One of the first things that coach Jim Boylen discussed in his final press conference the other day was how drastically the Utes will be changing next year, losing nearly 70 percent of their scoring and 60 percent of their rebounding production with the departure of their four seniors.

"It's going to be an interesting transition," he said.

But not just for them.

Boylen noted that 14 of the 20 leading scorers in the Mountain West Conference from this past season will be gone, along with 30 seniors. "I don't know if I've ever seen that," he said.

"You're going to see not only our team in transition," he added, "but I think, every team in the league will be in transition, which is going to make for a real interesting preseason as far as who's picked where and who's on the all-conference team, preseason. All of that. It's going to be interesting how that all shakes out."

The coach wasn't ready to predict which returning players would wind up playing the biggest roles next season -- it's too early for all of that, he said -- but he did say that the addition of his new batch of recruits will help the Utes become "big and faster and tougher, all those things" and create some intense competition for starting spots and playing time next season.

"From talking to all those guys ... those guys are going to work like they want to start," he said. "There's going to be a lot of competition at position, and that's a good thing."