You win one, you lose one: the story of our roadie.

The Texas trip ends with a loss to SMU and a win against Texas State. I'll take it.

I liked that we played tough against SMU and didn't let that game get out of hand; gave ourselves a chance to win, etc., etc. Looking forward to getting back at the Mustangs in the Hunty soon.

The Texas State game was a lot closer than it should have been and the team let its lead slip away down the stretch.  But I'm focused instead on the great play from Jason Washburn off the bench and Jordan Loveridge's second half dominance.

Cedric Martin

Picked up a copy of the Chrony a few weeks back and noticed an interesting bio about my man, Cedric Martin. Check it out.

Of all the guys Coach K brought in to fill out the roster last season, Cedric is the only one who made it back this year. When he signed with the U. back in May 2011, Coach Krystkowiak described him as a "versatile wing player . . . an excellent passer [who] can play at the shooting guard or wing spots, and could also play at point guard if necessary." But so far, Cedric has best established himself as a solid Pac-12-caliber defender. He also brings a lot of energy. Fans love him for it and Solomon Hill hates him for it.

All in all, he's a guy you love to cheer for and want to see succeed.

The Texas trip

This week the Utes head south to Texas to take on Southern Methodist (Wednesday) and Texas State (Friday).  It's all part of Coach Krystkowiak's pre-season scheduling scheme, which he carefully designed to prepare the team for various components of Pac-12 play.  This week, the team will learn the nuances of a two-game road trip and play the first game of a home-and-home (vs. SMU).

Southern Methodist: The Mustangs are coached (of course) by Larry Brown.  They started off the season 5-0 but had a rough go of it last week at a tournament in Mexico.  There, they lost a head-scratcher to Arkansas-Little Rock before edging Missouri State by one point. They have five guys who average right around 10 ppg or better, each of whom pull down at least 4.5 rpg. I haven't had a chance to watch them play yet, but it sounds like Coach Brown is working hard to get the team ready for life in the Big East.

Texas State: The Bobcats are one of the new members of the WAC.  They just placed seventh (out of eight teams) in the Great Alaskan Shootout last week.  They've got a couple guys who average 15 and 5 and a couple who average 9 and 3. From the stat sheet, they appear to be a veteran team poised to finish in the middle of the WAC. 

For what it's worth, SMU and Texas State already faced off this season, with the Mustangs winning 78-75.  SMU led by as many as 15 in the second half.  The Bobcats ended the game on a 15-6 run, but it wasn't enough to get the win.  Joel Wright had 28 points and 5 rebounds for Texas State; Jalen Jones led SMU with 24 points, 8 rebounds and 2 blocks.

Weekly Pac-12 Rankings

We're well into the season now. We're understanding more and more about each of these teams' strengths and weaknesses.  And the more information we gather, the more movement we see in these rankings.

1		Colorado (5-0) | Last week: #1: Picked up where they left off last week with a win against Air Force last night.  They got solid play from their entire starting five and still own the conference's best win.
2		California (6-0) | Last week: #3: Great showing in the DirecTV Classic.  Cobbs and Crabbe are awesome, and you can go ahead and add Ty Wallace to the list of Pac-12 freshmen to keep an eye on.
3		Oregon State (4-1) | Last week: #2: Capped off the quiet week with a win against Montana State last night. No offense to the Beavers, but Colorado and Cal both have more momentum right now.
4		Oregon (5-1) | Last week: #4: Winning the Las Vegas Invitational was too tall of a task to expect.  Still, they took down #18 UNLV on its home court and hung around with #22 Cincinnati. Solid.
5		Arizona State (4-1) | Last week: T-#5: Decent showing in Las Vegas by beating Arkansas and not embarrassing themselves against #14 Creighton.  They should cruise through the remainder of their non-conference schedule.
6		Arizona (3-0) | Last week: T-#5: Can't say Arizona did enough to warrant a place in the top-5 this week.  They easily handled Long Beach State though.
7		Southern Cal (3-3) | Last week: T-#5: Embarrassing display against Illinois. But they played better the rest of the week and showed a lot of toughness in the second half against #25 San Diego State: coming back from way behind and almost pulling off the upset.
8		Utah (4-1) | Last week: #12: This week we got some glimpses of what this team can do. It wasn't against top-notch competition, but I found it surprisingly good -- particularly Wright State. I'll hold the Utes steady here for now; but if they survive the Texas trip, it may be time to get bullish.
9		Stanford (4-3) | Last week: #10: No bad losses this week, so that's good.  But they haven't exactly done anything yet to make us forget about Belmont.
10		Washington State (3-3) | Last week: #11: I didn't expect the Cougars to beat #12 Kansas, but they downright looked like a Div.-II team that night. A win over Texas A&M would have been good for the conference. Their next chance to impress will be against Gonzaga in a couple weeks.
11		Washington (2-3) | Last week: #9: I've put the Albany loss in the past. But Colorado State? That's two ugly home losses for the Huskies now. And how does a team with Aziz N'Diaye get out rebounded 40-19?
12		UCLA (4-2) | Last week: #8: My oh my.

