) | at Stanford (50) | Washington (80) | at Oregon State (88) | vs. Arkansas (92) Sub-100 Losses (1): at USC (124)
	Arizona State (16-6, 5-4) | RPI: #47 | SOS: #73 Top-100 Wins (3): Colorado (25) | at California (43) | Marquette (86) Sub-100 Losses (0): None.

NIT:

	Stanford (14-7, 5-4) | RPI: #50 | SOS: #28 Top-100 Wins (5): Connecticut (33) | at Oregon (46) | Arizona State (47) | Washington (80) | Northwestern (85) Sub-100 Losses (0): None.
	Washington (13-9, 5-4) | RPI: #80 | SOS: #63 Top-100 Wins (4): Colorado (25) | Oregon (46) | at Arizona State (47) | Oregon State (88) Sub-100 Losses (3): UC Irvine (132) | at Washington State (154) | vs. Boston College (179)
	Utah (14-7, 3-6) | RPI: #118 | SOS: #139 Top-100 Wins (3): UCLA (19) | BYU (45) | Oregon State (88) Sub-100 Losses (1): at Washington State (154)
	Oregon State (13-8, 5-4) | RPI: #88 | SOS: #96 Top-100 Wins (5): UCLA (19) | Oregon (46) | Stanford (50) | at Maryland (68) | Quinnipiac (94) Sub-100 Losses (5): vs. Akron (105) | at DePaul (109) | at Utah (118) | at Hawaii (141) | Coppin State (208)

OUT:

	USC (10-12, 1-8) | RPI: #124 | SOS: #48 Top-100 Wins (3): vs. Xavier (36) | California (43) | at Dayton (65) Sub-100 Losses (3): at Utah (118) | at Long Beach State (122) | at Utah State (126)
	Washington State (9-12, 2-7) | RPI: #154 | SOS: #52 Top-100 Wins (1): Washington (80) Sub-100 Losses (1): TCU (190)

Week 14 TV Schedule

Date	Time MST	Game	Channel	Comcast Salt Lake	Dish
Feb. 5th	7:00	Stanford at California	ESPN2	669 (HD)	144
Feb. 5th	7:30	Washington State at Colorado	Pac-12 Net	757 (HD)	413
Feb. 6th	7:00	Washington at Utah	Pac-12 Net	757 (HD)	413
Feb. 6th	7:00	Oregon at Arizona	ESPN	668 (HD)	140
Feb. 6th	9:00	Oregon State at Arizona State	FoxSports1	691 (HD)	150
Feb. 8th	3:00	Oregon at Arizona State	FoxSports1	691 (HD)	150
Feb. 8th	6:00	Washington State at Utah	Pac-12 Net	757 (HD)	413
Feb. 8th	8:30	UCLA at USC	Pac-12 Net	757 (HD)	413
Feb. 9th	5:00	Oregon State at Arizona	Pac-12 Net	757 (HD)	413
Feb. 9th	6:00	Washington at Colorado	ESPNU	755 (HD)	141

December 4, 1967 - Colorado at Utah

Utah and Colorado played each other regularly through the early half of the 20th century. But by the time I took over at the U., the teams were in different conferences and rarely played. I only coached Utah against the Buffaloes twice.

One of those games was eerily similar to Utah's victory against Colorado last year. It happened in 1967 - the Buffs came to town and fought us through the first half to a close halftime margin. They had a bunch of long-range shooters led by Chuck Williams and Pat Frink, and all 4,899 fans at the Field House that night knew they were in for a great second-half battle.

But all of the sudden it appeared it might turn into a rout. Just like last year, Utah went on a tear early in the second half and built up a big lead. We made a 18-4 run in about four minutes and led by 14 points. And just like they did last year, Colorado came back.

Our shots stopped falling; meanwhile Frink and Williams suddenly caught fire. We felt almost helpless as our comfortable lead dwindled down to ten, and then five, and then to one. With six minutes left, we led 70-69.

