We reluctantly move to basketball

Football season is over - for Utah anyway. We have eight or so months until there is any decent action to get our juices a flowin'. How the hell are we going to do it, guys? I think we need a support group to help us through the days because I guarantee you the basketball team won't let us forget the football team is on hiatus for the next half-year. Unless you're a glutton for punishment. I am not, however. 

I like successful and entertaining basketball. I liked it last year. I liked it during the Majerus years. I do not like losing to Pepperdine (seriously, guys?) or Idaho. I certainly don't like 5-7 starts and indifference within the fan base. The truth is, we're probably no better in terms of support and excitement than we were four years ago during Ray Giacoletti's final season.

Apathy has sucked this program into its dark void. Fans just don't care anymore. And you know what? I can't blame them. Fans are fickle. You lose and they lose interest. It happens all the time. Hell, even the Jazz aren't getting the crowds they were the last four years. It isn't a coincidence. With Utah basketball, there isn't much to get excited over. They're not losing pretty and the future is only speculatively good. That's the problem. We can suggest and believe things will be better in '10 and '11, but no one knows. 

We don't know because we've been in this situation before. It was just a few years ago Giacoletti fought apathetic fans and a slumping team on the court. He didn't last - Jim Boylen will. Boylen will because he's had two fairly decent seasons leading up to what is turning out be a disastrous one. He gets a fourth year, unlike Giacoletti, because we knew what he inherited. 

It's next season that will ultimately define Boylen. But for right now, this season is being defined by sloppy play, inconsistent offenses and a youth movement that just isn't improving. 

If it does, things will certainly look up. But until then, we'll just wander around not giving a damn and counting the days until football starts.