The Big Picture

I like where this team is right now. Nobody likes the record. And it would be nice if rebuilding didn't take as long as it takes. But Utah has a good coach, a good foundation of young players, and it has been competitive in several games against good teams. The future looks bright.

There are four reasons I am encouraged:

First, most of the players have improved over the course of the season. Coach Krystko and his staff have coached these players up. The big men, especially, have made great progress over the course of this season. This is a well-coached team and players improve under this staff.

Second, the Freshmen core is strong. Jordan Loveridge and Brandon Taylor have the potential to be special. Dakari Tucker, Justin Seymour, and Jeremy Olsen have all had confidence-building moments this season. This group, along with a strong recruiting class, makes up the core of the Utah basketball program. I am okay with that.

Third, Utah plays good defense. Utah gives up just over 62 points a game and they have held several teams under their season average. The foundation of every good team is a good defense. Utah is not a good team yet. But it is slowly building that foundation by creating an identity as a strong defensive team.

Fourth, Utah is recruiting well. Delon Wright is a great JC pickup for the Utes and Parker Van Dyke was a kid the Utes had to get. I also like what I see in Ahmad Fields (assuming he signs).

Utah still needs a lot of help on the boards. They have really been beat up on the boards this season, especially when they play zone. They need to shoot better. They need to keep improving their athleticism. And they need Dallin Bachynski to be the player we all know he can be. With a watered-down schedule, I thought Utah might get to 15 or 16 wins this season. Tough losses to Sacramento State, Cal State Northridge, and Washington State make that win total unlikely. But even though they didn't get to 16 wins and they won't sneak into post-season play, there was a lot to like about Utah basketball this season. If they can get one or two more wins and maybe steal a game in the Pac 12 tournament, they will have a little momentum going into next year. If the kids can sneak into a lower echelon tournament next season, they will be on schedule to make the NCAA's by this Freshman class's senior season. In my view, that is what it will take to call this rebuilding project a success. I am optimistic that Utah is on schedule to do just that.

Week 17 TV Schedule

Date	Time MST	Game	Channel	Comcast Salt Lake	Dish
Feb. 27th	7:30	Arizona at USC	Pac-12 Net	757 (HD)	413
Feb. 27th	9:00	Colorado at Stanford	ESPN2	669 (HD)	144
Feb. 27th	9:30	Arizona State at UCLA	Pac-12 Net	757 (HD)	413
Feb. 28th	7:00	Utah at California	ESPNU	755 (HD)	141
Feb. 28th	9:00	Oregon State at Oregon	ESPNU	755 (HD)	141
Mar. 2nd	1:00	Arizona State at USC	Root Sports	693 (HD)	414
Mar. 2nd	3:00	Colorado at California	ESPNU	755 (HD)	141
Mar. 2nd	7:00	Arizona at UCLA	ESPN	668 (HD)	140
Mar. 3rd	1:30	Washington State at Washington	Root Sports	693 (HD)	414
Mar. 3rd	3:00	Utah at Stanford	Pac-12 Net	757 (HD)	413

Weekly Postseason Tracker

Two weeks ago, Cal had just one win against the RPI Top-100 (Oregon) and seemed a good fit for the CBI. But a lot happened since then. After a stunning comeback against an improved USC last night, the Bears now have six Top-100 wins and are on the verge of being NCAA-worthy.

Meanwhile, Arizona State is still holding strong as the conference's fourth NCAA team; they've been doing just enough to stay there. They followed up a loss to Utah (RPI 172) with a win against Colorado (RPI 21).

The Buffaloes, meanwhile, appeared poised to get over the hump after they beat Arizona (RPI 10), but then couldn't get it done against ASU (RPI 71) at home.

Conference RPI: #6

NCAAs:

		Arizona (21-4, 9-4) | RPI: #10 | SOS: #12 Top-100 Wins: vs. Miami (Fla.) (2); vs. Florida (4); vs. Colorado (21); San Diego State (34); vs. Southern Miss (37); at Arizona State (71); vs. Stanford (73); at Washington (89); vs. UTEP (97); vs. USC (100) Sub-100 Losses: None.
		Arizona State (19-7, 8-5) | RPI: #71 | SOS: #120 Top-100 Wins: at Colorado (21); vs. Colorado (21); vs. UCLA (41); vs. California (53); Arkansas (77); vs. USC (100) Sub-100 Losses: at Utah (172); vs. DePaul (183)
		Oregon (21-5, 10-3) | RPI: #39 | SOS: #102 Top-100 Wins: vs. Arizona (10); at UNLV (19); at UCLA (41); vs. Arizona State (71); vs. Washington (89); at Washington (89); at USC (100) Sub-100 Losses: None.
		UCLA (19-7, 9-4) | RPI: #41 | SOS: #35 Top-100 Wins: at Arizona (10); at Colorado (21); vs. Missouri (38); vs. California (53); vs. Indiana St. (61); at Stanford (73); vs. Stanford (73); vs. Washington (89) Sub-100 Losses: vs. Cal Poly (180)