Somehow we harnessed momentum again and got back on track. Colorado threw everything they had at us, but we held on for a 95-84 win. Williams led the Golden Buffaloes with 25 points and Frink had 24. Walt Simon led the good guys with 22 points and Merv the Magician tossed in 18 more.

Utah and Colorado didn't play again for 16 years. But it's great these teams are back together and playing regularly again. It's a natural rivalry and methinks there are many more great Utah-CU games yet to come.

Weekly Postseason Tracker

Conference RPI: #3
   
NCAAs:

	Arizona (20-0, 7-0) | RPI: #2 | SOS: #16 Top-100 Wins (8): at Michigan (13) | vs. Duke (16) | at San Diego State (17) | at UCLA (20) | Colorado (23) | Arizona State (50) | Washington (70) | New Mexico State (71)  Sub-100 Losses (0): None.
	UCLA (16-4 5-2) | RPI: #20 | SOS: #25 Top-100 Wins (5): at Colorado (23) | California (47) | Arizona State (50) | Stanford (53) | Alabama (87) Sub-100 Losses (1): at Utah (118)
	Colorado (15-6, 4-4) | RPI: #23 | SOS: #6 Top-100 Wins (4): Kansas (1) | Oregon (40) | Harvard (46) | Wyoming (78) Sub-100 Losses (0): None.
	Oregon (14-5, 2-5) | RPI: #40 | SOS: #45 Top-100 Wins (6): BYU (49) | at Ole Miss (58) | vs. Illinois (62) | vs. Georgetown (72) | San Francisco (98) | Pacific (99) Sub-100 Losses (1): at Oregon State (111)
	California (14-6, 5-2) | RPI: #47 | SOS: #70 Top-100 Wins (4): at Oregon (40) | at Stanford (53) | Washington (70) | vs. Arkansas (77) Sub-100 Losses (2): at UC Santa Barbara (101) | at USC (108)
	Arizona State (15-5, 4-3) | RPI: #50 | SOS: #73 Top-100 Wins (2): Colorado (23) | Marquette (86) Sub-100 Losses (0): None.

NIT:

	Stanford (13-6, 4-3) | RPI: #53 | SOS: #50 Top-100 Wins (3): Connecticut (38) | at Oregon (40) | Washington (70) Sub-100 Losses (1): at Oregon State (111)
	Washington (13-8, 5-3) | RPI: #70 | SOS: #55 Top-100 Wins (3): Colorado (23) | Oregon (40) | at Arizona State (50) Sub-100 Losses (2): UC Irvine (135) | vs. Boston College (166)
	Utah (14-6, 3-5) | RPI: #118 | SOS: #165 Top-100 Wins (2): UCLA (20) | BYU (49) Sub-100 Losses (1): at Washington State (177)

CBI:

Oregon State (11-8, 3-4) | RPI: #111 | SOS: #105 Top-100 Wins (4): Oregon (40) | Stanford (53) | at Maryland (73) | Quinnipiac (96) Sub-100 Losses (4): at DePaul (102) | at Utah (118) | at Hawaii (119) | Coppin State (213)

OUT:

	USC (10-10, 1-6) | RPI: #108 | SOS: #36 Top-100 Wins (3): vs. Xavier (25) | California (47) | at Dayton (63) Sub-100 Losses (3): at Utah State (105) | at Utah (118) | at Long Beach State (137)
	Washington State (8-12, 1-7) | RPI: #177 | SOS: #58 Top-100 Wins (0): None. Sub-100 Losses (4): vs. Butler (104) | vs. Oregon State (111) | UTEP (113) | TCU (178)

