Next: 
UCLA – Sat Nov 16 6PM – Fox TV
I was doing some light reading – thought this was interesting. Dr. Feng from Stanford says we have a 39.9% chance of making the playoffs. That’s 4th best – ahead of Bama, Ducks, and Georgia. Thoughts?
” Just like Oregon, Utah looks really good on both sides of the ball. On offense, they rank 18th in my adjusted success rate. The strength of the offense has been the passing game. QB Tyler Huntley has increased his completion percentage from 64% last year to 74% this year.
On defense, Utah ranks a very respectable 7th in adjusted success rate. Despite giving up big plays against USC, Utah allowed a success rate of 44% in that game. This is not much higher than the college football average of 42%.
In addition, success rate is a powerful predictor going forward. Bill Connelly of ESPN did the initial research on this, and I confirmed it based on results from the 2019 season. Utah’s defense is legit despite an off game against USC.”
I’ll have what he’s smoking.
in a few years.
Guards: Gach, Jones, Martinez, Larsson… plus guys like Brenchley, Plummer and Falslev. WOW! Every one of those first four guys has All Pac12 1st team potential. Gach (if he continues improving and working on his body), Martinez, and maybe Larsson all have legit NBA potential.
Wings: Allen, Lohner, Gach (doesn’t play here but totally could). I’m not sold on Lohner’s NBA potential, but he is definitely going to be a really good college player, same with Allen.
Bigs: Carlson (already better than anyone we’ve had since Dallin B. and Poeltl), Van Komen (tons of potential there, pretty spry for someone that tall TBH), Thioune (tons of athleticism and great size), Jantunen (great all around player, excellent rebounder already), and Battin (could be every bit the player that Jordan Loveridge was).
By my count, we’ll have at least 10 guys on the roster that are good enough to make an all Pac12 team in some form (overall or defensive) by the time their careers are over.
If the bottom half of those guys all transfered I’d be perfectly happy, and we’d still potentially end up with our best team ever. I don’t see how we keep all of these guys, but it’ll be interesting to see who stays and who goes. My guess is that at least one of Brenchley/Plummer/Falslev ends up transferring at some point… I would count on one of the bigs transferring out as well. As long as the transfers aren’t one of our main guys (don’t see that happening) we will be in great shape.
To hell with transferring, I want them all!
Well. If all the main guys stay that would be 11 guys (Jones, Gach, Martinez, Larsson, Allen, Lohner, Carlson, Van Komen, Thioune, Jantunen, Battin). If we keep those 11 plus Plummer to be a spark when things aren’t going well offensively, it could theoretically work if everyone’s egos were in check… but that isn’t happening. Each of the first 4 guards is going to be expecting to start by their sophomore seasons as will Lohner and Allen.
All the best teams in the country stick to an 8 or 9 man rotation. Having this many (potentially) starter worthy players is a great problem to have, but it IS a problem.
As far as this year goes Timmy Allen’s FT shooting will win or lose the majority of games we play against good competition. If he shoots 10+ at 80% or better (don’t expect that to happen) we will have a very good year. If he shoots very few and makes even less, we will have a really hard time scoring against quality competition. Gach is really improved but he cannot carry this team’s offense. Jones is a good shooter and can finish around the basket when open, but he CANNOT create for himself at this point in his college career. Plummer will be a lot like Dakari Tucker was. Shoots lights out some games, and plays horribly bad in other games. Carlson is good enough to score some against poor and/or small defenders, but against teams with experienced big men, he won’t do much. The rest of our current players will be mediocre to bad on offense against good competition.
Apart from the Ducks, which other P12 teams could be ranked at the end of reg season?
Possible. Right now Washington is ranked #35 and USC is #39. If they win out there’s a good chance.
Probably not. Any of them would have to win out…
UCLA might be ranked if they win out. That gives them a birth in the pac12 championship game, a 6 game win streak and a win over Utah.
If USC wins out they would be 8-4 with a win over Utah. They would be ranked if Utah loses and they are in the pac12 championship game
If ASU wins out they would be 8-4 with a win over Oregon. Very slim chance of being ranked.
Washington could win out and be 8-4 but they don’t have any good wins.
UW, Cal, USC, and ASU. If they can finish 8-4 they’ll have a shot at bottom 20.
Have not seen anything on it posted.
Yes all four signed from what I could tell on IG.
https://www.ksl.com/article/46673315/runnin-utes-sign-highest-ranked-class-in-program-history-with-4-signees
I haven’t been happy with the basketball program but I haven’t been unhappy. Larry K forever has my respect for cancelling the TDS game and paying for it to be cancelled.
We can argue over his salary and the results until we are blue in the face. Larry is a Utah man to me now and forever. Where the program is going feels like it is an upwards trajectory. Considering the cheating going on I am loving this class.
The Utes signed all 4 and have the #7 recruiting class in nation.
#1 in the Pac 12!
This post is a thank you to all of the above folks who took the time to respond to my query. Great day to be a Ute. Go Utes!!!
Martinez is a legit NBA prospect. Very good athlete and a great shooter as well. Love this class!
From scout team to coaching mentee, Britain Covey changing his role amid redshirt seasonhttps://www.ksl.com/article/46673224/from-scout-team-to-coaching-mentee-britain-covey-changing-his-role-amid-redshirt-season
And when fans complain about an errant pass from Tyler Huntley, which have been few and far between this season, Covey said it’s usually not his fault.
From reading this article, it seems to me like Covey has a bright future ahead of him as a coach when his playing days are over, if he wants to go that route.
From your mouth to Covey’s ear. Heaven knows he’ll be able to do what he wants to do with his life (unless Stephen R. Covey decided to give most of his fortune to charity). Why not coach football at Utah? 🙂
“Mentee”? Does tutor have tutee? haha
for the big chair?
Huh? Why? Is Harlan leaving?
I think the media has decided to throw Harlan’s name in the UCLA AD job consideration. I’m not sure there’s any real merit to this claim.
Edit: It looks like maybe UCLA fans are not very fond of Harlan… So I’m going to go out on a limb and say that there is very little credibility to these rumors. Seems like even the fans commenting on this blog post hate him.
Because Utah fans looked past UCLA.
We just joined the AAU club. That’s a wave Harlan’s going to want to ride. That’s going to positively affect athletics every bit as much as athletics positively affected the university as a whole.
