He could have been the Utah coach if he wanted the job, but Mike Montgomery evidently was more interested in going back to Stanford.

The longtime Cardinal coach taken on a new role as a part-time assistant to athletic director Bob Bowlsby, a position that will involve fund-raising and "mentoring" current coaches.

Which could prove interesting, since his former assistant Trent Johnson -- who also turned down a job offer from the Utes -- is now guiding the Cardinal team that Montgomery steered so admirably for 18 seasons.

One report said that the new position has been waiting for Montgomery since he left the Cardinal to become coach of the NBA's Golden State Warriors in 2004.

When the Warriors fired Montgomery last summer, he and Bowlsby "soon began talking" about a new arrangement, which might have been part of the reason Montgomery rebuffed athletic director Chris Hill's interest in him as a replacement for fired coach Ray Giacoletti.

Giacoletti, of course, landed the job in the first place only after Johnson rejected an offer from the Utes to replace Rick Majerus, in order to accept a pay raise at Nevada. Soon after, Johnson jumped to Stanford to replace Montgomery, and has led the Cardinal to a good-but-not-great 52-40 record in three seasons. The Cardinal also have appeared in the NCAA Tournament twice -- losing in the first round both times -- and the NIT once under Johnson.

It took a little longer than everybody had hoped, but forward Luka Drca is almost ready to show new coach Jim Boylen what he can do.

"Good news," Boylen said.

Drca finally has been cleared for full contact, Boylen said, after having had surgery to repair the torn labrum in his shoulder that had bothered him throughout last season. The Utes had hoped the 6-foot-5 sophomore would be recovered in time to play during their exhibition tour of Australia earlier this month, but Drca needed more time and -- though he traveled with the team -- did not play on the trip.

His return will allow him to fully participate when the Utes will begin limited preseason workouts on Sept. 4.

Coaches are allowed to work on the court with groups of four players at a time for only two hours per week, and Boylen said he's eager to get at least a little better feel for what Drca can do in actual competition.

Even when the Utes were practicing in advance of their exhibition tour, Drca did not participate in anything but non-contact, mostly conditioning drills, leaving him as the only player about whose abilities Boylen remains uncertain.

The Utes are about to finalize their schedule, though not quite in the way they would have preferred.

Having already lined up a home game against Idaho State on Dec. 27 to fill one of the two openings they had when they announced the bulk of their schedule a few weeks ago, the Utes have reached an agreement to play Dixie State on Jan. 9 in the Huntsman Center.

Coach Jim Boylen said he had been working to get St. Mary's to visit in that span, but that the Gaels "backed out" to play at Texas. Other sources said the Gaels are expected to get a $100,000 guarantee from the Longhorns, which is about 20 percent more than the Utes had been willing to pay.

"This scheduling thing is a fiasco," Boylen said, "and we did the best we could. ... I think we have a pretty good schedule."

The game against Dixie State will break up what had been an 11-day stretch without a game after the Utes open their Mountain West Conference season against Air Force at home on Jan. 5. After that, the Utes play at San Diego State on Jan. 16.

And speaking of former Utes -- or at least, players formerly committed to join the Utes.

Remember Nemanja Calasan?

The 6-foot-9 Serbian power forward helped Midland Junior College to the national championship after committing to the Utes last season, but was released from his commitment after meeting with new coach Jim Boylen, who didn't think he fit the program well enough.

Well, Calasan has come out all right, having landed at Purdue University. He's part of a recruiting class that has been ranked among the top 10 nationally, and will join five other newcomers on a Boilermaker team that finished 22-12 last season after losing to eventual champion Florida in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Whoa ... so that's what I get for staying away from the laptop over a long weekend.

Looks like former Utah forward Daniel Deane is going to transfer to Oregon State, according to a report in the Corvallis Gazette-Times. Actually the report is more than a week old, so shame on me for not checking in with the Beavers a little more often.

Nonetheless, the Beavers were in the market for a forward after junior Jack McGillis left the program. Coach Jay John and the Beavers are in the middle of a 10-day exhibition tour of Europe.

It will be interesting to see what becomes of Deane at Oregon State (he will have to sit out the upcoming 2007-08 season, under transfer rules).