Week 13 TV Schedule

Date	Time MST	Game	Channel	Comcast Salt Lake	Dish
Jan. 29th	7:00	Arizona at Stanford	ESPN2	669 (HD)	144
Jan. 29th	9:00	Arizona State at California	ESPNU	755 (HD)	141
Jan. 30th	7:00	UCLA at Oregon	ESPN2	669 (HD)	144
Jan. 30th	7:00	USC at Oregon State	Pac-12 Net	757 (HD)	413
Feb. 1st	12:00	Utah at Colorado	Pac-12 Net	757 (HD)	413
Feb. 1st	2:00	Arizona State at Stanford	Pac-12 Net	757 (HD)	413
Feb. 1st	4:00	Washington at Washington State	Pac-12 Net	757 (HD)	413
Feb. 1st	6:00	USC at Oregon	Pac-12 Net	757 (HD)	413
Feb. 1st	8:30	Arizona at California	Pac-12 Net	757 (HD)	413
Feb. 2nd	12:30	UCLA at Oregon State	ESPNU	755 (HD)	141

Utah's Road Woes: What We've Got Here is a Failure to Concentrate

It has been said that winning on the road in Division I NCAA basketball is one of the hardest things to do in sports.  The Wall Street Journal had an article on this a few years back.  It speculated several reasons for college teams having trouble winning on the road: crazy fans close to the court, difficult travel schedules, unfamiliar sight-lines, home-cooking referees, and inexperienced players.

I never liked any of these excuses -- basketball is basketball.  The basket is the same height, the ball is the same weight, and the floor is the same size.  And yet good teams lose to inferior teams on the road all the time.  UCLA is probably better than Utah, yet Utah beat the Bruins last week.  Utah is probably better than Washington State, yet the Cougars took it to the Utes.  I expect a different outcome in both return games when the roles are reversed.  All of these factors probably make it more difficult to play on the road because it makes it more difficult to maintain a high level of concentration.  For me, the reason teams struggle on the road is that it is more difficult to maintain a high level of concentration on the road than it is at home.

Utah has only won one conference road game since joining the PAC-12, a 74-65 win over the Washington Huskies last season.  In that game, Utah shot 60% from the field and pretty much dominated a pretty decent squad.  What I remember from that game was a high level of concentration from the Utes and few mental mistakes.  In all of Utah's close road losses this season, including tonight's four point loss to Arizona State, Utah made several mental mistakes that cost them 6-10 points over the course of those games.  For example, in tonight's game, Utah dropped two uncontested rebounds out of bounds.  One of the drops happened right before the half that permitted ASU to score going into the half.  ASU used that momentum to pull ahead of Utah early in the second half.  In another instance, ASU threw the ball away and it was going out of bounds.  Instead of letting the ball go out of bounds, a Utah player unsuccessfully tried to save it to a teammate.  ASU retained possession of the ball.  These may seem like insignificant plays and they don't even register on the official stat sheet.  But if you make 6-8 of those mistakes during the course of a game, and the other teams scores about half of the time, then you are giving up 6-8 points that you would not otherwise be giving up.  If Utah gives up 6-8 fewer points in its road games, it would be 18-1 and 6-1 in conference instead of 14-5 and 3-4.  This may seem simplistic, but I truly believe that until Utah learns how to minimize these mental lapses, it will continue to struggle on the road.

Utah is a good team.  It is a better team now than it was at this point last season.  But it is not yet a great team.  When you are building a program from the ground up like Coach Krystko is doing, your team goes through stages.  First your team has to learn how to play hard, and you have to start recruiting more talented players.  Utah has done that.  Then you have to develop team chemistry and learn how to win games.  Utah has great chemistry, and it knows how to win games.  But this Utah team has failed to maintain a high level of concentration for 40 minutes of basketball on the road.  It has had stretches where it plays outstanding.  But in all of its road losses, Utah has gone through stretches where it drops rebounds, makes costly turnovers, takes bad shots, and loses concentration on defense.  And until Utah learns to minimize these types of mistakes, it will continue to lose road games that it is capable of winning.

It may be a frustrating process to watch.  But every team goes through it.  Some overcome and become great teams.  Some don't and regress.  From what I have seen from this coaching staff and from these kids, I expect Utah to evolve into an excellent team that can win games on the road.  But it is far from a foregone conclusion.