Troubled team sees troubles mount
Coach Ray Giacoletti looked like he had swallowed a frog.
Not only are his Utes mired in their worst start since 1982-83 - it will be the worst start since 1972-83, if they lose at UNLV on Wednesday night - but now he had to tell reporters that they have lost freshman forwards Daniel Deane and Kim Tillie, perhaps for the rest of the season.
Giacoletti spoke haltingly, as if even he could not believe what he was saying. He'd just hung up the phone with the doctor informing him of the severity of Tillie's broken left ankle, and appeared utterly shell-shocked. He clearly had not planned on addressing the possibility that Deane might be academically ineligible for the rest of the season, either, until I asked him about Deane's sputtering progress so far this season.
"We need to talk about Daniel," he said, choosing his words carefully. "Daniel, right now, as it looks, will not play" against the Rebels. "Academically, he's trying to get himself - he has this week to try to get himself eligible for the second semester."
Now, losing the players might not be that huge a blow in the strictest sense, considering neither Deane nor Tillie yet has contributed as much as the Utes would like - they have played only 221 minutes combined, and averaged 4.8 points and 3.8 rebounds - and that starter Shaun Green has shown the capacity to play major minutes and still be effective.
But the psychological impact might be devastating.
Enduring yet another painful blow on top of all of the devastating losses might only serve to further bury the Utes in a hole of self-doubt and uncertainty. They play three of their first four league games on the road, too, and could be out of the Mountain West Conference championship chase before it even really begins.
It's perplexing, too, how Deane could be coming up academically ineligible.
Giacoletti said he's not allowed to talk about the details, because of privacy matters involving academic records. But Deane is a pre-engineering major who graduated Judge Memorial High School with honors and a 3.75 grade-point average.
To me, that suggests he simply has not been attending class enough - rather than being unable to earn passing grades or keep up with the work.
The 6-foot-8 forward already has endured a rough start to his college experience, having looked almost frantic much of the time he's on the floor, almost as if he's trying so hard to play well that he can barely keep his balance or make smart decisions.
It has been a strange development, indeed, considering how heralded a recruit Deane was - he chose the Utes over Stanford, Gonzaga and Kansas - and how much Giacoletti gushed about him in the preseason being so tenacious in practice that the rest of the Utes could not rebound against him.
Not only are his Utes mired in their worst start since 1982-83 - it will be the worst start since 1972-83, if they lose at UNLV on Wednesday night - but now he had to tell reporters that they have lost freshman forwards Daniel Deane and Kim Tillie, perhaps for the rest of the season.
Giacoletti spoke haltingly, as if even he could not believe what he was saying. He'd just hung up the phone with the doctor informing him of the severity of Tillie's broken left ankle, and appeared utterly shell-shocked. He clearly had not planned on addressing the possibility that Deane might be academically ineligible for the rest of the season, either, until I asked him about Deane's sputtering progress so far this season.
"We need to talk about Daniel," he said, choosing his words carefully. "Daniel, right now, as it looks, will not play" against the Rebels. "Academically, he's trying to get himself - he has this week to try to get himself eligible for the second semester."
Now, losing the players might not be that huge a blow in the strictest sense, considering neither Deane nor Tillie yet has contributed as much as the Utes would like - they have played only 221 minutes combined, and averaged 4.8 points and 3.8 rebounds - and that starter Shaun Green has shown the capacity to play major minutes and still be effective.
But the psychological impact might be devastating.
Enduring yet another painful blow on top of all of the devastating losses might only serve to further bury the Utes in a hole of self-doubt and uncertainty. They play three of their first four league games on the road, too, and could be out of the Mountain West Conference championship chase before it even really begins.
It's perplexing, too, how Deane could be coming up academically ineligible.
Giacoletti said he's not allowed to talk about the details, because of privacy matters involving academic records. But Deane is a pre-engineering major who graduated Judge Memorial High School with honors and a 3.75 grade-point average.
To me, that suggests he simply has not been attending class enough - rather than being unable to earn passing grades or keep up with the work.
The 6-foot-8 forward already has endured a rough start to his college experience, having looked almost frantic much of the time he's on the floor, almost as if he's trying so hard to play well that he can barely keep his balance or make smart decisions.
It has been a strange development, indeed, considering how heralded a recruit Deane was - he chose the Utes over Stanford, Gonzaga and Kansas - and how much Giacoletti gushed about him in the preseason being so tenacious in practice that the rest of the Utes could not rebound against him.
posted by www.sltrib.com @ 5:26 PM |
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