Rumble in the Rockies - Hardwood Edition

[UtahsMrSports]

I gotta say.....today feels like a tough one. No idea if Kuzma will be available or not or at what level with the ankle. But Go Utes!

[sancho]

I gotta say.....today feels like a tough one. No idea if Kuzma will be available or not or at what level with the ankle. But Go Utes!

I agree. Feels like a tough one. But if we can't beat CU at home, it could be a very long season.

[Dwight Schr-Ute]

I was surprised to see the line at -5 for the Utes. Goon mentioned that Kuzma has practiced a bit this week, so he'll likely play some limited minutes.


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[UtahsMrSports]

Per Jon Rothstein, the guy who always gets retweeted into my timeline and I haven't a clue who he is, Kuzma is undergoing treatment on his ankle this morning and his status is TBD for today.

[U-Ute]

Only a small brace for Kuz.

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170101/d03cf3a87465b47570b68f4d339bea0c.jpg

[U-Ute]

Better shot.

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170101/1e1aba98ff79e59facc9109c8595830c.jpg

[Dwight Schr-Ute]

Well, this is a surprise.


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[Solon]

Well, this is a surprise.


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Kuzma can't be all that hurt if he is throwing it down like that. Yowzers.
Finish strong, Utes!

[LA Ute]

We look pretty good.


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[Solon]

We look pretty good.


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Well that was satisfying.

[UtahsMrSports]

Absolutely wonderful beat down! How about barefield off the bench? Great job all around?

[U-Ute]

Only 8 turnovers. That's a nice change.


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[UtahsMrSports]

11 conference wins gets us to the tourney?

[Ma'ake]

Went to the game with UTEopia's tickets - thanks, again, 'Tope! - and snuck down to Row 9, next to the band. That low, you can really get a sense of what's going on, facial expressions, etc.

When CU jumped out quickly, it looked like this would be a real challenge. The Buffs have great length, they're very talented, and... they have problems. I don't know if Boyle's not able to make / communicate adjustments, but his guys have no heart, and seem confused / disinterested.

That's half the equation - the other half is with Barefield and Collette up to speed, we're a pretty good team, definitely a lot of fun to watch. At times we had our top 3 guards on the court, with either Collette and Kuzma, or Collette and Rawson as the bigs, and it was a potent lineup.

Kuzma is our best player. He's got a great sense of the game, he's got length, he does everything well. If he learns a few tricks from Collette on ball fakes, etc, he'll be even better.

Bonam finally got his long game on track, JoJo is a quality guard, and Barefield can both create, and shoot. In the first half he was fouled on a 3 and clanked in all three FTs, with a funny grin and a shrug after the third. Daniels is a maniac who crashes the boards with abandon, and the two back-to-back barnyard runner shots he threw in were gravy.

Early in the first half, I thought CU's length was going to present serious problems for Collette and Rawson, but even when CU's defensive intensity was good, Collette's got such an array of fakes and moves and knows how to keep length at bay. Rawson is becoming one of my favorites because he just does his job, is big, is a good shooter, and could become a pretty good player.

GREAT to see Jayce finding his niche down low. The lefty hook is pretty good.

We definitely have some tests ahead, but nice to start out PAC play 1-0.

[sancho]

Woo-hoo! Great way to start the season!

Like I said last week, I want Kuzma, Daniels, Barefield, and Bonam driving often. Good things will happen when they do.

[UTEopia]

Amazing what a difference playing defense and not throwing the ball away makes.

[sancho]

Arizona has really been playing well. They just throttled Stanford by 40. Sure would be great to upset them and that traitor Finn.

[Old Standing ute]

Absolutely wonderful beat down! How about barefield off the bench? Great job all around?

Barefield played really well--(after a horrible start), kept coming up with the ball & made some nice passes. He is great leading the break.

Colorado is a decent team--beat Xavier & the Utes punished them.

[Utebiquitous]

Maake, Old Standing - anyone else who was there,
Comment a little more about the defense. I didn't attend or watch the game - honestly, I feared the worst so I didn't engage.

[Dwight Schr-Ute]

I felt the presentation on this graphic towards the beginning of the game a little odd and curious.
http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170102/fa6caeb2d289bc626e6085a9779a002b.jpg


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[LA Ute]

I felt the presentation on this graphic towards the beginning of the game a little odd and curious.
http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170102/fa6caeb2d289bc626e6085a9779a002b.jpg


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Yep.