NIT:

		California (16-9, 8-5) | RPI: #53 | SOS: #32 Top-100 Wins: at Arizona (10); vs. Oregon (39); vs. UCLA (41); at Denver (90); at USC (100); vs. USC (100) Sub-100 Losses: None.
		Colorado (17-8, 7-6) | RPI: #21 | SOS: #11 Top-100 Wins: vs. Arizona (10); vs. Colorado St. (13); at Oregon (39); vs. California (53); Baylor (54); vs. Air Force (72); vs. Stanford (73); vs. USC (100) Sub-100 Losses: at Utah (172)

CBI:

		Stanford (15-11, 6-7) | RPI: #73 | SOS: #39 Top-100 Wins: vs. Oregon (39); vs. California (53); vs. Northern Iowa (70); at Arizona State (71); vs. Denver (90) Sub-100 Losses: None.
		Washington (14-12, 6-7) | RPI: #89 | SOS: #37 Top-100 Wins: vs. Colorado (21); vs. St. Louis (45); at California (53); vs. Arizona State (71); at Stanford (73) Sub-100 Losses: vs. Nevada (134); vs. Utah (172); at Oregon State (173); vs. Albany (175)

OUT:

		Oregon State (13-13, 3-10) | RPI: #173 | SOS: #125 Top-100 Wins: vs. New Mexico State (76); vs. Washington (89) Sub-100 Losses: vs. Towson (162); vs. Washington State (189)
		USC (12-14, 7-6) | RPI: #100 | SOS: #26 Top-100 Wins: at UCLA (41); at Stanford (73); vs. Stanford (73); vs. Washington (89) Sub-100 Losses: at Nebraska (106); at Georgia (120); vs. UC Irvine (188)
		Utah (11-14, 3-10) | RPI: #172 | SOS: #65 Top-100 Wins: vs. Colorado (21); vs. Boise State (42); vs. Arizona State (71); at Washington (89) Sub-100 Losses: at Oregon State (173); at Washington State (189); at SMU (193); vs. CS Northridge (218); vs. Sacramento State (296)
		Washington State (11-15, 2-11) | RPI: #189 | SOS: #93 Top-100 Wins: None. Sub-100 Losses: vs. Oregon State (173); at Pepperdine (191)

Week 16 TV Schedule

Date	Time MST	Game	Channel	Comcast Salt Lake	Dish
Feb. 20th	8:00	Washington State at Arizona State	Pac-12 Net	757 (HD)	413
Feb. 20th	9:00	Washington at Arizona	ESPN2	669 (HD)	144
Feb. 21st	7:00	California at Oregon	ESPNU	755 (HD)	141
Feb. 21st	8:00	Utah at Colorado	Pac-12 Net	757 (HD)	413
Feb. 21st	9:00	Stanford at Oregon State	ESPNU	755 (HD)	141
Feb. 23rd	1:00	Washington State at Arizona	Root Sports	693 (HD)	414
Feb. 23rd	4:00	California at Oregon State	Pac-12 Net	757 (HD)	413
Feb. 23rd	6:00	Stanford at Oregon	Pac-12 Net	757 (HD)	413
Feb. 23rd	9:00	Washington at Arizona State	ESPNU	755 (HD)	141
Feb. 24th	1:30	UCLA at USC	Root Sports	693 (HD)	414

A Shout-Out to the Baseball Team

Today is Opening Day for the Utah Baseball team. At 3:00 MST, the Utes will be down in Los Angeles for the first of a three-game series against Loyola Marymount. I want to dedicate this bit of blogspace to wish them the best of luck. We'll be pulling for you all season long, fellas! Do us proud!

We've never been a baseball school, but our guys have given us plenty to cheer about over the years. Who could forget about the 2009 season when we won the MWC Tournament and represented very well in the NCAA regionals? That was the A.J. Cron team that won 28 games.

But my favorite Utah baseball team, hands down, was the 2004 squad. No contest. And it's not because they kicked butt on the diamond -- it's because of what they did in the hills above Provo. Late one night during a series against BYU, eight of the players took 15 gallons of red paint and hiked to the concrete "Y" on the side of the mountain. They painted a large "U" and some other marks on the "Y." Then they took a few snapshots of the deed:

Unfortunately, the prank didn't last for long. The "Y" was quickly re-painted white the next day and that was that -- until two weeks later when Ryan Breska went to pick up his pictures from the photo store that developed the film. Police were there waiting. Breska was arrested and, along with the other seven players, was charged with a second-degree felony. The charges were later reduced to misdemeanors and the eight players each pleaded guilty. The pleas were held in abeyance until the players paid a fine in the amount of $6,267.20, plus interest, to Brigham Young University.

