Alleged Pushover Shocks the Utes
Talk about an uninspiring way to open the season.
The Utes lost to a Division II team today, falling 80-79 to Southwest Baptist of Missouri at the Huntsman Center when they couldn't manufacture a game-winning shot in the final 10 seconds after the Bearcats missed the front-end of a one-and-one opportunity.
Harbinger of things to come?
Finishing close games was a problem for the Utes last season, as everybody knows, and this was not an example to inspire much confidence.
Though the Utes were out of timeouts and not able to set anything up after Tomas Brock missed his free throw, guard Lawrence Borha didn't create the greatest shot in traffic at the other end -- and coach Jim Boylen later said that guard Tyler Kepkay was wide open, implying that Borha should have kicked it out for a better look.
Still, Boylen was not ready to hammer his team over its shortcomings. After all, the Bearcats buried 16 three-pointers, though certainly not all of them were contested.
"Give them credit," Boylen said. "I'd like to sit here and rip us -- 'we didn't do this, didn't do that.' I thought we did some good things. We didn't make enough plays to win."
Not many of the Utes played especially well, either.
Center Luke Nevill had 28 points and 14 rebounds, but he also had six of the team's 11 missed free throws that "killed us." Forward Kim Tillie was disastrous offensively, missing all six shots he took -- though he did grab seven rebounds -- and forward Carlon Brown played only 13 minutes after sitting the bench most of the first half as punishment for some careless play.
Forward Shaun Green scored 15 points and grabbed nine rebounds, and Borha was the only other Ute in double-figures with 10 points.
Most disturbingly to Boylen, though, is the fact that his supposedly defensive-minded team gave up 64 shots and 80 points to an undersized team that played the last nine minutes without its best player -- center Matt Rogers, who fouled out.
"I didn't like that at all," he said.
The Utes lost to a Division II team today, falling 80-79 to Southwest Baptist of Missouri at the Huntsman Center when they couldn't manufacture a game-winning shot in the final 10 seconds after the Bearcats missed the front-end of a one-and-one opportunity.
Harbinger of things to come?
Finishing close games was a problem for the Utes last season, as everybody knows, and this was not an example to inspire much confidence.
Though the Utes were out of timeouts and not able to set anything up after Tomas Brock missed his free throw, guard Lawrence Borha didn't create the greatest shot in traffic at the other end -- and coach Jim Boylen later said that guard Tyler Kepkay was wide open, implying that Borha should have kicked it out for a better look.
Still, Boylen was not ready to hammer his team over its shortcomings. After all, the Bearcats buried 16 three-pointers, though certainly not all of them were contested.
"Give them credit," Boylen said. "I'd like to sit here and rip us -- 'we didn't do this, didn't do that.' I thought we did some good things. We didn't make enough plays to win."
Not many of the Utes played especially well, either.
Center Luke Nevill had 28 points and 14 rebounds, but he also had six of the team's 11 missed free throws that "killed us." Forward Kim Tillie was disastrous offensively, missing all six shots he took -- though he did grab seven rebounds -- and forward Carlon Brown played only 13 minutes after sitting the bench most of the first half as punishment for some careless play.
Forward Shaun Green scored 15 points and grabbed nine rebounds, and Borha was the only other Ute in double-figures with 10 points.
Most disturbingly to Boylen, though, is the fact that his supposedly defensive-minded team gave up 64 shots and 80 points to an undersized team that played the last nine minutes without its best player -- center Matt Rogers, who fouled out.
"I didn't like that at all," he said.
posted by www.sltrib.com @ 7:07 PM |
4 Comments:
I know, all those that hate me will be all over this. BUT C'MON PEOPLE, this is absolutely not acceptable. Losing to a Division II program, serious, "let's be patient and give boylen time." This guy is a horrible, horrible coach. He can't call a play in the final seconds of a game, how many games do we have to lose before people understand we hired a cheerleader, who has never been a head coach. He was not able to recruit ONE local kid from the state of Utah, he does NOT HAVE IT. Please Chris Hill, fire this guy, he is worthless. And go ahead and yell in the microphone when you fire him, he doesn't seem to understand that you can just talk into an electronic device. BULLWINKLE MUST GO!
Last year when I said Coach Boylen didn't have a clue I became the most hated person on here. This is Chris Hill's fault, you don't turn a storied program over to a first time coach no matter what his resume and references say. Everybody keeps talking about we don't have D1 talent...What? Coach Boylen doesn't know how to evaluate talent.
1) He in one year has taken 26 ppg scorer in Kepkay and forced him to play point.
2) Placed a four year starter at point Carlon Brown at forward.
3) Reduced an all time New York City high school scorer in Lawrence Borha to single digit scorer and sometime defensive stopper.
4) Made Luke Nevill even softer than he was under Giac
5) Gave jc recruit 6'9" Nemanja Calasan his release to sign with Purdue because he didn't want to waste a scholarship.
I can go on but I'm getting sick at the thought of the Boylen Lovers on here who defend a coach who supposedly coached big men in the NBA, yet in two years he can't seem to get Luke to post up smaller players from more than 10-12 feet away from the basket.
At some point everyone needs to stop drinking his kool aid
This is very enjoyable and I am hoping the Boylen entertainment continues for a long, long time. With the Ute football program doing so well, it is nice to be able to watch the demise of Utah basketball. Southwest Baptist?
Our 3 Trolls must be disappointed...
An admittedly embarrassing loss, they are dumping bucket of chum in the water and yet no bites...
I guess it is still football season and Ute Nation is focused elsewhere.
I will waste just a little breath (ink? pixels?) on this... Don't worry about trying to predict failure for Boylen. You don't have to lecture Utah fans on Basketball.
One game is not going to send Ute fans off the cliff (sorry)and if the body of work is not up to snuff then Utah will make a change.
I am not a prophet, but I would guess that "bigutefan" and "ranwithaute" will get to predict the doom of Boylen for a long time to come.
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