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[Mormon Red Death]

Colorado will finish 10th or 11th in conference

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[LA Ute]

Colorado will finish 10th or 11th in conference

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Wet blanket.


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[Mormon Red Death]

Wet blanket.


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I bet they win only 1 road conference game
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[SoCalPat]

11 conference wins gets us to the tourney?

It's really 11 + 1 in Vegas. And since 7 of those wins would come against OSU, UW and Wazzu, I don't know if we could even break the top 75 in RPI. I'm gonna give an emphatic no to that scenario.

Out of the group of Oregon, UCLA, Arizona and USC, we need at least three win in the presumed six meetings.

The real question is if if our current lineup passes the eyeball test with the selection committee, 300-plus noncon SOS be damned.

[Mormon Red Death]

It's really 11 + 1 in Vegas. And since 7 of those wins would come against OSU, UW and Wazzu, I don't know if we could even break the top 75 in RPI. I'm gonna give an emphatic no to that scenario.

Out of the group of Oregon, UCLA, Arizona and USC, we need at least three win in the presumed six meetings.

The real question is if if our current lineup passes the eyeball test with the selection committee, 300-plus noncon SOS be damned.
Our current RPI is 119 (just behind Tulsa). Since our schedule was so bad pretty much the only way we are assured of making the NCAA is if we win 13 pac 12 games (with one 1 of those in the tourney). I went back and looked at the standings since the league expanded and 2 of the years you needed 12 wins to be in the top 4, 2 years you needed 11 and the other was a 4 team logjam of 10-8. So if we want first round bye in Vegas we are going to need at least 11 probably 12 conference wins. Lets see the remaining schedule. The good news is that we only play the azholes and UCLA once (We don't get the the az schools at home and we dont go to SOCAL)

1/1 Colo
1/5 @Azholes
1/7 @ASU (Curtain of distraction!) funnest road game to watch.
1/12 USC
1/14 UCLA
1/18 @wazzu
1/21 @ Wash
1/26 Oregon
1/28 OSU
2/2 @ CAL
2/4 @ Stan
2/9 Wazzu
2/11 Wash
2/16 @ Ore
2/19 @ OSU
2/26 @ Colo
3/2 Cal
3/4 Stan
If we can win 7 conference home games (we would most likely lose to UCLA and Oregon at home) that would mean we would need to win 5 road games. if we can get splits on our road games We could do it. Best case scenario for this team is win 7 at home then split the road trips and beat Colo in Boulder. That would give us a 1st day bye in vegas.


Worst case we get swept by the SOCAL schools and then drop a WTF game to like CAL or Wash at home and then pretty much only beat Wazzu and ASU on the road to finish 9th.

Most likely we win 6 at home and only beat wazzu, ASU and a surprise like Wash or CAL to finish 9-7 and 7th place in the PAC12


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Huh

[SoCalPat]

Colorado will finish 10th or 11th in conference

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Get real. CU is 65th in RPI, one spot behind Stanford for 5th in the PAC 12. They have the league's second best win and will feast on the bottom of the league. They are not nearly as bad as they showed last night, not by a long shot.

[Mormon Red Death]

Get real. CU is 65th in RPI, one spot behind Stanford for 5th in the PAC 12. They have the league's second best win and will feast on the bottom of the league. They are not nearly as bad as they showed last night, not by a long shot.
Who are they better than? Wazzu... maybe OSU?

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[sancho]

Who are they better than? Wazzu... maybe OSU?


OSU is getting better as the season goes on. UW is not, though.

[Ma'ake]

One of the things that flummoxed CU was our D. The zone was solid, our Man was pretty good, but we switched a fair amount, and CU never seemed comfortable knowing how they should attack. Part of that was us, but part of that was the odd performance by the Buffs.

The Buffs definitely wilted, but I'm sure some of that was from our digging out of the hole and playing well. Right now CU looks like a team that's a bit lost, but we've only played one PAC game.

CU unquestionably has the talent to be an upper half PAC team, the big question I see is where does their player leadership come from? Xavier Johnson is seasoned, but when they sagged, he wasn't the guy to get in his teammates' faces. Newcomer Guard Derrick White, #21, is quite talented and seems to have the fire to compete, so if he's going to be that guy, he needs to assert himself, now. Wesley Gordon is talented on the front line, but he disappeared, with terrible body language, like he expected them to fold. Tory Miller, another long athletic big, has great potential, but also did a Houdini.

