Search Results for 'fano'

[Proud to Be a Ute]

Does Utah football recruiting get better when BYU stinks? Or, do these recruits (i.e., Spencer Fano) leave the state?

[chinngiskhaan]

I think we definitely have reason to be optimistic about this year’s team. Smith was able to build on the core of guys we had last year. We brought back all major contributors in Carlson, Anthony, Stefanovic, Madsen, and Worster… We added much needed strength and athleticism in Keba Keita who is 6 ft 7, 230 lbs as a TRUE FRESHMAN!!! Dude should try out for the football team. We also added a highly sought after transfer in Mike Saunders Jr. He will provide much needed speed at the point (Worster is kinda crafty but slooooooow). We also added Gavin Baxter from BYU, who WHEN AND IF HEALTHY can be a major contributor. Ridiculous length and a very good athlete (at least he was before his body broke, not sure about now). Between him, Carlson, Ben Carlson and Keita our lineup of bigs is in a better spot than it has been since Poeltl and Bachynski were playing.

At the wing we have Marco Anthony, who is good at everything other than scoring. We also have Bostyn Holt, who was looking promising before getting hurt last season. Add Stefanovic in there (he might be the best of these three) and we’ve got a great group of wings that can all play the 4 if necessary.

At guard (1 and 2) is where we will struggle (unless Saunders turns out to be really good), we have Saunders, Worster, and Madsen… and then a bunch of bench warmers and unknowns. Exacte is a complete unknown who was recruited by us and pretty much nobody else… Then we have a bunch of holdovers from the last few years that probably shouldn’t be on a Pac12 roster. This was our worst position group last year. If Saunders is better than I expect he will be, and Madsen/Worster can become more consistent shooters we might be a fringe tourney team. If none of these guys learn how to shoot 3’s better, we will be better than last year, but still not good.

Our biggest issue will be shooting. We needed to bring in a reliable shooter, and we did not. We have several guys on the roster who are allegedly capable, but we haven’t seen it yet, hopefully their shooting (Madsen, Worster, Brenchley, Stefanovic, Carlson…) shows up finally, and we take some pressure off of Carlson to do everything. We need a 38%+ three point shooter on this team. That will make a huge difference.

Whatever combination of Carlson and (baxter/Keita/Stefanovic/Anthony) are on the floor at the same time presents difficult matchups for opposing teams. If Keita has any offensive skill whatsoever he will pair amazingly well with Carlson. Defensively if Carlson and Keita/Baxter can be on the floor together our rim protection will be off the charts amazing.

I am currently fantasizing about a defensive lineup featuring Carlson, Baxter, Anthony, Exacte, and Saunders. The defensive capabilities of that lineup would make us a top notch defensive team. Baxter and Carlson both have ridiculous length. Anthony is a great defender and rebounder. Exacte should be good for defense if nothing else… and Saunders is fast, so he should be able to defend well (not sure though tbh). OBVIOUSLY this lineup will not happen, as I’m pretty sure Anthony will spend a lot of time at the 4… but I would love to see it.

Yes, we have reasons to be excited, but we are not a good team yet. We needed to get a great shooter to be a good team this year, and we did not. Hopefully that guy is already on the team.

[krindor]

According to this article, we’ve got quite a few big recruits coming to the game tomorrow

Official Visits

Mikey Matthews (87.93 WR)
Tavake Tuikolovatu (85 OT)
John Randle (89.5 RB)

 

but also Unofficial Visits from the following:

Spencer Fano (94.22 OT)
Caleb Lomu (91.71 OT)
Smith Snowden (88.11 CB)
Gatlin Bair (89.00 WR)

 

plus Stanford commits that we’re trying to flip in:

Hunter Clegg (92.37 EDGE)
Walker Lyons (94.85 TE)

 

Given all that, I see why it’s a huge recruiting weekend

[OldAsDirtUte]

I don’t know what the Utah uniforms will look like,

but here is something I prepared before the 2008 Michigan game.  Just sayin…

[dystopiamembrane]

SALT LAKE CITY – Utah head men’s basketball coach Craig Smith announced the addition of Serbian guard Luka Tarlac on Tuesday, further cementing the backcourt for next season.

