Schedule now gets a bit more interesting.......

[UtahsMrSports]

-Wednesdays opponent is Ball St. By no means a good team, to me they are still a cupcake. But, per the kenpom.com rankings, they are better than anyone we've played so far.

-After taking the rest of the thanksgiving week off (from games at least) we take our first road trip of the season and head up to Boise to take on the Broncos in Taco Bell arena. I am beyond excited for this game. Boise isn't big (only two guys 6'7 or bigger in their top 9) but they are very high scoring. Theyve done pretty much what we have so far, and that is to trounce inferior competition. They jack threes like crazy (101 attempts through 4 games) and they are making them at a 47% clip. This will be a great test to see how our perimeter defense (currently allowing opponents to hit 14% from the moneyland) does against a great perimeter shooting team. As hard as it is to take too much from one game, I have this one circled and I am very interested to see how we do against a tournament level team like the Broncos.

-Fresno St. is the next opponent. Another game we should win, but they are much better than anything we have seen so far.

-BYU. This would be HUGE if we could get this one. The matchup should be fantastic.

Of course a few podunk games like Idaho St and Texas St.. and the laugher against St. Katherines are mixed in as well before conference.

Those who have spent their energy harping on this schedule are about to get their wish, at least for a few games anyway.

[SoCalPat]

-Wednesdays opponent is Ball St. By no means a good team, to me they are still a cupcake. But, per the kenpom.com rankings, they are better than anyone we've played so far.

-After taking the rest of the thanksgiving week off (from games at least) we take our first road trip of the season and head up to Boise to take on the Broncos in Taco Bell arena. I am beyond excited for this game. Boise isn't big (only two guys 6'7 or bigger in their top 9) but they are very high scoring. Theyve done pretty much what we have so far, and that is to trounce inferior competition. They jack threes like crazy (101 attempts through 4 games) and they are making them at a 47% clip. This will be a great test to see how our perimeter defense (currently allowing opponents to hit 14% from the moneyland) does against a great perimeter shooting team. As hard as it is to take too much from one game, I have this one circled and I am very interested to see how we do against a tournament level team like the Broncos.

I fully plan on being at the Boise State game. This will be the first truly meaningful Utah game I've seen live since our last Sweet 16 year. BSU will be much better than it was last year when we played them, and Drmic and Marks are a top 5 scoring backcourt nationally. This promises to be a fun game if we're as improved as we believe.

[sancho]

-Wednesdays opponent is Ball St. By no means a good team, to me they are still a cupcake. But, per the kenpom.com rankings, they are better than anyone we've played so far.

Ball State lost by just 1 to Butler. Their other loss was a to an Indiana State team that has downed Notre Dame this year. We will have our hands full Wednesday night.

Boise and their threes - I think we are giving up a lot of open threes, but our opponents can't hit them. We'll see what happens in Boise.

[LA Ute]

I'll be at the Ball State game in our family seats that we never get to use except at Thanksgiving and Christmas. My son gave them to himself me last Christmas.

[SeattleUte]

Just eyeballing, absent aid of a computer, I don't see much difference between our schedule and UCLA's or Oregon's or Arizona's.

[U-Ute]

Outside of the second half run by Ball State, the Utes looked pretty good against them. After being up by 10-15 most of the game, the Utes got a bit lazy, contributing to their run, which was fueled by some suddenly hot shooting.

Still, the one thing that this team looks is confident. They seem to have some idea of what they want to do when they need a bucket. Mainly, that idea is "give the rock to JLove", which is a good plan. But the ability of Onwas and Wright to penetrate and make things happen is a positive.

Some other random thoughts:

At critical times, the team knows who to give the ball to, and he has delivered each time. This is Loveridge's team.
It was nice to see this team hit some 3's. Especially Wright.
Ball State switched their defense in the second half when the were making their run and started pressing out and switching screens. The ability of Wright and Onwas to put the ball on the floor and get to the hole, get fouled or pass out is something we haven't had since, well, Miller-time.
That being said, this team needs to practice their free throws.

[Diehard Ute]

Outside of the second half run by Ball State, the Utes looked pretty good against them. After being up by 10-15 most of the game, the Utes got a bit lazy, contributing to their run, which was fueled by some suddenly hot shooting.

Still, the one thing that this team looks is confident. They seem to have some idea of what they want to do when they need a bucket. Mainly, that idea is "give the rock to JLove", which is a good plan. But the ability of Onwas and Wright to penetrate and make things happen is a positive.

Some other random thoughts:

At critical times, the team knows who to give the ball to, and he has delivered each time. This is Loveridge's team.
It was nice to see this team hit some 3's. Especially Wright.
Ball State switched their defense in the second half when the were making their run and started pressing out and switching screens. The ability of Wright and Onwas to put the ball on the floor and get to the hole, get fouled or pass out is something we haven't had since, well, Miller-time.
That being said, this team needs to practice their free throws.


Don't know that you can judge FT's on a game result...they missed 2 out of like 27 last Saturday.

[U-Ute]

Don't know that you can judge FT's on a game result...they missed 2 out of like 27 last Saturday.

I know. The point is they are not consistently good yet. Especially at home.