George King #24 is probably their best overall player, and he seems to have potential to be a vocal leader. The point guard Dominic Collier shoots well, is long, but has the same lackadaisical demeanor of some of the other guys. Another guy who looked promising last year, Josh Fortune #44, was going through the motions, at best. It's almost like those guys have been hitting the peace pipe, or have tuned Boyle out... at least that's what yesterday looked like.

I wouldn't be surprised if they got their crap together and beat ASU on Thursday and go on to be a middle of the PAC team. I've seen stranger things happen. But I also wouldn't be too surprised if they really underachieve and are 8th or 9th in the league. Tad Boyle can definitely recruit talent, but will this team have the warrior mentality to achieve their potential? Sunday was a clear fail, and it had to be (maybe an early) nail in Boyle's coffin.

It's only one game, so I'm hesitate to write the Buffs off, yet. If they played hard, they could be pretty scary.

As for the same analysis of Utah, Collette has the motor and the kind of fire K loves. Barefield is definitely a gamer. Kuzma and Bonam are seasoned, talented, instinctively know what to do, and won't shirk from situations where they need to be clutch. JoJo is quiet, but he's very solid, mentally. Rawson is blue collar, ain't gonna fold. And Jayce Johnson might be the fiercest guy on the team, despite having some athletic deficiencies.

Utah looks like a team finally getting to know each other, and they're fighters. I think we'll overachieve.

[chrisrenrut]

The Buffs have 2 wins against top 25 teams at home, and a loss to CSU at home and BYU on the road. They are one of those teams that can beat almost anyone if playing well especially at home, or lose to anyone as well. I see them ending in the bottom third with only a couple of road wins, but could come up with some spoiler type wins against the top third at home.

[utefansince79]

The Utah/Colorado trip will be a challenging one with both team capable of giving visitors all they can handle. (Especially in the second game at altitude). Few teams will sweep the trip.

[pangloss]

Colorado will finish 10th or 11th in conference

Sent from my SM-G930T using TapatalkYou might be right on the 10th or 11th prediction, but Col beat Xavier and Xavier beat Utah, Providence, Georgetown and Wake Forrest. I don't know if any of those teams are good, bad or indifferent this year - but they've been good recently.

[SeattleUte]

You might be right on the 10th or 11th prediction, but Col beat Xavier and Xavier beat Utah, Providence, Georgetown and Wake Forrest. I don't know if any of those teams are good, bad or indifferent this year - but they've been good recently.

A large part of what makes him say that is that the Pac 12 is really good and deep this year. In some prior years, this Colorado team may be a contender.

[311ute]

I'm not sure if this site is that accurate, but it's kind of fun to play around with: http://www.rpiforecast.com/. If it is close to being accurate, you'll see we have our work cut out for us as far as RPI goes. We'll need 12 and a win in Vegas to get within striking distance (50-60 RPI). The lowest RPI ranking to ever receive an at-large bid was 67 (USC in 2011).


11 conference wins gets us to the tourney?

[Mormon Red Death]

Colorado joins Oregon st at 0-5

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[Mormon Red Death]

Colorado is now at 0-6

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[DrumNFeather]

Colorado is now at 0-6

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Xavier Johnson just isn't the same player he was pre-injury...and I'm pretty sure that injury happened against us. Too bad, he was really explosive and fun to watch.

[311ute]

No, he actually tore his Achilles in the off-season (prior to the 2015-16 season). I think he missed just a couple games after hurting his knee(?) against us in Jan of 2015.


Xavier Johnson just isn't the same player he was pre-injury...and I'm pretty sure that injury happened against us. Too bad, he was really explosive and fun to watch.

[DrumNFeather]

No, he actually tore his Achilles in the off-season (prior to the 2015-16 season). I think he missed just a couple games after hurting his knee(?) against us in Jan of 2015.

Oh interesting. He's been so banged up the last few seasons that I guess it just all ran together for me.

[SoCalPat]

Colorado is now at 0-6

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4 losses in league by 3 points or less, but you've earned the right to remind us of your prognostication.

[Mormon Red Death]

4 losses in league by 3 points or less, but you've earned the right to remind us of your prognostication.
I was going to ask you if I had "gotten real" yet but they are better just unfortunate.

