Where is Larry?

[HoosierinUt]

I get that he is likely on vacation……but why isn’t the local media calling him and getting quotes on the state of the team? Getting responses on the abnormally high amount of transfers over the last two years? Asking him what exactly his plan is for building a program? You do not build a program on JC players.

let me guess……the 2017-2018 team will be another new group of guys “that need time to jell” and thus we can expect another joke of a non-conference schedule?

As a season ticket holder my patience is growing really thin…especially with the constant amount of new faces and pathetic home non-conference schedules. And based on actual physical attendance last season I am not the only one getting really frustrated and becoming disinterested. But, it sure is an easy way to get 20 wins a season, right????

maybe it is time to stop buying season tickets until the coaching staff figures out who to recruit and how to retain them. And to stop paying for a pathetic non-conference schedule.

Yes…I needed to vent.

[Tony (admin)]

You could certainly “get in the building” for far less money by just buying nose bleed seats and moving down since half the place is empty. And if things don’t improve that will be even easier.

[gUrthBrooks]

Delon Wright – JC Transfer

 

[HoosierinUt]

JoJo Zamora was a JC transfer too….so what’s your point?

Are you saying that Delon helped build the program? If so, what program? The one we have right now?

🙂

Yes, the occasional JC transfer can HELP a team…but you don’t build a program with them. You build a program with freshmen who develop over several years.

a JC transfer is 100% a stop gap because something went wrong with recruiting earlier.

So again, not sure what point you are making. We can list tons of JC players that helped their teams.

[gUrthBrooks]

Welp. You said “you don’t build a program on JC transfers” – Delon Wright helped build the Utah program. I would take 5 Delon Wrights on our team. That’s my point. 

[PlainsUte]

Hopefully there won’t be any of those “panic pickups” 😉

[UtahFanSir]

Per your opening gambit viz the local media. Been done already. Arguably Utah does have an issue with recruiting but K3 has done quite well to this point in time. Grasshopper, Rome er Gonzaga was not built in a day, or a year or few…

[HoosierinUt]

Grasshopper? That’s a really cute response.

the media actually got him to answers questions directly about these issues….since the latest announcement? I’ve neither read nor heard that. Can you provide a link? Or are you referring to his “we wish them well comment” which is nothing more than the company line and is lazy on the media’s part for allowing it. Maybe I am just used to more aggressive media members actually calling out coaches and getting responses, not letting them spew the company line.

I appreciate your “Rome er Gonzaga was not built in a day….” comment, except I’m not one to subscribe to blind faith. Larry has not earned blind faith. Let me know the next time Gonzaga experiences player transfers near the rate we have, otherwise that is a horrible comparison. The season we just went through was nothing to make someone think we are improving as a program at all. As a season ticket holder, looking around and seeing a half-full arena most nights (and some nights not even close to that), along with a pathetic non-conference schedule built to guarantee meaningless wins….it’s a bit frustrating.

Look at next year’s roster as it currently stands (which will no doubt have to change). Most coaches prefer an 8-10 player rotation at most.

Starters:
– D. Collette
– K. Kuzma (if he returns and doesn’t transfer or declare)
– Barefield

Possible starters:
– J. Johnson?
– Tillman (if he actually shows up)?

Definitely not a starter:
– everyone else

So the fact that we can’t even piece together a clear starting 5, let alone players 6-9 is troubling to me. Guarantee we are hitting the JC’s. Most likely outcome for next year is a worse outcome than this year. Or maybe Bonam, Daniels, and Zamora were the problem children screwing up the team. Maybe we will be better by subtraction. Maybe not.

And the biggest complaint by Larry all year long was that the team doesn’t have a leader. Soooooo who is the leader next year? Maybe one of the incoming freshmen will be the magical leader 😉

Oh, are we going to in-bound the ball next year?

[UtahFanSir]

The grasshopper comment was meant to be fun. If that “be patient” hint was done in your opinion at your expense, please excuse me. In general, I absolutely get where you are coming from. I believe I saw a local paper asking these same questions a day or two back. Musings perhaps.

I hated the parade of transfers from Utah under Majerus, and I hate it just as much now. I don’t want to be presumptuous, but in my opinion, its above my pay grade to judge K3’s management style here. I say that for one reason only. Utah was in the ditch when he arrived and he has at a minimum put Utah into the upper third of a great conference. Some programs don’t get that. But he had done that and done it with parts.

