Tough year for a tough schedule
Not to sound like too much of an apologist for such a disappointing season, but has anybody checked the RPI Index lately?
The Utes are 24th.
All right, not in the actual Ratings Percentage Index, the computer measurement that helps determine which teams reach the NCAA Tournament. The Utes are 24th nationally in strength of the schedule - the toughest in the league. Only UNLV, at 29th, is even close, with BYU at 51st and everybody else no higher than San Diego State at 66th.
Maybe that's why the 9-14 Utes have had such a difficult time this season. They're young, inexperienced and inconsistent, yes - but they weren't playing a bunch of patsies in the nonconference season the way they once did, either.
The challenge of the difficult schedule also might help explain why the Utes are creeping into the middle of the Mountain West Conference standings - they're all alone in fifth place, going into their game at No. 15 Air Force on Wednesday - while teams with better overall records (forged mostly against weak nonconference opposition) are threatening to be even worse in league play than the Utes.
New Mexico, Colorado State, Wyoming? This means you.
The Utes are 24th.
All right, not in the actual Ratings Percentage Index, the computer measurement that helps determine which teams reach the NCAA Tournament. The Utes are 24th nationally in strength of the schedule - the toughest in the league. Only UNLV, at 29th, is even close, with BYU at 51st and everybody else no higher than San Diego State at 66th.
Maybe that's why the 9-14 Utes have had such a difficult time this season. They're young, inexperienced and inconsistent, yes - but they weren't playing a bunch of patsies in the nonconference season the way they once did, either.
The challenge of the difficult schedule also might help explain why the Utes are creeping into the middle of the Mountain West Conference standings - they're all alone in fifth place, going into their game at No. 15 Air Force on Wednesday - while teams with better overall records (forged mostly against weak nonconference opposition) are threatening to be even worse in league play than the Utes.
New Mexico, Colorado State, Wyoming? This means you.
posted by www.sltrib.com @ 9:40 AM |
2 Comments:
I would be happy to give the Utes props for having a tough schedule, but they have lost to many of the patsys that they did schedule. Need I remind you of Southern Utah, how about Santa Clara or Albany, the home TCU loss was nice, so were the Colorado and Northwestern debacles. I hate to be a coach hater, but, I don't think Giac has the ability to coach these guys up.
Agreed -- although Albany is 18-8 and contending for their league title. (They're one of those teams that doesn't get any credit, just because they're far away.) On the flip side, though, the Utes did manage to beat Washington State, Virginia and Air Force. Which is probably the part that drives the coaches nuts -- the fact that the Utes have it in them to be competitive, but too often are not.
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