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[chrisrenrut]

With the current team situation, shall we just recycle this thread for tonight's game?

Tonight and next Thursday's game with Cal are 9:00 MT start times. Not much better than the old Big Monday games in the WAC/MWC.

If we lose to Colorado tonight, we still have a 1 game lead over them. But that is put into perspective when you remember that they started the PAC 12 season 0-7.

Optimism does not necessarily abound with this team right now. Despite that, if we beat Colorado tonight and win out next week, we still have a good possibility of a 4 seed in the tournament.

[DrumNFeather]

With the current team situation, shall we just recycle this thread for tonight's game?

Tonight and next Thursday's game with Cal are 9:00 MT start times. Not much better than the old Big Monday games in the WAC/MWC.

If we lose to Colorado tonight, we still have a 1 game lead over them. But that is put into perspective when you remember that they started the PAC 12 season 0-7.

Optimism does not necessarily abound with this team right now. Despite that, if we beat Colorado tonight and win out next week, we still have a good possibility of a 4 seed in the tournament.

It's an interesting contrast...if they end up winning out and going 9-9 and we somehow finish 9-9 as well, the question one might ask would be...who's season would you rather have? I don't think that there's any question that with a better start to league play, they'd be considered a Bubble team with wins over Xavier and Oregon. They also played Notre Dame and Texas in the non-conf and of course, lost at BYU...so for that alone, you wouldn't want to trade with them. But if both teams finish 9-9, theirs would probably feel better than ours.

That said, I'd really like to see our boys show some fight tonight, limit the dumb mistakes, maybe free Gabe Bealer to provide a spark of the bench.

[Diehard Ute]

Per Goon, the Utes put out a statement that Devon Daniels has been suspended indefinitely for conduct detrimental to the team. He did not travel to Colorado.


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[concerned]

Well crap. Devon Danies suspended for detrimental conduct. Wheels coming off

[Scorcho]

My excitement level for Utah basketball right now is pffft

[SeattleUte]

Well crap. Devon Danies suspended for detrimental conduct. Wheels coming off

I agree. The biggest reason for optimism about the future is gone. Crap is right. Our best freshman under 7 feet in a very long time. Gone. Crap!


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[LA Ute]

I blame George W. Bush.

[LA Ute]

I was trying to console myself by remembering Majerus's 5th season at Utah, when he went 14-14 with Josh Grant out all season. Not that there's any comparison, but we have down years. As down years go, this one is not that bad. Yet.

[Scorcho]

One concern I have is that Krystko has never coached this long at one place. Maybe he's a coach that can stay at 1 place for 5 years or less but after that the Larry law of diminishing returns kicks in. It's possible that Utah has already won its last game of the year. I hope not but .....

[SeattleUte]

One concern I have is that Krystko has never coached this long at one place. Maybe he's a coach that can stay at 1 place for 5 years or less but after that the Larry law of diminishing returns kicks in. It's possible that Utah has already won its last game of the year. I hope not but .....

I don't know about that, but getting us out of the latrine to the peak two years ago was easier than it's going to be to get us to the next level. Can he do it? We'll see.


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[Dwight Schr-Ute]

What broke JoJo?! He's thrown up so many air balls the second half of this conference schedule that he's making Rawson look like a good three point shooter.


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[DrumNFeather]

Decent energy to start.

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[Mormon Red Death]

Great minutes from bealer in the first half

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[Dwight Schr-Ute]

Nice little burst there to go up 10 with 10 to go.


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[LA Ute]

It sure would be nice to see this team put somebody away in the closing minutes.


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[DrumNFeather]

Officials have made it clear that they want in on this one.

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[chrisrenrut]

Do we pucker here, or can we pull one out?

[LA Ute]

LOL. We can't get the ball inbounds. Two crucial timeouts lost -- including our last one. How can you blame this on anyone but the coaches?


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[LA Ute]

Very sweet play there by Kuzma. He showed great basketball IQ that time.


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[LA Ute]

Gotta love late whistles in crunch time. Sheesh.


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[LA Ute]

That foul by Colorado on Lorenzo was the kind of dummy move we would be screaming about if a Ute player did it.


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[LA Ute]

Yes, Barefield is young. Fouling on a three with 40 seconds to go. Wow.


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[Mormon Red Death]

Yes, Barefield is young. Fouling on a three with 40 seconds to go. Wow.