While the report naturally doesn't fail to mention his soaring high-school grade-point average, Deane was essentially cut from the Utes back in May by new coach Jim Boylen because he apparently wasn't willing to work hard enough in the classroom to avoid the perpetual threat of being academically ineligible.

The Utes sat him out a game last season, remember, because they feared that very thing.

Even more fascinating might be how the Beavers wind up using Deane, once he is eligible. Last season, Deane was believed to have chafed under former coach Ray Giacoletti's insistence on using him as a hard-rebounding power forward, evidently believing he would be better suited as a more offensively prolific small forward.

And that just happens to be the position that the departed McGillis played for OSU.

The Utes, of course, thought otherwise, and in fact privately believed that Deane's supposed attempt during his senior year at Judge Memorial High School to play more flashily -- is that a word? -- is what helped cool the recruiting interest of the top-notch schools like Stanford, Gonzaga and Kansas that had pursued him as a power forward.

We shall see.

Watch even one practice, and it quickly becomes clear that coach Jim Boylen is hardly treating the Utes gently.

Far from it.

The new coach is constantly challenging the players and riding them about their shortcomings, to the point where I wondered whether some of the guys wouldn't end up chafing against his aggressive -- almost combative, at times -- style. Near as I can tell, though, that's not happening.

Player after player has insisted -- independently and at various times -- that Boylen's intensity is something that's desperately needed in the program, and something that all of the players welcome, even if they do sometimes suffer the brunt of his criticism.

"He's on us, but he has a purpose behind it," forward Stephen Weigh said. "He wants us all to be better. He wants us all to be the best players we can be. So long as that's always his motive, everyone’s fine with it."

Others have mentioned that Boylen is so passionate about his job and the team that it's impossible not to share the excitement. That's one thing that really helped alleviate the grind of traveling and pre-game practices during the team's recent exhibition tour of Australia, forward Shaun Green said.

"His intensity gets you up, and gets you ready for the game," Green said. "The way he talks to you before the game and during the game, you're always ready to play and give it your all for him."

Guard Johnnie Bryant agreed:

"He demands a lot out of us and is going to get every drop out of us," he said. "He's so intense to where you want to match his intensity, and if you don't, you feel like you let the team down."

The Utes already have three players committed to their next recruiting class, but they're hardly finished shopping around.

Sources said coach Jim Boylen and his staff plan to have 6-foot-4 swingman Jordan Cyphers of Kansas on campus for a visit on Sept. 15, with the possibility of getting a commitment from him then.

Of course, adding a fourth player to the recruiting class would require delaying enrollment for one of the incoming recruits or losing one of the underclassmen on the current roster, in order to fit under the limit of 13 scholarships for the 2008-09 season.

In any case, Cyphers was named for Michael Jordan, and evidently showed a talent for basketball at an early age. As a junior last season, he led Southeast High School in Wichita to a 16-5 record by averaging 15.8 points and shooting 73 percent from the free-throw line -- enough to earn second-team all-state honors. The Wichita Eagle described him as a "great three-point threat."

The Utes also are pursuing Lone Peak's Josh Sharp, a 6-7 forward who helped the Knights win the Class 5-A championship last season.

Boylen already has received oral commitments from guard Jace Tavita of Brighton High School, guard Chris Hines of Klein Forest High School in Houston, Texas, and center Jason Washburn of Central High School in Battle Creek, Michigan.

So, what's next for the Utes, now that they're finished with their foreign tour and back on campus for the start of fall classes?

That's easy -- running, lifting, shooting and studying.

Coach Jim Boylen said he plans to have the Utes lift weights early in the morning three days a week, and run 200's and 400's on the track at East High School every Sunday night. And since he's not allowed to hold basketball practice for a couple of months, "I've asked my guys to get their shooting in and do the things that they have to do on their own," he said. "It's up to them. I'm expecting them to take some ownership of that -- get their shooting in, in their free time.

"But really," he added, "besides lifting and the Sunday night run, these first 14 days back, we're going to relax a little. Not relax. Tone it down a little. You never relax. But we're going to tone it down."