Week 4 TV Schedule

Date	Time MST	Game	Channel	Comcast Salt Lake	Dish
Nov. 27th	7:30	Texas Southern at Colorado	Pac-12 Net	757 (HD)	413
Nov. 28th	6:00	Utah at SMU
Nov. 28th	6:00	Ark.-Pine Bluff at Arizona State	Pac-12 Net	757 (HD)	413
Nov. 28th	8:00	Idaho at Washington State	Pac-12 WA		alt
Nov. 28th	8:00	Seattle at Stanford	Pac-12 BA		alt
Nov. 28th	8:00	Northern Arizona at Arizona	Pac-12 Net	757 (HD)	413
Nov. 28th	10:00	Cal State Northridge at UCLA	Pac-12 Net	410 (SD)	413
Nov. 28th	10:00	Saint Louis at Washington	Pac-12 MT	757 (HD)	alt
Nov. 29th	8:00	Texas-San Antonio at Oregon	Pac-12 Net	757 (HD)	413
Nov. 30th	6:00	Oregon State vs. Kansas	Jayhawk TV
Nov. 30th	6:00	Utah at Texas State
Dec. 1st	4:30	Ark.-Pine Bluff at Oregon	Pac-12 Net	757 (HD)	413
Dec. 1st	6:00	Arizona at Texas Tech	ESPNU	755 (HD)	141
Dec. 1st	6:30	Sacramento State at Arizona State	Pac-12 Net	757 (HD)	413
Dec. 1st	8:00	UCLA vs. San Diego State	ESPNU	755 (HD)	141
Dec. 1st	8:00	Colorado at Wyoming
Dec. 1st	8:30	Portland at Washington State	Pac-12 Net	757 (HD)	413
Dec. 2nd	2:00	California at Wisconsin	Big Ten Net	754 (HD)	439
Dec. 2nd	3:00	Denver at Stanford	Pac-12 Net	757 (HD)	413
Dec. 2nd	5:00	Cal State Fullerton at Washington	Pac-12 Net	757 (HD)	413

What a week for the PAC!

This was supposed to be a big week for the Pac-12.  This was the week the conference was supposed to show the fans and nation that it was much improved after last year.  The conference was represented in almost all the major pre-season tournaments and featured in some of the country's biggest match ups.

But they struck out early. The So Cal schools fell victim to unranked yet underrated teams. And Washington State was utterly destroyed by Kansas. Thank goodness for consolation brackets. UCLA responded on Tuesday by edging Georgia (thus confirming to most that the loss to Georgetown wasn't a fluke).  On the other hand, Washington State took Texas A&M down to the wire and USC looked great in its victory against Texas. Then USC gave Marquette quite a run on Wednesday.

But here we are Saturday morning and four Pac-12 teams (Cal, Arizona State, Oregon and Utah) are on the verge of winning tournaments.  One other (Stanford) has a shot to go 2-1 against the brutal Battle 4 Atlantis field. Not bad at all. If we can close out a few of these tournaments (and I think we can take all four), it will bolster the point Colorado and Oregon State began to establish last week: the Pac-12 is a force to be reckoned with again.