For this reason, Eric Schaler, Ryan Florence, Tyler Kmetko, Jay Brossman, Tyson Olson, Jason Price, Jacob Waldram and Ryan Breska will forever be remembered fondly by Ute faithful as "The Utah 8." Well done, boys.

Now we're even.

Nice win, boys.

Week 15 TV Schedule

Date	Time MST	Game	Channel	Comcast Salt Lake	Dish
Feb. 13th	6:00	Arizona State at Utah	Pac-12 Net	757 (HD)	413
Feb. 13th	8:00	Oregon State at Washington State	Pac-12 Net	757 (HD)	413
Feb. 13th	9:00	Oregon at Washington	ESPN2	669 (HD)	144
Feb. 14th	7:00	UCLA at California	ESPN2	669 (HD)	144
Feb. 14th	8:00	Arizona at Colorado	Pac-12 Net	757 (HD)	413
Feb. 14th	9:00	USC at Stanford	ESPNU	755 (HD)	141
Feb. 16th	2:00	UCLA at Stanford	ESPN2	669 (HD)	144
Feb. 16th	5:00	Oregon at Washington State	Pac-12 Net	757 (HD)	413
Feb. 16th	7:00	Arizona State at Colorado	ESPNU	755 (HD)	141
Feb. 16th	9:00	Oregon State at Washington	Root Sports	693 (HD)	414
Feb. 17th	1:00	Arizona at Utah	Pac-12 Net	757 (HD)	413
Feb. 17th	8:00	USC at California	Root Sports	693 (HD)	414

Gameday: Utah at Oregon State

One of my finest moments as Utah's head coach came during the 1966 NCAA Tournament. Most college basketball fans remember Texas-Western's magical run for the championship that year; but Ute fans best remember the play of Jerry Chambers -- who was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player. Before Texas-Western got the best of us in the Final Four, Chambers led us to a really great win against Oregon State at the Western Regional in Pauley Pavilion.

I was worried about the Oregon State game. They excelled in ball control; they kept a real slow pace and didn't make mistakes. And they had a couple sharp-shooters named Loy Petersen and Rick Whelan. So the plan was to get a jump on them and make them play catch-up. Thanks to Chambers, Merv Jackson and Rich Tate, we were able to do just that. We took a 17-point lead into halftime and cruised the rest of the way en route to a 70-64 win. We controlled the tempo and Chambers went off for 33 points that night. Oregon State simply could not keep up with us on either end of the floor.

The win established us as the best in the west. From there we were off to College Park, Maryland to face Don Haskins and the Texas Miners. And the rest is history.

+ + +

• Don't miss pachoops.com's 600 Words on Why Utah Might Be Good.

• Coach Krysto is a fan of Joe Burton, and Challe Barton is expected to get some more minutes to take the focus off Ahmad Starks.

• "Desperate" may not be the right word, but both the Utes and Beavers could really use a win tonight.

• And as always, there's a lot of good info on the Tribune's blog.

Weekly Postseason Tracker

Colorado was on the cusp of climbing into the NCAA bid category. Most bracketologists had them in the field all year long -- owing to their great RPI and SOS. So after sweeping Stanford and Cal a week ago, it looked like Colorado would solidify itself as the fifth Pac-12 team in the tourney.

But the loss to Utah will keep them out for at least another week. In that sense, Utah's win on Saturday was bad for the conference. The same could be said for Utah's win in Seattle a couple weeks ago. The Utes are spoilers -- spoiling other teams' resumes and the Pac-12's chance of landing five NCAA bids.

In another sense, however, Utah's two Pac-12 upsets are great for the conference. They represent progress for a program that has the potential to compete in the top half of the league. Ute fans are thrilled with the win on Saturday, but expect more great things to come. We expect the progress to continue until Utah's a regular contender and NCAA participant again.

So Saturday's win was a solid step in the right direction. The sooner Utah can get over the hump, the sooner they can be a regular credit to the conference.

+ + +

Conference RPI: #6


NCAAs:

		Arizona (19-2, 7-2) | RPI: #4 | SOS: #5 Top-100 Wins: vs. Miami (Fla.) (2); vs. Florida (3); vs. Colorado (25); San Diego State (33); vs. Southern Miss (36); at Arizona State (63); at Washington (69); vs. UTEP (74) Sub-100 Losses: None.
		Arizona State (17-5, 6-3) | RPI: #63 | SOS: #112 Top-100 Wins: vs. Colorado (25); vs. UCLA (44) Sub-100 Losses: vs. DePaul (182)
		Oregon (18-4, 7-2) | RPI: #27 | SOS: #90 Top-100 Wins: vs. Arizona (4); at UNLV (19); at UCLA (44); vs. Arizona State (63); vs. Washington (69); vs. Nebraska (85) Sub-100 Losses: None.
		UCLA (16-6, 6-3) | RPI: #44 | SOS: #30 Top-100 Wins: at Arizona (4); at Colorado (25); vs. Missouri (35); vs. Indiana St. (52); vs. Stanford (67); vs. California (70) Sub-100 Losses: vs. USC (110); vs. Cal Poly (202)

