The Official 2014-2015 Ute Basketball Thread

[Old Standing ute]

Beyond Jordan & Delon---Jordan scoring at will & Delon dominating at first, but then giving others a turn--there was Freaky Zekey & Poeltl.
Zekey outplayed Taylor. His shot was there, no lazy or dumb passes & has learned not to force a dribble in traffice. Poeltl is an athlete. Unlike Dallin he plays above the rim.
Reyes hit several mid-range shots & rebounded. Probably starts at the 4.
Others---Tucker, Ogbe, Kuzma had their moments, but need to be more consistent.
Team will be really deep or some good players will sit. Larry K has a good problem finding minutes for good players.

Still 2 more weeks of practice until first game----so we will get even better.

[chrisrenrut]

I thought Ogbe looked pretty good (and I thought he might be even a bit taller this year). You can see Kuzma and Brekkot have incredibly high ceilings, even if it wasn't completely clicking tonight.

I spent half the night trying to tell Kuzma and Ogbe apart. Both were wearing the same black undershirt, Kuzma was #23 and Ogbe was #25, and they were both on the same team, and are not physically dissimilar enough for me to tell at a glance which was which.

[UtahsMrSports]

First my player by player thoughts:

Bach: looked about the same to me. maybe a bit bigger. As he is a senior, I don't think he went all out here.

Chapman: This kid just looks like a basketball player. As others have pointed out, he frequently deferred to his more senior teammates, but when he was aggressive, he has a devastating first step for someone of his size. He is by no means a bruiser, but he looked bigger than I anticipated. By his jr year, he is going to be a terrific player.

Kuzma: Showed some nice touch on his jumper. Very fluid athlete. I thought he was very active. Like Brekkott, you can just see the potential and in a couple of years when these two are our starting forwards, we are going to be awfully tough to guard.

Loveridge: He seemed very comfortable at the 3. His shot was falling and he had a couple of nice finishes in traffic. Also, he seemed a bit better defensively. Looks to be in terrific shape.

Ogbe: Ran the point more often than I anticipated. (To be honest: if last night is a true representation of the new offense, it doesn't really matter who brings the ball up, unless your name is Delon, as this is a pass-happy offense). His role is going to be as a shooter who can space the floor. If he hits consistently, he will get a reasonable amount of minutes.

Olsen: Either by design or otherwise, he was playing much further from the hoop than he has in the past. I think his role will be the same this year, and that is as part of a three-headed monster at center.

Poeltlt: On several occasions, Bach simply proved to be too strong for him. He is going to struggle against strong opponents. But he is so long, so athletic, has terrific hands and a nice soft touch around the basket. I put him in the same boat as Chapman and Kuzma, give him a year or two and then watch out.

Reyes: I didn't notice much from him. He hit a long jumper or two. I heard a few people talk about how tough he was inside and maybe that was during the part I missed.

Taylor: Played like a veteran. we will need that veteran leadership, shooting, and pesky defense this year.

Tucker: Looks bigger to me, but in a good way. I think he can be the wing stopper that we need. If he can continue to hit shots from distance at a good clip, he will see time. Plus.........Will Smith haircut!

Winder: very raw, but athletic. Could be a pesky defender at some point.

Delon: Didn't really go all that hard, in fact in the second half he was either on the bench or just there on the court letting other guys shine. Even in this, he was so smooth.

Isaiah: Had the outside game going. No fear whatsoever. I have no doubt taht he will use this year as an apprenticeship under Delon to learn some tricks and he will ready to man the point come next year. Looking like a steal.

Other thoughts:

-After a predictably one-sided first half, they reshuffled the teams at halftime and one team came back with Delon, Brandon, Loveridge, Reyes, and Poeltl. That looks an awful lot like a starting lineup to me.

-Was I the only one who stopped breathing when Delon went tumbling into the chairs, and then subsequently exhaled deeply when he came walking out just fine?

-I love the in-arena announcer. I love that he has fun giving extended bios, harassing the refs, and making other lame jokes. That was a neat touch, I thought.

