Burying our NCAA dreams on The Farm - Utah at Stanford

[U-Ute]

Date: Saturday February 4, 2:30 MT
Media: TV: FS1, Radio: ESPN 700 Sports

Well, that does it. It appears that our dancing dreams now depend on Utah making the P12 tournament championship game, if not needing to win it outright.

Time to focus on building the team and getting ready for it.

[The Thrill]

A lot of things can happen over the next month.

Looking at the 16 bubble teams, below are the predicted final records over the next 5 weeks.

CURRENT BUBBLE IN
Oklahoma St 3-6 (Kansas, Baylor, West Virginia, Kansas St, Iowa St)
Clemson 4-5 (Duke, Florida St x2, Virginia Tech)
Michigan 4-5 (Indiana, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Purdue, Northwestern)
TCU 3-6 (Baylor, OK State, Iowa St, Kansas, W Virginia, Oklahoma)
Georgia Tech 4-5 (Wake Forest, Miami, Syracuse x2, Notre Dame)
Kansas State 4-5 (Baylor, Kansas, West Virginia, Iowa St, TCU)
Wichita St 7-0 (toughest game tomorrow vs Illinois State)
Miami 3-5 (Notre Dame, Clemson, Duke, Louisville, Virginia Tech)

CURRENT BUBBLE OUT
Wake Forest 3-5 (Notre Dame, Clemson, Duke, Louisville, Virginia Tech)
Tennessee 7-2 (Kentucky, South Carolina...possible loss tomorrow at MissSt)
Seton Hall 4-5 (Georgetown split, Creighton, Nova, Xavier, Butler)
California 4-4 (Arizona, Oregon, Utah, Colorado)
Rhode Island 9-0 (tough games at Davidson tomorrow, Dayton, VCU and at LaSalle...could lose any of those)
Texas Tech 5-4 (Wake, Miami, Notre Dame, Syracuse)
Georgia 3-6 (South Carolina, Florida, Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, Arkansas)
Utah 7-1 (Oregon...tough games at Colorado and at Stanford tomorrow, Cal split)

The bubble teams were taken from Joe Lunardi. http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/bracketology

Out of the 16 teams (8 getting in) only 5 show a favorable schedule down the stretch. Utah could sneak in if all the cards fall into place.

I'll try to keep up with this and see how it goes.

[sancho]

Utes looking good in red.

Stanford looking gross in gray.

[DrumNFeather]

Some of these mental lapses make me want to throw my remote. Looking at you...PVD, Colette.

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[justaute]

When a team has little high level talent, low BB IQ, no bench, what happens?

[UTEopia]

Poor free throw shooting, throw the ball away, mediocre defense = lose to Stanford. This team is getting worse.

[LA Ute]

Some of these mental lapses make me want to throw my remote. Looking at you...PVD, Colette.

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Since I don't have a testimony of either LK or KW, I feel free to say that a lack of poise, especially in crunch time, is a common thread running through Ute basketball under Krysko. It's just interesting, and I have no idea how a coach either causes that or fixes it.


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[justaute]

Since I don't have a testimony of either LK or KW, I feel free to say that a lack of poise, especially in crunch time, is a common thread running through Ute basketball under Krysko. It's just interesting, and I have no idea how a coach either causes that or fixes it.


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Well, KW did say "it's always on the coaches." Basically, you either can't coach or can't recruit.

[LA Ute]

Glad Rawson is playing well. The game may be slipping away, however.


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[SeattleUte]

I think their zone defense a lot explains this team's inconsistency. It seems to work really well against lower tier teams, but not so much against more talented or good shooting teams. Actually, not just this team's but all Krystkoviak teams' irregular play.


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[sancho]

not so much against more talented or good shooting teams.


But Stanford is neither of those things.

I think we need to push things more. We do up tempo well.

[SeattleUte]

But Stanford is neither of those things.

I think we need to push things more. We do up tempo well.

Stanford is over 50 percent from three and overall. I'm trying to square a game like this or the Oregon game with beating other PAC 12 teams including UCLA in a prior year by 40. I think it's the defense.



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[LA Ute]

Well now we are looking at a bad loss.


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[DrumNFeather]

Well now we are looking at a bad loss.


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One could argue that Cal beat us twice.

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[chrisrenrut]

Our team was clicking on offense just a few games ago. Now it seems we have lost our confidence, chemistry, or something.

