So you have to think the first move Craig Smith made was all about PR

[SantaVaca]

With Marco coming back, Craig makes it look like he is in charge and knows exactly who should come back next year and who should be shown the door. His first step was bringing back the 2nd best player on this years team. Keeps him from looking like he can’t keep his players. 

If guys all of a sudden started announcing that they’re entering the transfer portal, it would look like Craig couldn’t keep any of the players and that he would have to start all over again. 

My guess is his next move will be to have Carlson and / or Madden and Stef make an official announcement that they’re excited for next year.  

This makes is very clear that the departures aren’t because the players aren’t happy but rather they’re weren’t going to get any playing time. Keeps all the boosters happy that better days are ahead. 

After this week, I bet we see about 5 guys enter the portal. What or who Smith brings in from here will be a good insight whether he can recruit long term or not. 

I believe that Smith will turn the program around. He’s much more talented than Giacaletti or Boylin. And he’s much more likeable than Coach K. 

We should have a good feel for next years team within 3 weeks. 

[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!

[chinngiskhaan]

Gach is fine so long as he’s the second wing off the bench. Under no circumstances should he be initiating the offense. He should take brenchley’s role.

i

[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.

 

[Uphoric]

You are not wrong. . .

[MDUte]

Were people really expecting Utah to be middle of the PAC this year? Hate to break it, but it’s not a matter of having a PAC 12 level coach, it’s having PAC 12 level players. Coaches don’t win games, players win game. And with this year’s roster (which is all the coaching staff could put together after the transition) this was a throw away year from the get-go. The fact that the team played hard and was competitive in so many games with the little talent we had this year is what everyone should be focused on to know that Craig Smith can coach. The question moving forward is, can Craig Smith recruit/attract the talent needed to turn the program around.

This is a big off season that will be very telling whether or not Craig Smith was the great hire we all are hoping for. Knowing what he did at Utah State leaves me optimistic but we don’t have to wait long to find out. This off season and next will show if things are headed in the right direction and it all starts and ends with recruiting for CS. 

[Rick]

MD,

I mostly agree with you. I did not expect a finish in the middle (wished for it); but I did expect a win or two out of the upper tier. I think coaching had something to do with the failure – not just players.

We’ll see what happens next year. As I said above, I expect a finish in the middle of the Pac-12 (a finish in 5-8) with some wins over the top four. 

[MDUte]

I hear you Rick and I respect your opinion and expectations for the team. When I saw the roster he had going into the season my expectations were lower than yours. I not only thought we’d end up at the bottom of the league but I thought we’d be getting blown out by the top 1/4 of teams. So for me, seeing the team stay competitive and in most games was very encouraging. For example, when you look at our roster and compare it to the dudes Arizona has on the floor, it’s like our football team playing an FCS team to open the season. The gap in talent is that wide. CS might not be able to recruit that type of talent, but he has to be able to close the gap by bringing in a couple of key players he can build a team around. That’s what I’m looking for with these next 2 recruiting cycles coming this off-season and next.

[chinngiskhaan]

I don’t think it’s fair to judge smith much after this season. He was left with very little time to put together a team, and did what he could. Recruiting results have not been promising thus far, but we need to give him time. 

As far as the on court product I think it is clear he is better than LK. They had a discernible offensive system, even when they only had a couple of guys that were serious threats offensively. They were able to get good looks all season. The players just didn’t have what it takes.

[younglurch]

Agree with you mostly here, but I will say that while I do expect to see improvement next season, I won’t judge the team too harshly until year 3. 

I really want to like Smith, but so far he doesn’t really have a signature accopmlishment to point to that would give us hope. We finished 2nd to last in the PAC and didn’t win a meaningful game. We also lost Collin Chandler to BYU. 

[MDUte]

I’m mostly with you. But I honestly wasn’t expecting any big wins out of this year’s team. I’m optimistic about Craig Smith and think he could be the great hire that saves Utah basketball. But I’m not convinced yet. I need to see CS and his staff be able to bring in talent. He does that and then I have no doubt he’ll get Utah basketball back on top.

I will say that I always wondered if Harlan interviewed Tommy Lloyd when going through his coaching search. It seemed like most people thought he’d never leave Few and was waiting to take over once Few retired. But seeing that Arizona got him makes me wonder if Harlan tried. Arizona might be considered a much better job than Utah but I think they’re comparable. Utah certainly has one of the best basketball histories/traditions and facilities that are second to none. And I would rate Salt Lake City 100 times higher than Tucson. But that’s just my biased opinion.

[Hahnenwk]

I think Jenkins was completely mishandled

[Ute Dub]

Smith said from the get go that he will play defensive players over offensive players. If Jenkins was shooting well, the only conclusion I can make is that he wasn’t the best option on the defensive end. 

[utefansince79]

Maji put the greatest emphasis on defense and we thrived under that doctrine.   Very few opposing players ever had career best games against the Utes in that era (and a good number of them had career worst performances)

 

[Hahnenwk]

He was replaced by Brenchley and Creer