Utes Already Receiving Votes in Top 25 Poll
If you believe that coaches know a lot more about basketball than writers do -- and who doesn't? -- then you'll be pretty interested in the preseason USA Today/ESPN Top 25 coaches poll.
That's because the Utes -- the same Utes who won only 11 games a year ago and never came within two time zones of a top 25 poll -- received four points in the balloting, eight less than rival Brigham Young and two more than Utah State.
Coach Jim Boylen's response?
"Interesting," he said.
Interesting, indeed.
Trying to figure out just how the Utes accumulated those votes, and which coaches might have voted for them, is the fun part. Since teams get 25 points for a first-place vote and 1 point for a 25th-place vote, the Utes could have received four 25th-place votes, one 22nd-place vote, or some combination.
The most likely coach to have voted for them, in my opinion, is San Diego State's Steve Fisher, who talked them up quite a lot during the Mountain West Conference annual preseason meetings in Denver last week. And just so you know, Boylen's former boss -- Michigan State's Tom Izzo -- is not among the 31 coaches who vote in the poll.
By the way, the Utes are scheduled to play two teams that are ranked in the preseason poll. Oregon is ranked No. 13, while Gonzaga is ranked in a tie for 14th place with Texas A&M. Predictably, no Mountain West teams made the top 25.
That's because the Utes -- the same Utes who won only 11 games a year ago and never came within two time zones of a top 25 poll -- received four points in the balloting, eight less than rival Brigham Young and two more than Utah State.
Coach Jim Boylen's response?
"Interesting," he said.
Interesting, indeed.
Trying to figure out just how the Utes accumulated those votes, and which coaches might have voted for them, is the fun part. Since teams get 25 points for a first-place vote and 1 point for a 25th-place vote, the Utes could have received four 25th-place votes, one 22nd-place vote, or some combination.
The most likely coach to have voted for them, in my opinion, is San Diego State's Steve Fisher, who talked them up quite a lot during the Mountain West Conference annual preseason meetings in Denver last week. And just so you know, Boylen's former boss -- Michigan State's Tom Izzo -- is not among the 31 coaches who vote in the poll.
By the way, the Utes are scheduled to play two teams that are ranked in the preseason poll. Oregon is ranked No. 13, while Gonzaga is ranked in a tie for 14th place with Texas A&M. Predictably, no Mountain West teams made the top 25.
posted by www.sltrib.com @ 5:02 PM |
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home