K3 did not invite Zamora or Daniels back. One guy left before the season really began for reasons I have not bothered to find out. Last year, a number of guys knew that with the lot K3 was recruiting, it was best for them to pack up. At least one, Chapman K3 wanted back, but he elected to go elsewhere. So I’m thinking that in each case, we have different circumstances. Maybe there are more similarities here, but that is not apparent to me.

Like you, I want this sorted and minimized. That by itself would be a good measure of the coach. If the parade continued for another, my faith in the K3’s talent meter will take a hit.

For reasons I don’t fully understand or appreciate, Utah is a hard sell for kids. We can argue this either way. I know about the quirky Mormon aspect, but there has got to be more to it than the religion in the state. Maybe its because Utah is somewhat isolated geographically. Maybe it is the WAC-MWC legacy. Maybe its the personalities of coaches who have commanded the recruiting helm at Utah. All of the above, none above, or something else entirely.

Whittingham is getting it done to a degree, but still when push comes to shove, the best Utah kids go elsewhere and the best kids elsewhere are not coming to Utah. Not yet. Scouting services allows the best talent to be identified early and more accurately. If some storied program comes banging on the door, such as Duke, Arizona, North Carolina, UCLA, Kansas, or Kentucky, Utah’s chances of landing the prospect is as good as me winning the PowerBall lottery when the take is $500 million. Utah can’t out compete Gonzaga for basketball talent, not presently. And Spokane is isolated to some degree.

This very situation infuriated me to no end after Utah’s Final Four run in 1998. Big Rick could not or would not capitalize on his long run of success. If not then, why now given the intensity of the competition?

So, yes, it is annoying, and we want but are not likely to get a meeting with K3 to demonstrate how disappointed we are. I absolutely trust that Chris Hill will have that conversation however. And that is where I will leave it; hope for change we can believe in.

On your leadership comment, spot on. There was little of it on this team and it showed.

[Tony (admin)]

“For reasons I don’t fully understand or appreciate, Utah is a hard sell for kids.” Um, Utah is the laughing stock of the country with it’s stupid bass-ackward laws and strange… stuff. It’s whiter than a loaf of wonder bread here too, so players of color find that unattractive. Also, it’s really damn cold here. That’s why they built a tunnel to the Hunty for the players. Recruiting

[apjp]

Actually this year he did get the best of the Utah kids: Brandon Carlson and Jaxon Brenchley.  But another fact in Utah is the mission and both of them are going on a mission first.

 

[sweetgrass]

I am willing to give Krysko a mulligan on last year based off of his cancer and some unforeseen circumstances, but the pendulum is starting to swing far to the negative side for me as well. Its as if Larry believes that as long as he gets in a groove by the time his contract expires in 2021 that he can take his time.

He did a remarkable job his first 4-5 years, what has happened to that? There is no momentum in the program right now.

[Newbomb Turk]

I’m not really happy about the transfers. That said, I haven’t seen anyone mention Seeley. He’s still on the team I believe, unless there’s something that I don’t know about.

[apjp]

Since the start of LOI is on April 12 and he has 3 scholarships to give, I suspect he is out recruiting.

[homer]

I’ve attended Ute basketball since 75. I have great season tickets, (cause I’m a Ute faithful geezer.)  Faithfully stayed through the dark years. But I’m disappointed, primarily in the consistently lousy home schedule.  With rare exceptions, pre-conference home games aren’t worth wasting the trip to see.  I’m seriously considering not renewing. Once that happens it’s unlikely I’ll  attend again; when I quit Jazz season tickets, I didn’t miss them for a minute.

[Puget Ute]

Hopefully he is out finding an ace recruiter to hire who will greatly upgrade the coaching staff. 

[utefansince79]

Even with an inexperienced team needing to develop, I’d rather see some quality opponents school us on the court (as even losing to a great opponent will teach the team things that will help them down the road) rather than win a bunch of boring blowouts against inferior opponents from the NAIA, Div 2, or weaker Div 1 conferences (that teaches our team nothing). 

 

 

 

 

[Tony (admin)]

Yeah but if you schedule like that you won’t get to 20 wins.