Having talked to colleagues such as Michigan State's Tom Izzo, Marquette's Tom Crean and Dayton's Brian Gregory -- all of whom have taken their teams on foreign trips, albeit shorter ones -- Boylen believes his players need a break after 22 straight days of practice, travel and games on their tour of Australia.

"But I also want school to be a focus here the next two weeks, and we're going to get on the right track that way," Boylen said. "I just think they need to get away from it, and again, I want to get a good start to school. School's a big priority to me. We've raised our G.P.A., we don't have guys skipping classes anymore. We're going to keep that thing going."

Boylen also reported that former players Ricky Johns and Misha Radojevic both graduated, and that incoming freshmen Morgan Grim and Carlon Brown both earned perfect grades in their summer courses.

"If I can't trust them off" the court, Boylen said, "I can't trust them on" it.

The Utes aren't quite ready to announce anything about the final two additions to their upcoming schedule, coach Jim Boylen said today.

But not everybody is so hesitant.

When they announced their schedule last week, the Idaho State Bengals confirmed they will play the Utes in the Huntsman Center on Dec. 27, as part of a two-for-one agreement. The Utes will get two home games against ISU, in exchange for one home game at Holt Arena in Pocatello in 2008-09.

The Utes expect to add one other game, as well, but Boylen said the details about it have not been finalized. That could happen in the next few days, however. For what it's worth, the ISU Bengals finished 13-17 last season in their first year under coach Joe O'Brien.

The scary part, though?

One of their assistant coaches is Rodrick Rhodes, the former Kentucky star. And we don’t have to tell you how that Kentucky angle has played out for the Utes over the years ...

Shaun Green did not have a tremendous exhibition tour of Australia, averaging just 7.8 points and shooting only 30.8 percent -- and even worse from three-point range.

But he's trying not to worry about it.

The 6-foot-8 power forward from Olympus High School said the Utes learned on their trip exactly what new coach Jim Boylen expects of them, and that "I just need to become more of a complete player."

"I didn't shoot the ball very well when I was down there," Green said. "And he just told me to keep fighting through it because he knows I'll make shots during the season. He's not worried about that. He just wants me to get better on everything else -- defense, rebounding, passing."

That might rankle some players who have grown accustomed to being stars. But not Green. Though he was the Class 4-A Most Valuable Player as a senior at Olympus and the Utes' third-leading scorer as a sophomore last season, Green said he knows he needs to work on other aspects of his game.

"I know that ... and I knew that before he got here," Green said. "He's just going to help me with it."

Despite his personal struggles, Green said the Utes already have shown vast improvement on offense.

"We actually got to see how the system will work" during the trip, he said. "Honestly, no one could really guard us in the halfcourt. When we got into the halfcourt and ran our sets all the way through, we always got open shots. Whether we missed or made the shot, that was different. But we just got to see the system and how it worked. ... It's a good system."

Green said the Utes will be "more active" under Boylen, with "no one really standing and watching" as sometimes was the case last season when the Utes strained to get the ball inside to center Luke Nevill.

"There's a lot of plays for Luke,” Green said, "but there's a lot of plays for everybody."

Just got word a short while ago that the Utes have picked up a verbal commitment from highly regarded Jace Tavita of Brighton High School -- giving them a full recruiting class for 2008-09 already.

The 6-foot-4 Tavita -- think he's a Lakers fan? -- spent last season at Patterson Prep School in North Carolina because of academic ineligibility at Brighton. But his coach said Tavita has improved markedly in the classroom since then -- he did well in summer classes, for example -- and is "very capable" academically, suggesting the Utes have landed a good one.

After all, Tavita said he had offers from the likes of Washington State, Oregon, Arizona State, Wake Forest and Brigham Young -- though the Cougars were "too late in the game" to seriously consider. With moves like this one, it's not hard to understand why.

The Utes now have three players committed to the 2008-09 class, including guard Chris Hines of Klein Forest High School in Houston and Jason Washburn of Central High School in Battle Creek, Michigan.

What a way to finish.

