The Official Ute Basketball Thread

[Senioritis]

As mentioned, Dean was a Giac recruit, but the dude had serious interest from Kansas and Stanford.

Read had offers from Michigan and the mighty Billikens and their saintly coach.

Henderson had offers from the Zags, Marquette, and Stanford.

Cyphers was a whiff.

Brown had offers from Marquette and UNLV.

I guess what I'm saying is that Boylen's recruiting doesn't seem that far off when you look at these guys out of high school. They have pretty good offers, they seem at least somewhat promising. The issue is that they all seem worse than they should be after time spent in a program. Either talent evaluation or development is the problem, and right now I'm leaning toward development.

Three other things:

Right now, Neal Monson is the only Utah kid on the whole roster. Neal Freaking Monson. Next year, Sharp will be back, and he'll be the lone Utah kid on the roster while Monson goes out to get doors slammed in his face and question his life choices. I'm not sure what needs to be done, but I don't think Morgan Grimm is the difference. Perhaps a D1 athlete from somewhere in the greater Salt Lake area would be a good start. Still looking!

JJ O'Brien, from what I saw at a couple of practices, is the most game ready freshman that Boylen has recruited to date. He's not fantastic at anything, but he's a hell of a blender and was slated to start in front of Jay Watkins. Also, George Matthews seems to be most highly regarded guy that Boylen has signed. If trends continue, I don't know that it matters. But we'll see.

Boylen took Luke Neville, Shaun Green, Tyler Kepkay, and Lawrence Freaking Borha, and won a conference title about 20 months ago. I haven't totally forgotten that, but we gotsta get past losing to ORU.

I sound like a dick in this post, but maybe that's standard.

What I'm saying is that this current roster has more talent than Boylen's ever had to work with, and it should get better next year with O'Brien healthy and Matthews. But there needs to be some progress. PROGRESS! Some matriculation of skill towards perfection, or something awesome like that.

I'm nowhere near done with Boylen, and I'm not even that pissy about him. But Utah has to be a better team in March than they are right now. That's the test.

[SeattleUte]

I sound like a dick in this post, but maybe that's standard.

What I'm saying is that this current roster has more talent than Boylen's ever had to work with, and it should get better next year with O'Brien healthy and Matthews. But there needs to be some progress. PROGRESS! Some matriculation of skill towards perfection, or something awesome like that.

I'm nowhere near done with Boylen, and I'm not even that pissy about him. But Utah has to be a better team in March than they are right now. That's the test.

Clyburn seems to good to be true. So far: 20 ppg, 48% from the field, 42% from 3, 88% from the line, 8 rbs pg. They better do something special with that guy or I'm missing something.

[Senioritis]

Clyburn seems to good to be true. So far: 20 ppg, 48% from the field, 42% from 3, 88% from the line, 8 rbs pg. They better do something special with that guy or I'm missing something.

He's very sexy. I wish, how I wish, he'd be here more than two years.

Alas.

[cougjunkie]

He's very sexy. I wish, how I wish, he'd be here more than two years.

Alas.

Do you agree with I believe it was BGR that said all of these JC players will actually buy Boylen more time but in reality it will not tell you anything about his coaching ability. They will do just enough to get by with these JC guys but two years from now will have to start all over again.

[Senioritis]

Do you agree with I believe it was BGR that said all of these JC players will actually buy Boylen more time but in reality it will not tell you anything about his coaching ability. They will do just enough to get by with these JC guys but two years from now will have to start all over again.

That is so insightful it hurts.

Right now, Utah is better because of Clyburn and because Jiggy can create a shot going to the hoop. And Kupets is a chucker, but Boylen brought in so many JC's it was almost a sure thing that a couple would contribute right away.

What I want to see is improvement outside of those two. Can Washburn keep making strides? Can Glover grow into a solid second scorer? Can Hines find his stroke? Can O'Brien look like the guy he looked like in practices before he got hurt?

You don't build long term with JCs. They may be saving Boylen's job short term, but we've got to see stuff outside of those two by the end of the year, or Boylen's not gonna make it. It will be really interesting to see. I'm yearning, yes yearning, for conference season. That's where we'll see what's up.

[SeattleUte]

He's very sexy. I wish, how I wish, he'd be here more than two years.

Alas.

I look forward to a day that our best recruits are so good we hope they stick around 2 yrs. If Clyburn keeps this up he may go lottery this year.

[KillerDog]

As mentioned, Dean was a Giac recruit, but the dude had serious interest from Kansas and Stanford.

Read had offers from Michigan and the mighty Billikens and their saintly coach.

Henderson had offers from the Zags, Marquette, and Stanford.

Cyphers was a whiff.

Brown had offers from Marquette and UNLV.

I guess what I'm saying is that Boylen's recruiting doesn't seem that far off when you look at these guys out of high school. They have pretty good offers, they seem at least somewhat promising. The issue is that they all seem worse than they should be after time spent in a program. Either talent evaluation or development is the problem, and right now I'm leaning toward development.

Three other things:

Right now, Neal Monson is the only Utah kid on the whole roster. Neal Freaking Monson. Next year, Sharp will be back, and he'll be the lone Utah kid on the roster while Monson goes out to get doors slammed in his face and question his life choices. I'm not sure what needs to be done, but I don't think Morgan Grimm is the difference. Perhaps a D1 athlete from somewhere in the greater Salt Lake area would be a good start. Still looking!