+ + +

• Devistating news for Angus Brandt and the Beavers. Moreover, the injury kept him home while his team celebrated Thanksgiving with the Obamas. Imagine having to stay home on Austrailia's National Day of Thanksgiving while all your friends are dining with Prime Minister Julia Gillard.  That's how Angus felt this week.

• The Wildcats are enjoying a quiet week while Coach Miller still tries to sort out the lineup.

• The Buffaloes also enjoyed a quiet week with their newfound national ranking. CU's clearly a basketball school now.

• Black Friday: the Utes were the designated visiting team against the Chippewas on Friday.  So they seized the occasion to break out their black unis.

The Thanksgiving Tournament is upon us!

It looks like we've got three winnable games this week. And a great chance to build some momentum. But I must say I'd like our chances better if Friday hadn't gone so bad. Each of our tournament opponents appear to have some strengths. These are three programs with low expectations for the season, but reason to be hopeful down the road. Sound familiar?

Idaho State: The Bengals play a grand total of one home game during its non-conference season (not counting exhibition games). They lost their first two contests, but neither looked that bad (an 8-point loss at Utah State and a 3-point loss at Portland). The player to look for is Melvin Morgan, who so far leads the Pocatello crew in ppg (14) and rpg (4.5).

Central Michigan: The Chippewas's resume includes a loss at Iowa and a 14-point win against a D-III team. They're expecting big things from their first-year head coach, Keno Davis. But as is sometimes the case when a coach leaves a program, players leave as well. Roughly 75% of Central Michigan's scoring left prematurely at the end of last season.

Wright State: The Raiders bring a very young team that includes zero seniors. They are picked to have a down year and not be a factor in the Horizon League. But so far, they're 3-0. They've got a freshman named J.T. Yoho who averages 15 and 6. Their other point leader is 6'8" junior Cole Darling; but he was injured early in their second game and hasn't played since. His status for this week is unknown.

Weekly Pac-12 Rankings

One more week in the books.  And what a week it was!  The conference saw both marquee wins and embarrassing losses; all and all we're getting a better picture of how the conference will stack up.  Of course, there are still plenty of big games and new faces around the conference that we have yet to see.  But as things stand as of this morning, and based solely on performance so far, here's how the conference looks:

1		Colorado (4-0) | Last week: #3: Not only have the Buffaloes looked solid in each of their four games, they also have the Pac-12's biggest accomplishment so far: a win against then-#16 Baylor.
2		Oregon State (3-1) | Last week: #1: The Beavers played well in a loss to Alabama and then recovered nicely the next day by beating a respectable Purdue program.
3		California (3-0) | Last week: #2: Two more wins this week, plus some other contributors emerged to give Crabbe and Cobbs some help.
4		Oregon (3-0) | Last week: #12: Whatever Oregon was doing wrong last week against Northern Arizona, well . . . it's fixed now.  The Ducks destroyed Portland State and Vanderbilt.  And Arsalan Kazemi is just beginning to make his presence felt.
T5		Arizona (2-0) | Last week: #11: Another fifth-place log jam this week.  Arizona looked much better in a home win against UTEP.  Still waiting to see if they can justify their Top 10 national ranking against quality opponents.
T5		Arizona State (2-0) | Last week: T-#5: No groundbreaking wins, but they comfortably took care of business against weak competition.  Which is much more than some can say.
T5		Southern Cal (2-0) | Last week: T-#5: The Trojans look much better than they did last year.  We'll get a better measurement of their improvement tonight as they take on Illinois.
8		UCLA (3-0) | Last week: T-#5: The Bruins are 3-0, just like they should be; but UC Irvine nearly beat them at Pauley Pavilion.  UCLA must atone for that scare before they get any love from this apparition.
9		Washington (2-2) | Last week: T-#5: The loss to Ohio State was forgivable.  And its win against the Big East was very nice.  But the Huskies will still be feeling that Albany loss in March.
10		Stanford (3-1) | Last week: #4: Looked just fine all week.  And then Belmont happened.
11		Washington State (2-1) | Last week: T-#5: Looked just fine against Utah Valley.  And then Pepperdine happened.
12		Utah (1-1) | Last week: #10: The loss to Sacramento State is as bad as any Pac-12 loss so far this year, and the Utes haven't done anything yet to offset it.  And it probably cost the Utes three or four spots in this ranking.

