A year ago, the Utes were going through finals week worried about the academic fortunes of freshman forward Daniel Deane. They even held him out of the Mountain West Conference opener last season, out of fear that he might wind up ineligible.

But coach Jim Boylen said he has no such concerns about any of his players this season.

While the Utes spend the week finishing up the semester in advance of their home game against Missouri State at the Huntsman Center on Saturday, Boylen said he's not worried about the eligibility of any of his players for the second half of the season.

"I don't have any guys that I'm worried about that won't be eligible," he said. "I'm a big believer in 'preventative maintenance,' and I think we've done a lot of that. Do I have a couple of guys who I'm on to do better and to not be average students? I do."

Of course, Boylen did not name names, but the question I asked allowed him to yet again make his point about the culture of mediocrity that he's trying to overcome.

"We are still fighting a culture in this program where my players were allowed to be average, and it was accepted," he said. "And we're going to change that. We have changed it. It's not where it needs to be, but we're fighting that on all levels. And I'm going to keep fighting the good fight, and we're going to build this thing with guys who think that an A is acceptable, not a C. That think winning is acceptable, not just playing hard."

Deane, of course, was thrown out of the program shortly after Boylen took over last spring, and has since transferred to Oregon State. The Utes said he was released because he did not "buy into" their emphasis on academics and graduation.

"My guys are doing well in school," Boylen said, "and we need to finish it off, similar to a game. We've done enough to be in the game, academically, now we have to finish it off. Again, I think that's a big part of this process. My guys are students first, and they're young men who go to school."