Having played inconsistently amid a torturous travel and game schedule throughout their exhibition tour of Australia, the Utes capped their trip with an encouraging 85-80 victory over the Brisbane Bullets that suggests they are returning home today with far more encouraging prospects for the season ahead.

“We have demanded a lot from this group of guys,” coach Jim Boylen said. “From being early to the bus, to contact practices on game days, to extended video sessions and team meetings, the guys pulled through. Hopefully this will be a springboard to improving as a team and building a top program.”

Certainly, it looks like it could be.

Even though they had endured yet another “full-contact” practice the morning of their final game -- they did that two or three times on the trip -- the Utes managed to explode right out of the gate against a veteran professional team that won the National Basketball League championship last season by going 28-5, with a season-ending 18-game winning streak.

Center Luke Nevill scored 30 points and grabbed nine rebounds in his best game of the trip, forward Stephen Weigh had another solid performance with 21 points, and the Utes scored 37 points in the first quarter, led by 21, and held the Bullets to 37 percent shooting in the second half.

They even performed in the clutch, something they never seemed to manage last season, with guard Lawrence Borha making two free throws with three seconds left to clinch the victory.

“I was proud of my team,” Boylen said.

And why not?

The Utes were a disaster last season, and appeared at times on their trip thoroughly ready to fall back on that poor form. But Boylen clearly isn’t going to let that happen, unquestionably demanding so much more from them than former coach Ray Giacoletti did. He intentionally made the trip as difficult as possible, in order to instill a sense of toughness in a group of players that has been embarrassingly soft.

“It has been exactly what I hoped it would be,” Boylen said. “The travel was tough, the games were tough. We had difficult situations to play in, but I felt we responded well to adversity and took some small steps in growing as a team. I have said all along that this was a business trip and I feel we did a good job taking care of our business.”

Now, the Utes will prepare for the start of classes next week, when newcomers Tyler Kepkay, Carlon Brown and Morgan Grim are expected to officially join the team. Brown and Grim occasionally watched the Utes practice before they left on their trip, though Kepkay had not arrived in town yet.

In any case, it’s probably safe to say the Utes should have a lot more optimism about the future than even two weeks ago. They might not win the Mountain West Conference championship, but after watching them work out and monitoring their progress on their exhibition tour, it’s a pretty good bet they’re going to be a lot better.

The early report is that the Utes have defeated probably the best opponent on their six-game tour of Australia, winning 85-80 today against the defending national champion Brisbane Bullets.

Details will be forthcoming shortly, but the victory brings the Utes even at 3-3 on the trip, and sends them home with perhaps the most encouraging sign for the future for which they could ask.

Having spent their day off snorkeling near the Great Barrier Reef, the Utes now will face the toughest test of their six-game exhibition tour of Australia when they take on the Brisbane Bullets on Friday.

The Bullets are the defending champions of the National Basketball League, with heralded guard Sam Mackinnon having been named the captain of the Australian national team for its upcoming three-game series against New Zealand next week that will determine whether it reaches the 2008 Beijing Games in China.

The Utes have won one of their previous three games on the tour against teams from the NBL, having split with the Perth Wildcats and lost to West Sydney. (The win came by one point, but the losses by a combined 39.) And neither of those teams figure to be as strong as the Bullets, who finished 28-5 and won their last 18 consecutive games last season.

Win the finale, and the Utes will have a joyous flight home.

Center Luke Nevill probably isn't going to be coming off the bench when the Utes open the college season in a few months.

But Johnnie Bryant?

The senior guard appears poised to fill a new role in his final collegiate season, judging by the way new coach Jim Boylen is using him during the team's exhibition tour of Australia. Bryant has come off the bench in the last two games -- including a 92-71 victory over the Rockhampton Rockets on Wednesday -- as Boylen tries to acclimate him to that role.

"Johnnie seems to be embracing the role of coming off the bench and has played better as a result," Boylen said. "I thought he did a better job of leading us" against the Rockets.

Bryant scored 17 points and grabbed seven rebounds against the Rockets, a second-division developmental team in the Australian Basketball Association. It was probably his best game of the tour, and suggests he will keep coming off the bench when the college season rolls around -- despite having started 57 of 59 games for the Utes the past two seasons.