Those Darn Bengals

On Wednesday night, the Utes host the Idaho State Bengals on the first night of the first annual Utah Thanksgiving Tournament.  We had one of our more frustrating losses against the Bengals in the third place game of the 1959 Western Regional of the NCAA tournament.  After getting beat up pretty good by eventual champion California, we felt pretty good about our prospects against the Bengals.  We finished our regular season 21-5 and were ranked between 15-20 throughout the season.

But the Bengals got us that day by the score of 71-65.  We got off to an awful start, falling behind 44-24 at the half.  But thanks to Pearl Pollard's 21 points and 10 rebounds, we almost came back.  But alas, the comeback came up a little short.  We just couldn't rebound that day -- getting out-boarded 43-31. 

I hope the guys do a little bit better this week.

Week 3 TV Schedule

Date	Time MST	Game	Channel	Comcast Salt Lake	Dish
Nov. 19th	6:00	UCLA vs. Georgetown	ESPN2	669 (HD)	144
Nov. 19th	7:00	Long Beach State at Arizona	Pac-12 Net	757 (HD)	413
Nov. 19th	8:00	Washington State vs. Kansas	ESPN2	669 (HD)	144
Nov. 19th	9:00	Jacksonville State at Oregon	Pac-12 Net	757 (HD)	413
Nov. 19th	10:00	USC vs. Illinois	ESPN2	669 (HD)	144
Nov. 20th	3:00	USC vs. Texas	ESPN2	669 (HD)	144
Nov. 20th	5:00	Washington State vs. Texas A&M
Nov. 20th	5:30	UCLA vs. Georgia	ESPNU	755 (HD)	141
Nov. 20th	7:00	Arizona State vs. Cornell	Pac-12 Net	757 (HD)	413
Nov. 21st	3:00	USC vs. Marquette	ESPN2	669 (HD)	144
Nov. 21st	7:00	Idaho State at Utah	Pac-12 Net	757 (HD)	413
Nov. 22nd	11:00a	Stanford vs. Missouri	AXSTV		362
Nov. 22nd	9:30	California vs. Drake	ESPN2	669 (HD)	144
Nov. 23rd	1:30	Stanford vs. Northern Iowa	AXSTV		362
Nov. 23rd	5:00	Arizona State vs. Arkansas	ESPN3
Nov. 23rd	5:00	Central Michigan at Utah	Pac-12 Net	757 (HD)	413
Nov. 23rd	7:00	Oregon vs. UNLV	CBS-College	753 (HD)	158
Nov. 23rd	10:00	California vs. Georgia Tech	ESPN2	669 (HD)	144
Nov. 24th	1:30	Stanford vs. Minnesota	AXSTV		362
Nov. 24th	5:30	Colorado State at Washington	Pac-12 Net	757 (HD)	413
Nov. 24th	7:30	Ark.-Pine Bluff at Washington State	Pac-12 Net		413
Nov. 24th	7:30	Wright State at Utah	Pac-12 MT	757 (HD)	alt
Nov. 24th	8:30	Oregon vs. Cincinnati	CBS-College	753 (HD)	158
Nov. 24th	9:00	Arizona State vs. Creighton	ESPN2	669 (HD)	144
Nov. 25th	4:00	Montana State at Oregon State	Pac-12 Net	757 (HD)	413
Nov. 25th	6:00	Air Force at Colorado	Pac-12 Net	757 (HD)	413
Nov. 25th	7:00	California vs. Pacific	ESPN2	669 (HD)	144
Nov. 25th	8:00	San Diego State at USC	Root Sports	693 (HD)	414
Nov. 25th	8:00	Cal Poly at UCLA	Pac-12 Net	757 (HD)	413

Back to the drawing board.

Tonight I feel a deep sense of kinship toward our Pac-12 brethren Washington and Washington State. I share their grief, and they mine.

Things were going along so well early in the second half. We expected Utah to just cruise on to a solid win. But as the lead began to slip away, the team froze up. Everything started to go right for the Hornets. And before we knew it, the game was over and Utah had lost by three.