-For several minutes, Dallin B and Poeltl were on the same team and played together. This involved Poeltl chasing Brekkott around the perimeter, which he did well. I think there are times we can go uber-big this year with Bach and Poeltl up front. Talk about building a wall!

-I didn't stick around for autographs, was it better this year? Last year, they had two lines down on the floor and it was a mess.

All in all, a fun night.

[U-Ute]

Each year this team looks more and more like the elite teams out there just from a visual standpoint, meaning each year they get bigger, longer, and more athletic. The team tonight reminded me a bit of a Boeheim-type team, at least from a physical standpoint. Height, length, and athleticism all over the floor, especially when Delon is at the point.

That does not suck.

[concerned]

That does not suck.

It would if it means we are going to play the Syracuse zone defense.

[UtahsMrSports]

Utes picked second in the preseason poll.

http://www.utahutes.com/sports/m-bas...102314aaa.html

Id be ecstatic if we finished second.

[LA Ute]

Krysko and Delon having some fun with selfies at PAC-12 Media Day:

http://pac-12.com/videos/utah-mens-h...ball-media-day

[concerned]

In 25 words or less, someone explain the relationship between Larry K and Tres Tinkle. Were they teammates? Did Tinkle pay for Larry at Montana? etc etc

[Scratch]

In 25 words or less, someone explain the relationship between Larry K and Tres Tinkle. Were they teammates? Did Tinkle pay for Larry at Montana? etc etc

I assume you mean Wayne, not Tres (Tres is Wayne's kid who is a high-level recruit in high school right now). Wayne And LK played together at Montana for a year and then Wayne was an assistant for LK at Montana from '04-'06. He replaced LK as head coach there when LK left.

[concerned]

I assume you mean Wayne, not Tres (Tres is Wayne's kid who is a high-level recruit in high school right now). Wayne And LK played together at Montana for a year and then Wayne was an assistant for LK at Montana from '04-'06. He replaced LK as head coach there when LK left.

Yes I did mean the dad and coach. thanks.

[LA Ute]

A glimpse of Poeltl (no. 3):

[SeattleUte]

A glimpse of Poeltl (no. 3):

That's a pretty prosaic highlight.

[SeattleUte]

I assume you mean Wayne, not Tres (Tres is Wayne's kid who is a high-level recruit in high school right now). Wayne And LK played together at Montana for a year and then Wayne was an assistant for LK at Montana from '04-'06. He replaced LK as head coach there when LK left.

53 words.

So he owes LK for his very career.

[Scratch]

53 words.

So he owes LK for his very career.

But only 23 words dealt with the relationship, which was the part that was subject to the limitation. The rest of it was addressing the foundational misunderstanding and then providing additional backstory that was not part of the response to the actual question.

Mission accomplished!

[concerned]

But only 23 words dealt with the relationship, which was the part that was subject to the limitation. The rest of it was addressing the foundational misunderstanding and then providing additional backstory that was not part of the response to the actual question.

Mission accomplished!

Of course, you could have just assumed I meant the dad (and knew that we had recruited the kid until his dad got the OSU job), without the necessity of being a show off know it all. But NOOOOO. After 25 words, I had no answer at all.

[UtahsMrSports]

A couple of things.......

-I see only one exhibition game listed on our schedule, which likely means that we have another "secret" game this year. Two years ago, we got blown out by Montana State. Last year, we beat Wyoming. This is where I miss Tony Jones. Last year, he sent me and a bunch of others on twitter a bunch of DM's with all of the relevant info. These games are literally for only the teams and no media are involved at all. Tony got his news from someone on the coaching staff. Even if Piper or Goon at the trib find info about this game, I doubt they do anything with it. So, if anyone here catches news of who we are playing and how it goes down, please share what you can!

-I occasionally lurk on twitter. Last night I saw that Noah Togiai is legitimately struggling to decide what sport to play in college. I think he would be a beast at either, so I am glad that he is a Ute! But, this is an interesting development, as I thought he was set on basketball.

