So, that was a surprise, walking into the Utes' last workout before their trip to Australia to see 7-foot-1 center Luke Nevill doing nothing but sitting in a folding chair on the side of the court.

What the ...?

"It's nothing drastic," coach Jim Boylen said later.

Evidently, Nevill has a sore groin, and the coaches and trainers wanted to give him a little extra time off before they play six games in 12 days in his native country. Nevill practiced with the team in both of its workouts Monday, before taking Tuesday off in advance of their long flight later in the day.

"He should be fine," Boylen said. "He practiced yesterday. He could have practiced this morning. We held him out. So it wasn't like he couldn't have practiced. ... It was just a precautionary thing."

Meanwhile, Boylen -- he's making a return trip to Australia, after going with Michigan State in 1989 -- said he feels as if his new team has made some significant strides in the 10 days or so it has been practicing for the trip.

"We have created that attitude of work and what it's going to take conditioning-wise to be a competitive team," he said. "We have instilled that."

Boylen said he and his staff also have tried to impart the importance of the running game in their offense, but that with only eight players available for scrimmaging, they don't have enough guys to run much.

Well, check that.

The Utes run plenty, but Boylen has made them do so mostly for toughness and disciplinary reasons. And with so few players available, he doesn't feel like he can also run them for strategic purposes, too, without just killing them and getting people hurt.

"I thought we had to change the culture here," he said, pointing to his head. "We'll get the running game later. ... Would I like to coach everything and have everything great and all that? Yeah, but that's not realistic. Nobody's like that."