JJ O'Brien, from what I saw at a couple of practices, is the most game ready freshman that Boylen has recruited to date. He's not fantastic at anything, but he's a hell of a blender and was slated to start in front of Jay Watkins. Also, George Matthews seems to be most highly regarded guy that Boylen has signed. If trends continue, I don't know that it matters. But we'll see.

Boylen took Luke Neville, Shaun Green, Tyler Kepkay, and Lawrence Freaking Borha, and won a conference title about 20 months ago. I haven't totally forgotten that, but we gotsta get past losing to ORU.

I don't want to weigh in too much on these U of U basketball issues but I'd like to make some comments here on these kids.

Deane -- I don't know what is going on with this kid but he has the physical skills and tools. My guess is he is smoking too much weed or something. I played one on one with him a bunch his senior year of HS and he was a can't miss prospect. His offensive game was as good as any number of players who have made a career in college at a similar size (including Mekeli Wesley and Mark Madsen). He is spoiled and self absorbed so it could be that but my guess is he is toking too much for his athleticism.

Henderson and Brown -- Again, gifted basketball players but their heads are both broken. Brown's ability to get to the rim reminded me of Travis Hansen. Both were physically strong enough to get to the rim against me despite considerable uncalled hand checking. Dude could play but his head was clearly a problem. I never played Henderson but I'm guessing his problem was ego. He seemed to think more of himself than anyone else, except maybe his mom.

Read/Cyphers -- IDK what happened with these guys but I do know not everyone needs to be a star to have a good team. You do need to get guys to buy in if they aren't going to be stars. Guys who don't develop into serious playing time players need to become serious practice time players. I think Boylen is struggling to get that buy in.

I really like Jim but I think the Utah fan worry is warranted. Jim doesn't seem to be able to get consistent buy in from his kids. That is worrysome because I think he is a players coach.

[UteStar]

That is so insightful it hurts.

Right now, Utah is better because of Clyburn and because Jiggy can create a shot going to the hoop. And Kupets is a chucker, but Boylen brought in so many JC's it was almost a sure thing that a couple would contribute right away.

What I want to see is improvement outside of those two. Can Washburn keep making strides? Can Glover grow into a solid second scorer? Can Hines find his stroke? Can O'Brien look like the guy he looked like in practices before he got hurt?

You don't build long term with JCs. They may be saving Boylen's job short term, but we've got to see stuff outside of those two by the end of the year, or Boylen's not gonna make it. It will be really interesting to see. I'm yearning, yes yearning, for conference season. That's where we'll see what's up.

I agree with pretty much everything. I love Clyburn...I love Jay Watkins hustle...but we need these young guys to develop. I think O'Brien could be a HUGE step in the right direction. Glover shows flashes and then struggles. Hopefully he can improve on a decent freshman year and really develop. Washburn is another player that could be pretty good, but he needs to get stronger.

We got a buttload of JCs in there, but I actually think that the Sophs and Freshmen in this class has potential to be pretty good. It will be really interesting to see how it goes.

[Katy Lied]

He's very sexy.

[U-Ute]

Wasn't he 1 of 3 returning players? That's not a huge pool to draw from.

Utes returned 6: Foster, Jay Watkins, Washburn, Tavita, Hines, and Glover.

[LA Ute]

I don't want to weigh in too much on these U of U basketball issues but I'd like to make some comments here on these kids.

Deane -- I don't know what is going on with this kid but he has the physical skills and tools. My guess is he is smoking too much weed or something. I played one on one with him a bunch his senior year of HS and he was a can't miss prospect. His offensive game was as good as any number of players who have made a career in college at a similar size (including Mekeli Wesley and Mark Madsen). He is spoiled and self absorbed so it could be that but my guess is he is toking too much for his athleticism.

Henderson and Brown -- Again, gifted basketball players but their heads are both broken. Brown's ability to get to the rim reminded me of Travis Hansen. Both were physically strong enough to get to the rim against me despite considerable uncalled hand checking. Dude could play but his head was clearly a problem. I never played Henderson but I'm guessing his problem was ego. He seemed to think more of himself than anyone else, except maybe his mom.

Read/Cyphers -- IDK what happened with these guys but I do know not everyone needs to be a star to have a good team. You do need to get guys to buy in if they aren't going to be stars. Guys who don't develop into serious playing time players need to become serious practice time players. I think Boylen is struggling to get that buy in.

I really like Jim but I think the Utah fan worry is warranted. Jim doesn't seem to be able to get consistent buy in from his kids. That is worrysome because I think he is a players coach.

Deane's case is pretty tragic. That's all I'll say.

[Mormon Red Death]

Imagine that... Anyone can watch the Utah v Bradley game on their computer for $7.95 Go here for details. They must have some super computers to make that happen. Something like that could never happen in the mwc.

By the way Jim Les is the Bradley coach.

[Top Ute]

There's like a 5-3 rule for that, like you can bring in 5 one year and 3 the next or something. If a player leaves on his own you can probably bring in more (I'm guessing).

That rule has been gone for years.

[DrumNFeather]

That rule has been gone for years.

Good thing. We need about 6 more players!

[DrumNFeather]

Will Clyburn has 10 points and 10 boards with 2 min left in the first half. Not bad.