We've lost a lot of games over the past few seasons, but I haven't felt this pain for a long long time. This was a game I expected to win; a D-1 team I actually expected to beat. I expected my optimism would be validated a little bit tonight. And for thirty minutes it was.

But here I sit alone in the empty arena telling myself we're not alone.  This kind of thing happens to other Pac-12 teams too. It happened to Washington and Washington State this week. And I tell myself Sacramento State seems like a solid team that will win a lot of games and surprise some teams this year. When all is said and done, this won't look like such a bad loss. I hope.

But it feels like a bad loss. And I'm sure I'll feel this way until next Wednesday. Hopefully not any longer than that.

Friday afternoon notes.

• Rick Majerus' coaching career at Saint Louis has officially come to an end. He had a 95-69 record over five years at Saint Louis, the last of which was his finest (included a national ranking and NCAA tournament win against Memphis). His 25-year career coaching record is 517-216.

• Colorado gave the Pac-12 its first marquee win of the season a couple hours ago. They defeated #16 Baylor 60-58 in the second round of the Charleston Classic.

• Rice transfer Arslan Kazemi will be making his debut for Oregon this evening against Vanderbilt. He was recently granted eligibility to immediately begin play with the Ducks.

• Oregon State, who fell to Alabama last night, has another chance for a win against a top-tier program in Purdue.

Next mission: Beat a D-I team.

Competition gets incrementally tougher this week as the Runnin' Utes take on Sacramento State from the Big Sky Conference.  The Hornets return their top five scorers from last year and had a nifty win last night against Cal State Bakersfield.

What the Hornets lack in talent they make up for in experience.  They rotate four Seniors and two Juniors. Meanwhile, they were led in scoring last night by two Sophomore guards (Dylan Garrity - 21/2/7 and Mikh McKinney - 23/5/3). They defeated Bakersfield by nearly the same score Cal did four days ago. They appear to be a formidable opponent for our young Utes.

Personally, I really like the way this schedule sets up.  It gives the Utes every opportunity to establish their rotation, get their act down and hopefully string together a few wins in the process. Unfortunately, the fans won't get a lot of info to work with until the competition ratchets up another notch after Thanksgiving.

Happy Signing Day!

And congrats to the Albany Great Danes, who became the first team this season to beat the Pac-12.  Before beating Washington last night, Albany's biggest win in program history was the 59-58 win against Utah in 2006-07 (although Albany's coach is a bit hazy on the details).

In other Pac-12 action, UCLA isn't exactly living up to its #13 national ranking. They survived an overtime scare at home against UC Irvine. With three seconds left in regulation and the score tied, the Anteaters' Will Davis missed two free throws.  Then in overtime, Larry Drew made the game winning layup with 17 seconds left and sealed the victory 15 seconds later with a steal.

+ + + 

The results are in. The precincts have reported. Rivals.com is indicating all four Utah basketball commits for 2013 submitted Letters of Intent today. They are:

Marko Kovacevic	C	6'11"	235	Western Nebraska C.C.
Brandon Miller	PG	6'2"	180	Brighton H.S.
Parker Van Dyke	SG	6'3"	175	East H.S.
Delon Wright	PG	6'5"	185	City College of San Francisco

Read the official announcement here.

We're #1

Enjoy it while it lasts.

Nevermind the fact those stats came against a D-III team picked to finish last in its conference.

+ + +

• In case you've missed it, the ESPN.com Uni Watch blog notes the slight variation in Utah's uniforms this season.

• Utah's Basketball Media Guide is finally available.

Weekly Pac-12 Rankings

The first weekend is in the books.  Now we must try to make some sense of this very small sample.

The following rankings are based solely on what transpired over the last few days.  I gave no credit for any pre-season analysis or projections.  Rather, I simply looked at the way the teams performed, taking into account their respective levels of competition.

