The Utes' own March Madness
by JazzyUte on Mar 16, 2010 4:20 PM MDT
in Basketball
13 comments
With the Utes sitting out March Madness this year, I thought we'd at least get in on some action and create our own tournament.
No, I'm not suggesting the Utes take on other struggling programs around the country. Instead, this will be a tournament that incorporates the best teams in Utah history and pits them against one another to get the definitive Greatest Utah Team Ever.
Sounds easy, right?
Well no. Utah has had some amazing teams over its rich 100-plus years. We can't include them all. That would take too long and frankly, I'm just too lazy for a task that wide. So that means we're going to have to whittle down this list to only ten teams, forming a more concise bracket. Then we'll seed each team accordingly and put it to a vote, eventually coming up with the winner.
Now that sounds easy.
But how the hell are we going to figure out which teams should and should not be included in this tournament?
For starters, let's get the no-brainers out of the way.
1998 is a lock, and probably the favorite to win the entire thing. That team was a half away from winning it all.
1997 is probably a lock, as well, advancing to the Elite Eight before eventually falling to Kentucky.
1966 is a lock because they made the Final Four.
1961 then is a lock, as well, because they also made the Final Four.
1944 should be a lock since they own the only major championship in all of Utah athletics history.
That's five teams I believe are locks. Others that could be included:
1956 Elite Eight team that went 22-6 overall and 12-2 in conference play.
1981 Sweet Sixteen team that went 25-5 overall and 13-3 in WAC play.
1991 Sweet Sixteen team that went 30-4 and 15-1 in WAC play (this was the first 30-win season in school history).
1996 Sweet Sixteen team that went 27-7 and 15-3 in WAC play.
1999 Second Round team that went 28-5 and 14-0 in WAC play (the only Utah team to record a perfect conference record).
2005 Sweet Sixteen team that went 29-6 and 13-1 in Mountain West play.
That's six teams. We need to eliminate one. That's no easy task because I think they're all good.
So we'll put it to a vote. We'll call this a six-team elimination free-for-all!
The team with the most amount of votes will be left out and we'll move on to the ten team tournament (which will include a play-in game).
The power is in your hands.
Once we're done with this, we'll seed 'em.
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I'd take...
the ‘97 team over all the rest. I know the ’98 team went to the championship game, but I still believe the ’97 team was the best Ute team I’ve ever seen.
It’s really hard for me to judge them against any team before ‘96 though since that’s when I started going to school here.
As far as the team to eliminate. I’d eliminate the ‘05 team. Let’s be honest. That ‘team’ was all Bogut. Again, hard for me to judge the ‘91, ’81, or ’56 teams though since I didn’t see them play.
"The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance."-Socrates
I actually think 1999 was one of the best teams ever.
Then Miller injured his hand and the whole season went to shit. That team dominated the WAC. I mean, made it its bitch. Rolled through the WAC Tournament and looked like they were primed for another deep, deep tournament run.
But Miami Ohio had something to say about that. >:( That loss still hurts more than the NC because it was so unexpected.
On potential alone, I think 1999 deserves it. But only making the second round is a big knock.
As for 2005, Bogut did lift that team…but I think Marc Jackson and Justin Hawkins were really good players who helped make that team. Hawkins scored 20-points in their second round win over Oklahoma.
But 1997’s team was really good too. Hard to knock any team being led by Van Horn.
I forgot about 99
I totally forgot about that 99 game when we lost to Wally Szcerbiak(guess who they lost to? just take a wild guess……..yes they lost to Kentucky), man that game pissed me off . But we did lose Doleac to the NBA so another tourney run was less likely without a quality big man
It’s pretty tough to make a long tourney run but if you do you better take advantage(beating Arizona & North Carolina back to back was simply amazing), unfortunately we lost our legs in that 2nd half to Kentucky. it saddens me to this day we didn’t win it all in 98.
A lot.
5 of 6 is what I jumps into my head, but I’m not sure. I’ll do a little checking.
Everyone hates a pink-shirt-wearing communist.
by displacedute on Mar 17, 2010 4:28 PM MDT up reply actions
According to Wikipedia . . .
Utah was bounced from the 1944 NIT by Kentucky, then we beat Kentucky to win the 1947 NIT. Lost to UTEP in 66, then to Kentucky in 93 (2nd round), 96 (Sweet 16), 97 (Elite 8), 98 (championship), 03 (2nd round), and 05 (Sweet 16). So that’s 6 times in the last 20 years, 8 total (counting the ’44 NIT).
Everyone hates a pink-shirt-wearing communist.
by displacedute on Mar 17, 2010 4:41 PM MDT up reply actions
It is ridiculous.
And the worst part is 98. Finally, FINALLY, no Kentucky in our bracket (having been knocked out by them the past 3 times) and the only way we’d have to face them is if we get past #1 Arizona and the 97 National Championship overall #1 UNC. So we beat Arizona, beat UNC, and look who’s staring us down across the court: Ken-freaking-tucky. Again.
Everyone hates a pink-shirt-wearing communist.
by displacedute on Mar 18, 2010 10:11 AM MDT up reply actions
I don't know if we tossed it away.
It was pretty obvious that the guys had given everything they had. We weren’t deep enough to play the SEC champ after beating AZ and UNC. The Arizona game wasn’t that hard on the boys, but the UNC game clearly took a toll. They’d played their hearts out to beat UNC (the arkansas and west virginia games were pretty tough too, but we were supposed to win them).
And yes Jazzy, Kentucky was labeled the comeback kids that year because I think they had two late second-half comebacks (not just Stanford, but their elite eight game against Duke, iirc). Stupid Kentucky.
Everyone hates a pink-shirt-wearing communist.
by displacedute on Mar 18, 2010 3:54 PM MDT up reply actions
It didn't help that there was only a days rest between the UNC win and the NC game...
Had there been a longer layoff, maybe two more days, Utah probably does a bit better in that second half than they eventually did.
I think that’s what helped them greatly between the Arizona & UNC games. They had an entire week off after their big win over the Wildcats and that showed with how easily they jumped on the Heels.
Of course, the Heels, like Kentucky, roared back – but Utah had enough in the tank to hold them off.
This is why I don’t believe a non-power team can win a national championship game. They have a chance, obviously, but the talent gap- especially beyond the starting five, is just too wide.
I remember the joke on the news that year...
Utah is free of Kentucky, unless they somehow meet in the NC game.
And everyone laughed and laughed because it was not expected.
Sure enough…
What pisses me off is that Stanford should have defeated Kentucky in the Final Four. Had they, Utah probably owns a championship. Depressing.
As was the 2005 loss after getting by Oklahoma and advancing to the Sweet Sixteen. I thought that was the year we finally knocked ’em off. Nope.
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