NIT:

		Colorado (14-7, 4-5) | RPI: #25 | SOS: #18 Top-100 Wins: vs. Colorado St. (15); Baylor (49); vs. Stanford (67); vs. Air Force (68); vs. California (70) Sub-100 Losses: at Utah (166)
		Stanford (14-8, 5-4) | RPI: #67 | SOS: #51 Top-100 Wins: vs. Oregon (27); vs. California (70); at Northwestern (86); vs. Northern Iowa (94) Sub-100 Losses: at USC (110)

CBI:

		California (13-8, 5-4) | RPI: #70 | SOS: #53 Top-100 Wins: vs. Oregon (27) Sub-100 Losses: None.
		Washington (13-9, 5-4) | RPI: #69 | SOS: #24 Top-100 Wins: vs. Colorado (25); vs. St. Louis (56); vs. Arizona State (63); at Stanford (67); at California (70); vs. Loyola (Md.) (100) Sub-100 Losses: vs. Nevada (133); at Oregon State (162); vs. Utah (166); vs. Albany (172)

OUT:

		Oregon State (11-11, 1-8) | RPI: #162 | SOS: #105 Top-100 Wins: vs. Washington (69); vs. New Mexico State (76) Sub-100 Losses: at USC (110); vs. Washington State (165); vs. Towson (186)
		USC (9-13, 4-5) | RPI: #110 | SOS: #15 Top-100 Wins: at UCLA (44); vs. Stanford (67) Sub-100 Losses: at Georgia (132); vs. UC Irvine (185)
		Utah (10-11, 2-7) | RPI: #166 | SOS: #75 Top-100 Wins: vs. Colorado (25); vs. Boise State (51); at Washington (69) Sub-100 Losses: vs. USC (110); at Washington State (165); at SMU (193); vs. CS Northridge (197); vs. Sacramento State (260)
		Washington State (11-11, 2-7) | RPI: #165 | SOS: #103 Top-100 Wins: None. Sub-100 Losses: at Pepperdine (200)

Week 14 TV Schedule

Date	Time MST	Game	Channel	Comcast Salt Lake	Dish
Feb. 6th	7:00	Stanford at Arizona	ESPNews	711 (HD)	142
Feb. 6th	8:00	Utah at Oregon State	Pac-12 Net	757 (HD)	413
Feb. 7th	7:00	Washington at UCLA	ESPN	668 (HD)	140
Feb. 7th	7:30	California at Arizona State	Pac-12 Net	757 (HD)	413
Feb. 7th	8:00	Colorado at Oregon	ESPNU	755 (HD)	141
Feb. 7th	9:30	Washington State at USC	Pac-12 Net	757 (HD)	413
Feb. 9th	5:00	Stanford at Arizona State	ESPNU	755 (HD)	141
Feb. 9th	6:00	Utah at Oregon	Pac-12 Net	757 (HD)	413
Feb. 9th	8:00	Washington State at UCLA	Pac-12 Net	757 (HD)	413
Feb. 10th	5:00	California at Arizona	Pac-12 Net	757 (HD)	413
Feb. 10th	7:00	Colorado at Oregon State	Pac-12 Net	757 (HD)	413
Feb. 10th	8:00	Washington at USC	Root Sports	693 (HD)	414

Friday afternoon links and notes

There was a lot of Pac-12 action last night and a lot of day-after recaps this morning. Note, particularly, Oregon State's heartbreaking loss at Cal. The Beavers have now matched Utah's 1-7 conference record. We go head-to-head in Corvalis next week, in what may be Utah's next best chance to pick up a road win.

And amid the usual recaps comes another fantastic piece from my friend at pachoops.com; this time giving a first-hand account of Oregon's loss at Maples on Wednesday.

A few other notes from around the conference:

• ESPN posted its regular Pac-12 Power Rankings. Can't say I disagree much with the order -- though I'd probably swap Arizona and Oregon at the 1-2 spots.

• There was a great atmosphere at Pauley Wednesday night. The LA Times explains "All the planets were aligned for a night of Bruin buzz ... And then it happened. UCLA lost."

• You can't underestimate the damage Utah did to Washington a couple weeks ago. The Huskies (who were 4-0) have now lost four in a row. The losing streak has them in jeopardy of missing an NIT bid.

• I didn't see this earlier, but apparently Jon Wilner called the Stanford win on Wednesday.