1		Oregon State (2-0) | Last week: N/A: The only Pac-12 team with two wins so far. Looked particularly good against a decent New Mexico State team that went to the tournament last year. But a strange outing from Devon Collier (0/1/1, FO in 12 min.).
2		Cal (1-0) | Last week: N/A: Allen Crabbe and Justin Cobbs were dominant against CS Bakersfield. But with the game well in hand early on, I would have liked to see more contribution from the newcomers.
3		Colorado (1-0) | Last week: N/A: Appear to have all the same elements that made them so dangerous last year.
4		Stanford (1-0) | Last week: N/A: Got pushed by a solid mid-major at a neutral site. The emergence of Dwight Powell compensated for unusually poor shooting from Aaron Bright and Chasson Randle.
T5		UCLA (1-0) | Last week: N/A: Not much to say about the five teams tied for fifth place. They all won over the weekend against unimpressive competition -- but none appeared as dominant as Colorado or Cal.
T5		Arizona State (1-0) | Last week: N/A: Ditto.
T5		Washington State (1-0) | Last week: N/A: Ditto.
T5		Southern Cal (1-0) | Last week: N/A: Ditto.
T5		Washington (1-0) | Last week: N/A: Of all the fifth place teams, Washington looked the most sluggish early on. They let Loyola hang around for the first half before Aziz N'Diaye's defense led to a big second-half blowout.
10		Utah (1-0) | Last week: N/A: Solid play from several newcomers make us wonder how good they might be. And while they did what they were supposed to do against a D-III team, still . . . Utah fans must be mildly, and pleasantly, surprised.
11		Arizona (1-0) | Last week: N/A: Got a severe scare from Charleston Southern. The Wildcats struggled on defense and were out-rebounded 34-31.
12		Oregon (1-0) | Last week: N/A: Had a real tough time dispatching with Northern Arizona.

Week 2 TV Schedule

Date	Time MST	Game	Channel	Comcast Salt Lake	Dish
Nov. 12th	7:30	Portland State at Oregon	Pac-12 Net	757 (HD)	413
Nov. 12th	9:30	CS Fullerton at Stanford	Pac-12 Net	757 (HD)	413
Nov. 13th	7:30	Long Beach State at USC	Pac-12 LA		alt
Nov. 13th	7:30	Pepperdine at California	Pac-12 BA		alt
Nov. 13th	7:30	Albany at Washington	Pac-12 Net	757 (HD)	413
Nov. 13th	9:30	UC Irvine at UCLA	Pac-12 Net	757 (HD)	413
Nov. 14th	8:00	Utah Valley at Washington State	Pac-12 Net	757 (HD)	413
Nov. 15th	10:30a	Colorado vs. Dayton	ESPN3
Nov. 15th	5:00	Oregon State vs. Alabama	ESPN2	669 (HD)	144
Nov. 15th	7:00	Alcorn State at Stanford	Pac-12 Net	757 (HD)	413
Nov. 15th	8:00	UTEP at Arizona	Root Sports	693 (HD)	414
Nov. 15th	9:00	James Madison at UCLA	Pac-12 Net	757 (HD)	413
Nov. 16th	10:30	Colorado vs. Baylor	ESPNU	755 (HD)	141
Nov. 16th	3:00	Oregon State vs. Purdue	ESPNU	755 (HD)	141
Nov. 16th	6:00	California at Denver	Root Sports		414
Nov. 16th	7:00	Sacramento State at Utah	Pac-12 Net	757 (HD)	413
Nov. 16th	8:00	Washington State at Pepperdine
Nov. 16th	9:00	Vanderbilt at Oregon	Pac-12 Net	757 (HD)	413
Nov. 17th	5:30	Washington vs. Seton Hall	ESPN3
Nov. 18th	1:00	Florida A&M at Arizona State	Pac-12 Net	757 (HD)	413
Nov. 18th	2:30	Washington vs. Ohio State	ESPN2	669 (HD)	144
Nov. 18th	6:30	Colorado vs. Murray State	ESPN2	669 (HD)	144
Nov. 18th	7:00	Belmont at Stanford	Pac-12 Net	757 (HD)	413

Utah puts its 3-3-1 record on the line tonight.

Tonight is the season opener.  After four games in Brazil, a public scrimmage, a "secret game" against Montana State and an exhibition game against Simon Fraser, tonight's game is the first one that counts.

But let's be honest: Willamette is really just another exhibition game.  In fact, even the Bearcats consider it as such.  And as it so happens, Willamette competes in a lower division (D-III) than our actual exhibition opponent Simon Fraser (D-II).

