Well hell, at least they're not regressing! Utes lose to Cowboys in Laramie

by JazzyUte on Jan 28, 2010 12:35 PM MST in Basketball Comment 4 comments

Regressing would suggest there was a point of improvement during this season and that just hasn't happened. So there is that.

I waited until today to talk about this loss because I really didn't know what to say. I mean, I've done so many write ups on defeats that they all start to run together and sound the same. Frankly, this game reminded me of every bad loss - inexcusable play and faltering down the stretch.

Really, I still don't know what to say. It's now the end of January and these losses are not much different than the ones from November. I had hoped the team could build off their win over Air Force and they didn't. It was another lost opportunity and I can't help but think Wednesday's game was as well.

Now comes the difficult part of this two-game road trip (BYU). Can Utah at least make it a game? Or will the Cougars, who lost to New Mexico last night, walk to victory?

I'm inclined to think it's the latter.

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Agree entirely

Not being in Utah and entirely without any kind of cable TV, I haven’t been able to watch the Utes for a few years, but I can conclude that we no longer have a shred of our former glory left in terms of team pride and national recognition. Boylen has has three years now and it makes me wonder 1.) How much damage Giac did; and 2.) How much time Boylen needs to right the ship.

The Cougars have had a great run recently and as much as I hate to say this, good for them. I certainly believe that their schedule accounts for some of that success but don’t take that to mean Utah would have their record with their schedule. BYU is a far better team this year and for all I can see has been for a few years now. As a guy who attended the U during the great late 90’s teams, it’s a sad sight to see, and a worse thing to write.

In any case, this year is a wash which would have been fine for a first or second year coach, but a third year? I am starting to develop my doubts. Am I missing anything? For comparison’s sake, it seems like Rose has done much more with, dare I say, much less.

by rolandovich on Jan 28, 2010 2:23 PM MST reply actions

I think last year's Utah team was better than last year's BYU team.

But for the most part BYU’s been better since 2004-2005.

Everyone hates a pink-shirt-wearing communist.

by displacedute on Jan 28, 2010 4:58 PM MST up reply actions

You're right--I am still clinging to the obviously outdated and irrational notion that the Utes don't lose to BYU.

This week will be a sour reminder of how outdated that notion actually is. I have to hand it to them, it seems like (if I correctly recall) both the Utes and Cougs hired new basketball coaches around the same time, but it seems like (with the exception of last year), they seem to have done much better. Jazzy already fleshed this out and I didn’t intend to revisit it like this.

I met Michael Young at an alumni function shortly after Boylen was hired and I asked him what went wrong with Giac and what is Boylen going to do about it. His response was “If Boylen does well, the credit is mine. If it doesn’t work out, I had nothing to do with him.” It was an informal conversation and I was not writing big checks to the University so he didn’t need to give me straight answers, but at the time I recall being very excited about Boylen. These days have definitely brought ambivalence.

by rolandovich on Jan 28, 2010 5:38 PM MST up reply actions

Mcbride type coach

I hinted about a month or so ago that Boylen was a McBride like coach that will get McBride like results and that has been true so far in his Utes coaching career.

by utahmanami on Jan 28, 2010 7:04 PM MST reply actions

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