Do Not Adjust Your Set -- Utes Play On While Blog Takes Break
All right people, I'm afraid this will be the last blog for awhile.
Having figured the Utes would have either already played their NCAA Tournament games by now or failed to reach the postseason altogether, I'm heading off on a long-planned Hawaiian vacation while the Utes attempt to make their way to the finals of the College Basketball Invitational.
Don't worry, I'll be back in time for the championship series, if they get that far. (Our newspaper isn't sending anybody on the road at least until then, anyway, because of the expense.) But in the meantime, the blog's going to go dark for the next week while I practice mixing margaritas on the beach.
Maybe mai-tais, too.
Or, heck, maybe just straight rum ... it's been a long winter.
In any case, a few items of note as the Utes prepare to play at Tulsa in the tournament quarterfinals on Monday night. Perhaps most interestingly, the Golden Hurricane are coached by the guy -- Doug Wojcik -- whose departure from the Michigan State staff three years ago to take the Tulsa job cleared the way for coach Jim Boylen to join the Spartans a second time.
Of course, Boylen then worked as an assistant to Michigan State coach Tom Izzo for two years before landing the Utah job, and said his Utes now share a similar "Izzo mentality and background" with the Golden Hurricane -- though he was careful not to compare either team to the highly ranked Spartans.
"To say that our program mirrors Michigan State, I don't think is fair," he said. "To say his does, I don't think is fair, either. There are some similar things, but ..."
Boylen also said he has been pleased with the organization of the tournament, though it has not been paid much attention in its first year in the shadow of the NCAA Tournament and the NIT.
"We're in no position to look down our nose at anybody or any tournament," he said. "We are thankful to be playing in this tournament. The tournament organizers ... have treated us with respect. It was a classy event at El Paso. Everything we needed was there. And we're just thankful to be playing."
Incidentally, the Utes will be playing at the location that so far has set the bar for CBI attendance, with the Golden Hurricane having attracted 5,365 fans for their opening-round win over Miami of Ohio -- the most of any of the eight first-round games. The Utes played in front of 5,313 extremely hostile fans at UTEP (Boylen said he was even threatened, amid the profane jeers), which ranked a close second.
Other than those two games, though, attendance averaged just 3,303 fans -- with a low of 1,169 attending Brown's game at Ohio. How could you possibly miss that? Even Washington attracted only 3,227 fans for its game against Valparaiso. Is it any wonder the Utes feared assuring $60,000 in gate receipts to the CBI organizers?
So, anyway, there you go.
The last bit until almost April. (Oh, except that point guard Tyler Kepkay is indeed healthy, despite taking a hard blow to the ribs at UTEP. He practiced full bore today, and showed no ill effects.) Enjoy the tournaments, and we'll catch up again either for the championship round of the CBI or the opening days of the offseason.
Cheers!
Having figured the Utes would have either already played their NCAA Tournament games by now or failed to reach the postseason altogether, I'm heading off on a long-planned Hawaiian vacation while the Utes attempt to make their way to the finals of the College Basketball Invitational.
Don't worry, I'll be back in time for the championship series, if they get that far. (Our newspaper isn't sending anybody on the road at least until then, anyway, because of the expense.) But in the meantime, the blog's going to go dark for the next week while I practice mixing margaritas on the beach.
Maybe mai-tais, too.
Or, heck, maybe just straight rum ... it's been a long winter.
In any case, a few items of note as the Utes prepare to play at Tulsa in the tournament quarterfinals on Monday night. Perhaps most interestingly, the Golden Hurricane are coached by the guy -- Doug Wojcik -- whose departure from the Michigan State staff three years ago to take the Tulsa job cleared the way for coach Jim Boylen to join the Spartans a second time.
Of course, Boylen then worked as an assistant to Michigan State coach Tom Izzo for two years before landing the Utah job, and said his Utes now share a similar "Izzo mentality and background" with the Golden Hurricane -- though he was careful not to compare either team to the highly ranked Spartans.
"To say that our program mirrors Michigan State, I don't think is fair," he said. "To say his does, I don't think is fair, either. There are some similar things, but ..."
Boylen also said he has been pleased with the organization of the tournament, though it has not been paid much attention in its first year in the shadow of the NCAA Tournament and the NIT.
"We're in no position to look down our nose at anybody or any tournament," he said. "We are thankful to be playing in this tournament. The tournament organizers ... have treated us with respect. It was a classy event at El Paso. Everything we needed was there. And we're just thankful to be playing."
Incidentally, the Utes will be playing at the location that so far has set the bar for CBI attendance, with the Golden Hurricane having attracted 5,365 fans for their opening-round win over Miami of Ohio -- the most of any of the eight first-round games. The Utes played in front of 5,313 extremely hostile fans at UTEP (Boylen said he was even threatened, amid the profane jeers), which ranked a close second.
Other than those two games, though, attendance averaged just 3,303 fans -- with a low of 1,169 attending Brown's game at Ohio. How could you possibly miss that? Even Washington attracted only 3,227 fans for its game against Valparaiso. Is it any wonder the Utes feared assuring $60,000 in gate receipts to the CBI organizers?
So, anyway, there you go.
The last bit until almost April. (Oh, except that point guard Tyler Kepkay is indeed healthy, despite taking a hard blow to the ribs at UTEP. He practiced full bore today, and showed no ill effects.) Enjoy the tournaments, and we'll catch up again either for the championship round of the CBI or the opening days of the offseason.
Cheers!
posted by www.sltrib.com @ 6:20 PM |
1 Comments:
I join 40 or 60 million others (can't remember exactly how many) in anxiously awaiting the telecast of this next Utah BCI game. The Utes have the last laugh as they are still playing for all the marbles. Go Utes!
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