Tarlac [comes] to Utah with some familiarity having played alongside now sophomore Lazar Stefanovic as member of the Partizan program. The Belgrade, Serbia, product played for Dunav in 2021-22 on loan from Partizan in the Serbian A League where he averaged 7.6 points, 2.7 rebounds and 1.3 assists. The 6-8 guard also owned a .462 shooting clip and .333 clip from beyond the arc.

utahutes.com article

 

[GameForAnyFuss]

Another signing for Craig…Luke Tarlac out of Serbia. 6’8″ small forward. Played last season in the Serbian league. Averaged 8.1 ppg/2.8 rpg. Former teammate of Lazar Stefanovic, so I’m assuming that’s how he and Utah got on each others’ radars.

We’ll see what this brings, but he seems like a 2nd or 3rd guy off the bench type to me.

[Rick]

I find myself wanting more from Smith if he’s really a Pac-12 level coach. I don’t see any accomplishments out of this year at a team level that give me much optimism. Individually, I like the growth of Carlson and given that he didn’t progress much with the previous staff that’s a good thing. On the other hand, I don’t see that Both progressed like I thought he might. Madsen and Stefanovic look like players and playing time seemed to help them. Despite this growth, we don’t have Pac-12 wins to show for it.

Worster is not a starting point guard in the Pac-12. I thought he proved he belongs in the league but if that isn’t fixed through the portal, I’ll lose significant faith in Smith. It’s also pretty important that Smith gets a 4 or a 5 to give significant help to Brandon and perhaps play with him.

Do you think in his sixth year of college basketball Marco Anthony will return with arch on his shot? Is that his responsibility or the staff’s? I think it’s both.

Am I the only one troubled that Smith passed on Chris Burgess? Given the tradition of the program alone, how do you pass on an alum with Burgess’ experience. I can tell you that many former players were surprised by this. Even more important in my opinion, the same players are also disappointed at the lack of outreach. To be fair, they didn’t feel a lot from Coach K either even with Tommy Connor on the staff.

Count me as one who’s worried that Coach Smith is out of his depth. I hope I’m wrong. I saw flashes of terrific ball movement and some creative sets this season – but I also saw the very opposite. I also saw lineup decisions that were mystifying in critical moments of games. I understand Smith had limitations with his lineups and perhaps that’s the biggest issue. That comes back to my big worry, is he out of his depth? That could be as a recruiter as much as anything else.

I expect a lot more next season. If this team cannot finish int he middle of the Pac-12 and get a few wins over the top three or four teams next season, I fear we don’t have the right coach.

 

[Trailgoat]

Agree. Smith needs to keep a core of Anthony, Madsen, Stefanovic, Carlson and to an extent Worster and Gach as back-ups. Have to think Gach is done after this season, he seemed to get worse as the season went on. Worster is a servicable back up, but needs to improve on a few in things in his game to be more consistent. 

Smith, IMO is the best coach hire Utah has had since Majerus and needs some time to clean up the BB mess Chris Hill created. The Utah legend Chris Hill did a lot of great things for the U, hiring men’s BB coaches and extending Larry K to a big contract on his way off to retirement was a failure. 

BB celebrity Larry K in his 10 years at Utah averaged 6th place in the conference and never won a P12 Championship. LK’s winning % was around 50% during his time at Utah. The constant turnover each season and eventual disconnection from the program the last three years did him in. Remain patient and give him a couple years, Smith will turn this thing around. Go Utes!

[UtesRule]

Great read
Lazar Stefanovic

[Trailgoat]

Defense is solid. His offense is getting guys open shots. Utes had a lot of mid-range open looks they could not hit. The remaining games will be live and die by three point shots. Crazy how dudes 6’6” and taller miss so many shots two feet away from the basket at this level. Uncharateristic missed free throws last night did Utah in over the course of the game 15/23, usually a strenght.

Utes are hanging in there and improving each game. Smith is keeping the team motivated and working hard. Not an easy thing to do losing so much in close games. Smith needs a BIG recruiting year for nothing else to fill a roster. Hopefully Smith can hang onto the solid core of Carlson, Worster, Stefanovic, and Madsen. He’s got to bring in a lot more players than I thought with 4-5 seniors currently playing a lot of minutes. Not sure what happened to Mahorcic? Thought I heard he was not at the game? Getting some talented players to roll in, Smith can turn this thing around in a couple year. Go Utes!