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Come on that was a bad call

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[LA Ute]

Come on that was a bad call

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Watch the replay in slow motion. He did not go straight up but went at the shooter, out of control. It was a bad call, yes, but he could've made it obvious that there was no foul.

[chrisrenrut]

Do we pucker here, or can we pull one out?

Well, both I guess. But we avoided stupid turnovers down the stretch.

[LA Ute]

OK. We close it out. No turnovers during the last several minutes, and it was not beautiful but they got it done.


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[sancho]

Officials have made it clear that they want in on this one.


I love watching referees make calls. Thrilling stuff.

[Scorcho]

Rocky mtn brownies for everyone, that was one unexpected win

[Dwight Schr-Ute]

I love watching referees make calls. Thrilling stuff.

End of the month. Have to get their quotas in.


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[chrisrenrut]

Rocky mtn brownies for everyone, that was one unexpected win

What is the special ingredient that makes a brownie a Rocky Mtn brownie? The new Colorado state plant? Rocky Mtn oysters? Renewed hope?

[Diehard Ute]

What is the special ingredient that makes a brownie a Rocky Mtn brownie? The new Colorado state plant? Rocky Mtn oysters? Renewed hope?

Failed random drug tests


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[DrumNFeather]

Kuzma was much, much more vocal in this game...perhaps this is the beginnings of him stepping forward to be a leader on this team.

[UTEopia]

Kuzma was much, much more vocal in this game...perhaps this is the beginnings of him stepping forward to be a leader on this team.


I was only able to catch the last 3 minutes, but it looked like Kuzma, Collette and Bonum were all more animated with one another and the other players down the stretch. Hopefully that is a good thing.

[DrumNFeather]

I was only able to catch the last 3 minutes, but it looked like Kuzma, Collette and Bonum were all more animated with one another and the other players down the stretch. Hopefully that is a good thing.

There was easily more energy last night than we've seen in probably a month. If we played like that vs. Stanford and Oregon State those would have both been wins. Possibly Cal too. It looked like Larry turned 'em loose a little bit. Maybe the Daniels suspension woke everyone up. Or, just losing to one of the worst teams in D1 Basketball.

[Dwight Schr-Ute]

My crazy stat of the night. Collette picked up his first foul with less than two minutes left in the first half. Collette still spent a huge chuck of the second half on the bench with four fouls.


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[DrumNFeather]

My crazy stat of the night. Collette picked up his first foul with less than two minutes left in the first half. Collette still spent a huge chuck of the second half on the bench with four fouls.


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He needs to stop going for the charge call if the refs aren't going to call it. He basically had the same conversation with the refs on all three of those that were called blocks.

[sancho]

He needs to stop going for the charge call if the refs aren't going to call it. He basically had the same conversation with the refs on all three of those that were called blocks.

They've given him the charge enough this season that he keeps going for it.

Actually, last night, the refs actually went with a no call on Collette's flop. Didn't work for us, but that's exactly how it should be called. He doesn't get a foul, but they get an easy layup. Collette has to think twice about flopping again.

On his 4th foul, he wasn't going for a charge. He was just trying to play defense. He was straight up and down, and the tiny bit of contact was initiated by the Buffalo. Those are the kinds of calls that always go against him. They always gave that straight up and down defense to Poeltl, but they never give it to Collette.

[DrumNFeather]

They've given him the charge enough this season that he keeps going for it.

Actually, last night, the refs actually went with a no call on Collette's flop. Didn't work for us, but that's exactly how it should be called. He doesn't get a foul, but they get an easy layup. Collette has to think twice about flopping again.

On his 4th foul, he wasn't going for a charge. He was just trying to play defense. He was straight up and down, and the tiny bit of contact was initiated by the Buffalo. Those are the kinds of calls that always go against him. They always gave that straight up and down defense to Poeltl, but they never give it to Collette.

It must have been fun to be there for the last 10 minutes of play. Whistle, whistle, whistle, whistle. The fans sounded pretty restless at the end.

[UTEopia]

There was easily more energy last night than we've seen in probably a month. If we played like that vs. Stanford and Oregon State those would have both been wins. Possibly Cal too. It looked like Larry turned 'em loose a little bit. Maybe the Daniels suspension woke everyone up. Or, just losing to one of the worst teams in D1 Basketball.

I have no information on Daniels, but maybe he has been a diva and the other guys responded to playing without him.