Nevill Taking Crucial Next Steps
The final words of the question were not even out of the reporter's mouth at the annual Mountain West Conference media day in Las Vegas, and already coach Jim Boylen had an answer about what he felt senior center Luke Nevill needed to do to improve this season.
"Rebound," Boylen said.
His 7-foot-1 center grabbed 6.7 rebounds per game last season to lead the team and rank fourth in the league. But Boylen wants him to haul down more like nine or 10 per game -- both to help Nevill become a first-round pick in the NBA Draft and help the Utes improve on their 18-15 record from last season.
"He's kept his weight up and his body fat down," Boylen said. "He's spent more time with his teammates, and he's bought in more to the things that I think are important."
Just as we suspected, the Utes were picked to finish fourth in the media poll that was released at the annual media day, behind UNLV, Brigham Young and San Diego State. They did not receive any first-place votes, but Nevill was voted to the preseason all-conference team.
For his part, Nevill believes he can improve his rebounding numbers if he crashes the boards more and hold his box-out less. He said he did that last season to try to assure that at least his teammates could grab rebounds, but is willing to be more aggressive going after the ball -- particularly out of his area -- this coming season.
And speaking of being more aggressive, Nevill acknowledged that he has made more of an effort to connect with his teammates, reflecting on Boylen's urging to become enough of a leader to "run the team." Nevill said that spending much of the summer together with his teammates -- something that hadn't really happened before, when players scattered for the summer -- "has really improved our team chemistry. We kind of gelled together a lot better and that relationship off the court has really helped out on the court."
"We knew we had an OK relationship off the court, all the guys," he added, "but I knew that my relationship with the guys wasn't as strong as it needed to be for me to be a leader of the team. For me to be able to say something to one of the guys on the team and for them to be, like, ‘OK, yeah.'"
"Rebound," Boylen said.
His 7-foot-1 center grabbed 6.7 rebounds per game last season to lead the team and rank fourth in the league. But Boylen wants him to haul down more like nine or 10 per game -- both to help Nevill become a first-round pick in the NBA Draft and help the Utes improve on their 18-15 record from last season.
"He's kept his weight up and his body fat down," Boylen said. "He's spent more time with his teammates, and he's bought in more to the things that I think are important."
Just as we suspected, the Utes were picked to finish fourth in the media poll that was released at the annual media day, behind UNLV, Brigham Young and San Diego State. They did not receive any first-place votes, but Nevill was voted to the preseason all-conference team.
For his part, Nevill believes he can improve his rebounding numbers if he crashes the boards more and hold his box-out less. He said he did that last season to try to assure that at least his teammates could grab rebounds, but is willing to be more aggressive going after the ball -- particularly out of his area -- this coming season.
And speaking of being more aggressive, Nevill acknowledged that he has made more of an effort to connect with his teammates, reflecting on Boylen's urging to become enough of a leader to "run the team." Nevill said that spending much of the summer together with his teammates -- something that hadn't really happened before, when players scattered for the summer -- "has really improved our team chemistry. We kind of gelled together a lot better and that relationship off the court has really helped out on the court."
"We knew we had an OK relationship off the court, all the guys," he added, "but I knew that my relationship with the guys wasn't as strong as it needed to be for me to be a leader of the team. For me to be able to say something to one of the guys on the team and for them to be, like, ‘OK, yeah.'"
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