Winning tonight is a foregone conclusion (there -- I said it!).  The only point of the game is to let the team show the crowd and TV audience what they hope to accomplish one day against quality competition.

Mark it down: Utah will win by 50+ points.

Best Case Scenario?

The Salt Lake Tribune projects that the Utes' best case scenario would be to land in the CBI or even (gasp) the NIT.   We shall see.

+ + +

• A nice preview of the Oregon State Beavers, who feature the "slithery" Devon Collier and Eric "spiffy things" Moreland.

• The Colorado Buffaloes' starting lineup includes a freshman, two sophomores and a transfer from the U. of Denver.

• Wake Forest transfer JT Terrell will start alongside Jio Fontan at USC.

Get yer official Pac-12 Media Guide!

Hot off the presses!  The 2012-13 Pac-12 Basketball Media Guide is now available here!

Lots of good stuff contained therein.  And still plenty of time to study up for the big opening weekend ahead!

Meanwhile, who do I have to haunt for a copy of the Utah Basketball Media Guide?

BTI Classic tournament brackets available now!

The Basketball Travelers, Inc. Classic (the "BTI Classic")  will be held at the Huntsman Center during the week of Thanksgiving.  Utah will host Idaho State, Wright State and Central Michigan in a round-robin tournament.  Past CTI Classic winners include Stanford, Oregon, Clemson, Washington and others.

Printable brackets are now available at the BTI website.  Fill yours out today and be the winner of your CTI Classic office pool!

Week 1 TV Schedule

Date	Time MST	Game	Channel	Comcast Salt Lake	Dish
Nov. 9th	5:00	Wofford at Colorado	Pac-12 Net	757 (HD)	413
Nov. 9th	7:00	Niagara at Oregon State	Pac-12 Net	410 (SD)	413
Nov. 9th	7:00	Willamette at Utah	Pac-12 MT	757 (HD)	5456
Nov. 9th	9:00	San Francisco vs. Stanford	Pac-12 Net	757 (HD)	413
Nov. 9th	9:00	Coppin State at USC	Pac-12 LA		545-
Nov. 9th	9:00	Indiana State at UCLA	FCS-Pacific	264 (SD)
Nov. 10th	5:30	Central Arkansas at Arizona State	Pac-12 AZ		545-
Nov. 10th	5:30	Eastern Washington at Washington State	Pac-12 WA		545-
Nov. 10th	5:30	Northern Arizona at Oregon	Pac-12 Net	757 (HD)	413
Nov. 11th	4:00	Charleston Southern at Arizona	Pac-12 Net	757 (HD)	413
Nov. 11th	6:00	Loyola at Washington	Pac-12 Net	757 (HD)	413
Nov. 11th	7:30	New Mexico State at Oregon State	ESPNU	755 (HD)	141
Nov. 11th	8:00	CS Bakersfield at California	Pac-12 Net	757 (HD)	413
Nov. 12th	7:30	Portland State at Oregon	Pac-12 Net	757 (HD)	413
Nov. 12th	9:30	CS Fullerton at Stanford	Pac-12 Net	757 (HD)	413

Dear Pac-12 Media: How do you like us now?

Down goes Fraser!  Down goes Fraser!

Merely one day after Utah was projected to finish last in the conference, the Utes laid a beat down on Simon Fraser, 71-36.  This sent a clear and resounding message to the Pac-12 media: we're not that bad.

Utah did everything right against the SFU Clan and basically what any good team should do in its exhibition game, namely, win by a large margin and give all the backups some playing time. Something the Utes failed to do last year against Adams State.

More on the Pre-Season Media Poll:  Utah garnered 78 points, good enough for dead last in the conference.  It wasn't even close.  But think of it this way: those 78 points divided by the number of voters (36) equals 2.167.  So since a first-place vote is worth twelve points and a second-place vote is worth eleven points, etc., it's safe to conclude the average media voter projected Utah to finish in eleventh-place.  All the sudden the poll result isn't looking so bad, eh?  And coupled with Utah's decent performance against Simon Fraser, Ute faithful can be hopeful we can climb to tenth-place, or dare I say, even ninth!