Utah Week: State of the Program
Posted by AMurawa on September 2nd, 2012“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” So Charles Dickens began A Tale of Two Cities and a long series of lazy writers lining up to steal that quote. Never one to shy away from a good theft every now and then, I’ll, um, “borrow” Dickens’ line to sum up the current state of the Utah basketball program. The second half of that line clearly applies to Utah at present as it comes off of its worst season in more than 100 years of basketball, but at the same time, with the Utes now members of the Pac-12 and all the boatloads of television money and exposure that comes along with it, Utah basketball is in completely uncharted waters. In a good way. Never before has the basketball team been this bad and never before has it been this profitable. Gotta love capitalism. So, when we go to sum up the state of the Utah basketball program, we’ve got to at least pay heed to the fact that while, yes, wins and losses are really the bottom line for sports fans, there are administrators in Salt Lake City who think last year, regardless of a 6-25 record, was one great accomplishment for the Utes regardless of the fact that the basketball program didn’t do any of the heavy lifting.
Show Utah the Money?
The Utah basketball program really is in a situation where there is a little bit of good to go with everything bad happening. Sure, it is probably more a credit to the football program’s recent success that Utah was invited to join the Pac-12 (after all, football is all that matters, right?), but as the saying goes, a rising tide lifts all boats, and good god, is that Utah athletic department about to be buoyed by a river of money with plenty sure to trickle down through the basketball program. Sure, the Huntsman Center, which was once a fearsome homecourt advantage, is now a 40-something-year-old venue which was regularly half-empty and whisper-quiet last year. But hey, at least this year fans across the nation – and perhaps more importantly recruits across the nation – will get to see any game the Utes play (assuming the Pac-12 Network distribution plans come to fruition at some future point). Sure, in basketball-mad Utah, the Utes are arguably running third in terms of momentum, behind BYU (UU has lost six in a row to BYU by an average of more than 17 points) and Utah State, but, um, insert the image of a fat cat in a suit and tie greedily rubbing his fingers and thumb together in anticipation of a large windfall here. Or to steal another cliché, “show me the money!”
So, for now, Utah is in a better place. Unfortunately, its debut in the big time conference just happened to coincide with the time and place when a series of bad decisions colluded to take the program to crash and burn mode. Given the history of the program, one would expect that the Utes will scratch and claw their way back up the ladder and, given their increased exposure, bring in recruits who were out of their league before. But, given that Salt Lake City may not be the prime destination for a ton of elite 18-year-old recruits, it would behoove Larry Krystkowiak and this athletic department to not let this rebuilding process take too long. It has already been just about a decade since the Utes were consistently national players under Rick Majerus, and if their slide continues too much longer, they’re going to reach a point where college age players are going to have no memory of Utah being a basketball force. Not to put too much pressure on Krystkowiak, who arrived in SLC to a barren pantry for which he was not to blame, but after the dead-ends of the Ray Giacoletti and Jim Boylen eras, this Utah basketball program needs to get things turned around, and pronto, before mediocrity becomes the rule, rather than the exception.
Andrew Murawa Likes Basketball.
