Utes Settle Into Vegas for Anxious Wait on Postseason Invite
And now, we wait.
The Utes are staying in Las Vegas today before flying home on their regularly scheduled flight Sunday -- they flew Southwest, and all of today's flights back to Salt Lake City are full -- and there's no doubt that while they wander the Strip or relax by the pool that they'll be wondering whether they're going to play another game.
I kind of think they will.
A team spokesman said the Utes had heard through the conference office a couple of weeks ago that the inaugural College Basketball Invitational was interested in them, but that was before they finished the season by losing six of their last eight games. Nobody seems to know about the NIT -- even the NITology page has not been updated with the latest speculation yet -- but it does seem hard to imagine that a 17-14 team on such a slide would be quite attractive enough.
Could be interesting to see how this all comes down, too. I'd imagine that the Utes would rather play in the established NIT, but coach Jim Boylen said last night that he would play in any tournament that wanted his Utes. Might the CBI, then, try to secure a commitment from them quickly, thinking that the Utes would probably accept immediately rather than roll the dice on whether the NIT is going to call?
We shall see.
"We'll play in any tournament we can," Boylen said. "I think there's no better proving ground, there's no better place to grow than a one-game elimination tournament where you have to win to move on. My team needs that pressure. We need that development."
The Utes are staying in Las Vegas today before flying home on their regularly scheduled flight Sunday -- they flew Southwest, and all of today's flights back to Salt Lake City are full -- and there's no doubt that while they wander the Strip or relax by the pool that they'll be wondering whether they're going to play another game.
I kind of think they will.
A team spokesman said the Utes had heard through the conference office a couple of weeks ago that the inaugural College Basketball Invitational was interested in them, but that was before they finished the season by losing six of their last eight games. Nobody seems to know about the NIT -- even the NITology page has not been updated with the latest speculation yet -- but it does seem hard to imagine that a 17-14 team on such a slide would be quite attractive enough.
Could be interesting to see how this all comes down, too. I'd imagine that the Utes would rather play in the established NIT, but coach Jim Boylen said last night that he would play in any tournament that wanted his Utes. Might the CBI, then, try to secure a commitment from them quickly, thinking that the Utes would probably accept immediately rather than roll the dice on whether the NIT is going to call?
We shall see.
"We'll play in any tournament we can," Boylen said. "I think there's no better proving ground, there's no better place to grow than a one-game elimination tournament where you have to win to move on. My team needs that pressure. We need that development."
posted by www.sltrib.com @ 10:37 AM |
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