[sancho]

Our team was clicking on offense just a few games ago. Now it seems we have lost our confidence, chemistry, or something.

We really miss Daniels. I hope this is just a slump for him.

[SeattleUte]

Our team was clicking on offense just a few games ago. Now it seems we have lost our confidence, chemistry, or something.

Stanford just outscored us. Terrific shooting percentages. Reminds of the San Francisco game. Kodiak teams often play with the discipline of a Roy Williams team but a lot less talent. At least KW, like Majerus, has an identifiable system.


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[justaute]

We just miss talent, some type of consistent talent.

[chrisrenrut]

Stanford just outscored us. Terrific shooting percentages. Reminds of the San Francisco game. Kodiak teams often play with the discipline of a Roy Williams team but a lot less talent. At least KW, like Majerus, has an identifiable system.


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My point still stands. Stanford shooting well doesn't have much to do with our offensive production. On the Washington road trip, we limited turnovers, passed well, and were confident driving to the basket. This road trip, we are turning the ball over a lot, play make lazy passes, and are tentative to drive.

[justaute]

My point still stands. Stanford shooting well doesn't have much to do with our offensive production. On the Washington road trip, we limited turnovers, passed well, and were confident driving to the basket. This road trip, we are turning the ball over a lot, play make lazy passes, and are tentative to drive.

True. That said, we can't drive to the basket against Cal because it has better talent. We have a match-up issue, a lot.

[LA Ute]

True. That said, we can't drive to the basket against Cal because it has better talent. We have a match-up issue, a lot.

I think LK has done a nice job bringing the program back and he deserves some patience. He does need to keep recruiting better. So far Whitt has done better at the PAC-12 talent upgrade project than LK.

[SeattleUte]

My point still stands. Stanford shooting well doesn't have much to do with our offensive production. On the Washington road trip, we limited turnovers, passed well, and were confident driving to the basket. This road trip, we are turning the ball over a lot, play make lazy passes, and are tentative to drive.

Offense comes and goes especially with talent shortages and mismatches, which is why a rigorous discipline on defense has to be the bedrock, the thing you can control fully always.


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[The Thrill]

We really miss Daniels. I hope this is just a slump for him.

Freshmen tend to suffer at this point of the season. Just not used to playing this many games.

[Old Standing ute]

I think LK has done a nice job bringing the program back and he deserves some patience. He does need to keep recruiting better. So far Whitt has done better at the PAC-12 talent upgrade project than LK.

Agree, but BB had farther to go from when we entered the league.

[pangloss]

Freshmen tend to suffer at this point of the season. Just not used to playing this many games.It seems like Daniels hasn't looked for his shot the last three games, going 4-13. The guards are struggling with turnovers, shooting and defense. Today, Bonam, Zamora, Van Dyke and Barefield went 8-25 and had 5 turnovers (it seems like there were more).

I forgot who posted it, but I think it was right to say Cal beat the Utes twice. They looked tired at times and lacked the 'eye of the tiger' they had against Cal.

[sancho]

They looked tired at times and lacked the 'eye of the tiger' they had against Cal.

I think we played poorly against cal too. The ucla and Oregon games were fun to watch because we really stepped up. Cal was close, but it was a turnover fueled nightmare.

[LA Ute]

Agree, but BB had farther to go from when we entered the league.

Good and valid point.

[justaute]

Seeing Markkanen, Lightfoot, and now Tillie made me wonder just what could have been had we gotten one or two of them. We need more horses.

[Ma'ake]

Yesterday was a hangover loss. I didn't see that game - didn't need to.

In recruiting, there's just no substitute for length on the front line - DC was getting blocked at the rim at Berkeley. For a demonstration of what's needed, check out Metu's put back dunk at Wazzu: http://pac-12.com/videos/highlight-uscs-chimezie-metu-throws-down-put-back-dunk-against-wsu

For this year, I want to see how the coaches rally this team and let's see how we can finish and how far we can make a run in the NIT.

[U-Ute]

Since I don't have a testimony of either LK or KW, I feel free to say that a lack of poise, especially in crunch time, is a common thread running through Ute basketball under Krysko. It's just interesting, and I have no idea how a coach either causes that or fixes it.


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Outside of experiencing those situations first hand (which teams like Duke and Kentucky get to experience every year), you have to try and create those situations in practice. That's not easy to do. The only real effective way I know is to be a big prick. Majerus players were always good at crunch time because they had survived his practices.