When asked the other day who he thought would be the biggest surprise of the upcoming season for the Utes, junior forward Shaun Green didn't even hesitate.

"This guy," he said, jerking a thumb toward junior guard Lawrence Borha, seated next to him.

Why?

"When he plays with a lot of confidence, he's hard to stop," Green said.

And if there's one thing that Borha has going for him at the moment, it's confidence. That might seem strange, considering how hard and how often new coach Jim Boylen has chewed on him during the few practices the Utes have been allowed since school began. But Borha said he feels that the new staff has a lot more faith in him than the old one did.

"Yes, definitely," Borha said. "Definitely. They have confidence in me, and I just feel like when I go out and play, it's not just him getting on me for no reason at all. When he gets on me, it just builds me up to do better.

"Last year, you would mess up, and it would be like, 'You messed up. Oh, you suck and get on the bench and you won’t play,'" he said. "This year it's, 'You suck, now you go out there and you do it better!' You know? That makes a big difference."

And Boylen has noticed.

Though he's always careful to say that Borha still has a long way to go, Boylen has singled out the 6-foot-3 shooting guard probably more than any other player in recent weeks. Boylen says Borha is "getting it" and playing hard, and seems poised to carve out more playing time for himself.

Oh, and by the way, Borha offered the best description I've yet heard for the voluminous new playbook the Utes are using this season -- after pretty much running the same six or seven plays over and over again last season.

"We have a football playbook this year," he said. "And last year, we had probably one page."