I know football is #1, but we did play basketball last night

[ProudUte]

We beat LIU 89-48.  I have no idea what that tells us about our basketball team, but it was a win to start the season.  I hope we win at least 16 games this season.  I would like to see us end up in about 6th place in the conference.  All of this would show improvement.  It will take a few years to get our basketball program back to where it was and should be.

 

[Tony (admin)]

Yes I’d like to see something, anything positive about the MBB team. Improvement, recruiting breakthroughs, competing, winning games we might not have been expected to win. 

[Tony (admin)]

Perhaps the ultimate goal is to no longer use the curtains for any games. That will be the mark of the return of Utah Basketball.

[Staples]

Based on the crowd last night, might be a while before that happens. Late tip, bad opponent, plenty of excuses for why people weren’t there, but it was still a pretty pathetic showing. The MUSS is great in football but they were no-shows for the most part. One thing BYU and Utah State definitely have over us in basketball is student participation.

[GameForAnyFuss]

The curtains is a chicken and egg problem. Nobody comes because the team isn’t good. The team isn’t good because we don’t recruit well, and we don’t recruit well because nobody comes. Who will break this chicken and egg cycle first? Will the team somehow get good and then people will return? Or will people return and then recruiting will pick up and the team gets good?

I will continue to control what I can control, and that is being there.

[Tony (admin)]

Nobody comes because the quality of product is bad. People came for a long time and watched the quality degrade over time. The product needs to improve and the crowd will after that. BUT, in these “modern times” i think basketball is an afterthought. Plus there are SO many games it is not realistic to expect people to go to every one, especially when the games start at 8 or 9pm on a MONDAY!?!?!  We used to religiously go to Big Monday games with Rick was coach. 10pm on a Monday and the place would be rocking. That’s probably not realistic anymore. 

[DieHardUtahUtesFan]

I attended every home game through the Boylen years and a fair amount through the Kystkowiak years but I can’t watch any more bad basketball games. I’m tapped out.

[Rick]

I am with you.  Bad basketball really gets to me much more than any other sport.  I don’t know why it does but it really does.  I did watch the Utes on TV against Long Island and saw some surprises but I think their guard play, or lack thereof, will be their demise once we get into conference play.  

 

[Staples]

The guy that jumped out to me was Mike Saunders Jr. Brings a quickness that we have not seen in a while and plays solid on-ball defense. He and Worster should complement each other well at the point.

[DrahtUte]

I only watched a little of the game but the one thing that jumped out to me is that we did look a lot bigger than last year. With the new guys we definitely looked taller and stronger.