-NBAdraft.net currently has Delon Wright going to the Pacers with the 27th overall pick in the 2015 draft. This will be fun to track throughout the year.

[311ute]

-I see only one exhibition game listed on our schedule, which likely means that we have another "secret" game this year. Two years ago, we got blown out by Montana State. Last year, we beat Wyoming. This is where I miss Tony Jones. Last year, he sent me and a bunch of others on twitter a bunch of DM's with all of the relevant info. These games are literally for only the teams and no media are involved at all. Tony got his news from someone on the coaching staff. Even if Piper or Goon at the trib find info about this game, I doubt they do anything with it. So, if anyone here catches news of who we are playing and how it goes down, please share what you can!

We play Wyoming on Saturday.

[LA Ute]

I am sure Larry K. will want to be in on this too. It's a great opportunity to increase awareness of the program's progress:

Basketball version of "The Drive"

[Diehard Ute]

I am sure Larry K. will want to be in on this too. It's a great opportunity to increase awareness of the program's progress:

Basketball version of "The Drive"

From what I understand all 12 programs are being featured for basketball instead of just one (and from the Tribune coverage of the pac12 media days they mentioned the conference media folks loved Larry in China and had already discussed the drive with him)

[UtahsMrSports]

The first kenpom rankings are out.

kenpom.com

He has us at 42, one spot ahead of our friends to the south.

We have preseason games against #s 4, 10, 29, and 43.

Our first opponent, Ball St, checks in as the 280th best college basketball squad in the land.

[U-Ute]

From: Utah basketball notes: Krystkowiak says don’t read too much into starting lineup

He said that right now, he doesn’t foresee any of his players redshirting, and he wants them all believe that with a standout week of practice, they can start.

From the lighter side:

Krystkowiak said he had breakfast a couple of months ago with band director Brian Sproul and suggested that the band bring a few more drums — particularly bass drums, as he’s seen used to pleasing effect at NBA arenas.

"I just think there’s something to a little bit of the low bass that changes the arena," he said.

He was going to follow up to see if they were warm to that idea, but heard the percussion he’d asked for during warmups Friday night.
"I’ve always thought the drums — it’s kind of symbolic, I think, because our student section’s kind of the heartbeat of the arena."

[LA Ute]

From PAC-12 Hoops today:

P-O-E-L-T-L

I’ve never seen a ‘T’ sandwiched by two ‘Ls.’ I’d also never seen Jakob Poeltl until his name was listed in Utah’s starting lineup and then he threw down a running one handed oop. Did you know he’s a seven-footer? Yeah so if you haven’t taken notice, it’s time we start paying attention. And if anecdotes don’t do it for you, perhaps you need a little quantification, how’s 18 and 12 in that debut? Take notice.

It's a great blog, highly recommended.

[LA Ute]

Delon Wright is on the Wooden Award Watch List:

http://woodenaward.org/PreseasonTop50.html

There are 50 players on the list, but still....

[hostile]

Delon Wright is on the Wooden Award Watch List:

http://woodenaward.org/PreseasonTop50.html

There are 50 players on the list, but still....

Kansas and Kentucky both with four.

[LA Ute]

Kansas and Kentucky both with four.

So 8 of 50 are from two schools. That's just...wrong. I blame George W. Bush.

[DrumNFeather]

Grantland's Pac 12 preview...some good Ute nuggets in here: http://grantland.com/the-triangle/20...on-washington/

[Applejack]

Grantland's Pac 12 preview...some good Ute nuggets in here: http://grantland.com/the-triangle/20...on-washington/

Woah, expectations are getting out of control. I'd like to see a few games before ESPN declares us a lock for #2 in the Pac.

[Dwight Schr-Ute]

Woah, expectations are getting out of control. I'd like to see a few games before ESPN declares us a lock for #2 in the Pac.

I trust you've seen enough by now.

[Applejack]

I trust you've seen enough by now.

I have. Delon is Pac-12 player of the year.

[Dwight Schr-Ute]

I have. Delon is Pac-12 player of the year.

(There seems to be a lot more angry emojis on this site than I'm used to.)