[TheJuggernaut]

You’re letting the local media hyperbole get to you, let’s not wring our hands over this list of mostly scrubs and problem children:

Transferred last year:
Chris Reyes – Produced similar numbers in his JR year as Jayce Johnson did his FR year. Reyes would have played sparingly if at all this past season with Johnson, Collette, Kuzma, and Rawson in front of him at the 4 and 5
Isaiah Wright – Averaged 2 ppg and 13 mpg as a SO. I see no reason to believe those numbers would have improved had he stayed as he had almost the exact same numbers as a FR
Brekott Chapman – Showed great promise as a FR, but was unwilling to do what coaches asked
Kenneth Ogbe – Unreliable physically, likely would have backed up Bonam this past season, as a JR averaged 5 ppg and 12 mpg. If he could have stayed healthy (big if) those numbers would have improved IMO. Would have been a contributor, if healthy. Played in 33 games for UVU this past season, averaging 11 ppg in 24 mpg
Austin Montgomery – walk on who never would have played meaningful minutes at Utah. Not a PAC level player
Brandon Miller – Not a PAC level player who wasn’t going to get meaningful minutes at Utah
Makol Mawien – Not a PAC level player who wasn’t going to get meaningful minutes at Utah
Transferred this year:
Tim Coleman – didn’t step on the court due to injury
JoJo Zamora – Averaged 20 mpg and 7 ppg last season. Would have been a backup next season for sure, possibly a starter
Devon Daniels – showed considerable promise as a FR, but caused too many problems off the court
Jakub Jokl – averaged 1 point in 4 minutes per game. Wasn’t going to ever play meaningful minutes, not a PAC level player

Daniels, Chapman, and Ogbe (two problem children and a player who couldn’t stay healthy) would have had opportunities to be major contributors had they stayed and Zamora likely would have been a big minute backup. Reyes and Wright effectively got recruited over and would have played sparingingly, if at all. Montgomery, Miller, Jokl, Mawien and Coleman were never going to play any meaningful minutes. When we hear about all the tranfers over the last two seasons (but nothing about the fact that two years ago there were zero tranfers) we’re really talking about four players that could have helped us win games had they stayed. As I said two were problem children and one couldn’t stay healthy. Zamora is a bit of a head scratcher, as he would have played big minutes next year, especially with Daniels gone. There’s definitely more there that we haven’t (at least I haven’t) heard.

All that being said Larry is not off the hook, I like that he targets top level talent like Lauri Markinnen, Emmanual Akot, Frank Jackson, and Zach Collins. The problem is he’s not landing any of this talent, so it may be time to reassess recruiting tactics. I also like that he’s taking chances on foreign born players like Jokl, looking for the next Poeltl. Jokl is obviously not the next Poeltl, but it’s tough to say “do some more homework” before signing a guy from Eastern Europe. Of course, if we can land Mark Smith (4* guard) that would certainly lessen the blow of losing Daniels and Zamora. If (big if) we can land Smith and get Kuzma back (another big if) we’ll have a lineup capable of challenging for the PAC next year, if that happens nobody is going to care about these tranfers. And if we do land Smith we’ll still have three scholarships available for next season, there are several grad transfers looking for landing spots, so our lineup could change quite a bit over the next couple of months.

Possible 2017-18 lineup
1 Barefield, Van Dyke
2 Smith, TBD
3 Seeley, Tillman, Bealer
4 Kuzma, Rawson
5 Collette, Johnson

[utefansince79]

Did Jokl transfer?  Hadn’t heard that before.

 

[HoopUte]

I have the same question. Haven’t heard that and it’s not reported anywhere.

[HoosierinUt]

that starting 5 has a lot of “ifs” in it! and, why would you count on Smith and Seeley being starting material immediately?

See – that’s the problem. we don’t have a bench…and we don’t have starters!

And I don’t see Collette as a 5 at all…he flops a ton and his foul trouble never got better at all.

I don’t think the risk is Kuzma going to the NBA this year, I think the risk is him being a “graduated transfer” (he graduates in May) where he can start somewhere immediately. This team does not look like it will be contending for anything next year and he can see that.

[Daedalus]

Unless you think Kuz is talking out of both sides of his mouth, he has said that he’s a Utah man no matter what.  He’s just exploring his NBA stock.

[TheJuggernaut]

Kuzma has said transferring isn’t an option.