1.The basketball gods are merciful. After watching the BYU/WYO game yesterday, I commented to my wife that although I thought we would beat UNM, that if we didn't look much different than we had in the last two games, that we would likely be on the wrong end of a lopsided loss in the finals. BYU is peaking right now and are playing with far more hunger and intensity that the Utes are and I honestly believe that UNM spared us the indignity of having our butts handed to us by the kitties.
2. Britton Johnson. Britton has some work to do over the summer, in the weight room and certainly at the freethrow line. I loved, however, the way he tried to take that game over and win it. Had he made his freethrows he would have. The announcer correctly pointed out that once he is near the basket, all you can really do if foul him because he is so fast and so long. I belive that next year the offense will run through his hands and that we will in the next two years see Britton simply take over and win many games for the Utes ala KVH.
3. Nick Jacobson. Nick is also a scorer in utero and can just flat out stroke it. This year he did not have the confidence to look for his own shot enough and was a freshman in every sence. He still managed to be Frosh of the Year and had several great games for us. While Spivery and Bradley have their moments, they suffer from having only two years in this system which hurts them and us, and the extra year Nick has had is obvious and to me a big part of why he is already our best guard. Nick is going to go down as one of all of our favorites and we get him for three more years and that is something to feel good about.
4. Rick Majerus will be at the helm next year. I am very proud of Dick Hunsaker and I think that under the circumstances no coach could have done better. I do think, however, that we had several problems this year that are uncharacteristic of Majerus teams. First, I have never seen us beat ourselves so often. More turn overs and poor decisions than I have ever seen. Second, the defensive intensity wasn't there. Great defense leads to great offense and we have the guns to beat people in the open court but we just gave teams to many good looks especailly from the guard position. Finally, the roles of the players continue to be ill defined. Depth is nice, but there has to be a pecking order and there has to be one or two go to people. I think Rick will cure these problems and more. I think we have seen what a difference not having him around can make. No he's not the Dali Lama but he will return us to fundamental defense and rebounding that seemed missing this year.
Overall
I am disappointed by how this year turned out but I think that Hansaker
didn't really get control of this team until about the 1st BYU game and
I can't help but think that Majerus firmaly in control all year would have
been worth at least 2 or 3 of teh close games we lost (maybe even last
night). I am proud of Nate Althof for going from a complete lurp to being
a player with enough skills that we were frustrated that he didn't dominate
the lane ala Doleac. Who would have thought he would be more than a big
body? I guess Rick was right, this was a rebuilding year. I think we have
a lot to look forward to next year with all the talent that returns and
all the new talent about to arrive our cupboard is stocked for the forseeable
future. I think we all have to be realistic about the fact that we can't
be great every year even if we are the class of this league and also we
need to realize that BYU and Wyoming being talked about seriously for the
dance is a good thing for our league. Now if someone besides us would win
a game there that would help even more. The future is bright and the disappointment
only temporary. Keep your heads held high Utes!
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