"We're just learning, every day," Bryant said before the trip. "That's the biggest thing. I think it's very good for us, and I think it's going to help us."

If the Utes had to start the season today, Boylen said he probably would start incoming junior-college transfer Tyler Kepkay at point guard and junior Lawrence Borha at shooting guard, with Bryant coming off the bench and able to play both guard positions.

That would certainly give the second group more firepower -- Bryant averaged 15.1 points last season -- and Bryant did not sound before the trip as if he would have any problems with Boylen or his methods. "He's real hands on, and he teaches the game of basketball and shows us how to pay attention to detail," Bryant said while agreeing that he likes his new coach. "Thinking of things in advance."

Nevill also has come off the bench the last two games, but that seemed to be mostly in response to his poor performance in the third game of the tour. The 7-foot-1 center undoubtedly will be back in the starting lineup when the Utes take the floor for the college season.

The Utes are nearly finished with their exhibition tour of Australia, and it's not hard to figure out why they have won only once -- and by just one point -- in four games:

They're shooting, passing and defending poorly.

According to the statistics that director of operations Jon Dykema was kind enough to forward along, the Utes are shooting just 41.8 percent from the field on the trip, and a brutal 22 percent from three-point range. Meanwhile, opponents are hitting 46.5 percent from the floor and 39 percent from long range.

And while the Utes have committed 82 turnovers compared to 66 assists -- center Luke Nevill and guard Chris Grant have been the worst offenders with 30 turnovers between them -- their opponents have enjoyed the exact opposite ratio.

Nonetheless, coach Jim Boylen was encouraged by the defensive effort in a 102-88 loss to the West Sydney Razorbacks in Sydney today -- just hours after a "full-contact practice" that itself occured only about 18 hours after an 87-76 loss to the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra.

"I felt we were more focused defensively," Boylen said. "I'm proud of the way we responded after having a contact practice this morning. Playing our fourth game in five days and holding a team to 40 percent on their home floor is a baby step in the right direction."

But the overall statistics don't show too many exciting trends.

Forward Shaun Green is having probably the toughest time among the regulars, shooting just 32 percent -- he's only 6-for-24 from three-point range -- and averaging 8.5 points and 6.0 rebounds to go with his 11 turnovers. Meanwhile, Grant has hit only 2 of 13 shots, and point guard Curtis Eatmon has strained to stay on the floor, compiling nine points, four rebounds, nine assists and nine turnovers while playing a team-low 77 minutes.

It's not all bad, though.

Forward Kim Tillie might be the biggest surprise, averaging 8.0 points and 10.0 rebounds while shooting 48 percent in only 94 minutes. Boylen has said Tillie "should be a double-double guy in our system," and praised him after making his first start of the trip against West Sydney for "playing with a sense of urgency" and being "really focused on improving."

Guard Lawrence Borha "has been our most consistent defender," Boylen said, which could result in his earning the starting job at shooting guard when the season begins. Borha has not shot well overall -- just 39.4 percent -- but he has hit 5 of 11 three-pointers while averaging 10 points and committing a team-low four turnovers.

And the Aussies on the roster?

Forward Stephen Weigh and Nevill have played more minutes than anybody else, and averaged 18.2 and 19.0 points, respectively. Weigh also has hit 11 of 12 free throws and 12 of 28 three-pointers, while Nevill has averaged nine rebounds and blocked four shots -- though he has shot poorly and committed all of those turnovers.

Mostly in the interest of getting a broader view of which players can thrive in which roles, coach Jim Boylen plans to make some changes to his starting lineup when the Utes play the West Sydney Razorbacks on Tuesday in Australia.

Big ones, too.

Neither center Luke Nevill, nor guards Johnnie Bryant and Curtis Eatmon will start. Instead, the Utes are expected go with guards Chris Grant and Lawrence Borha -- Borha is coming off a 17-point performance in a loss to the Australian Institute of Sport -- and forwards Stephen Weigh, Kim Tillie and Shaun Green.

If that sounds strange, remember that Boylen has talked a lot about how important it is for him to get to really know his new players during the trip -- what they can do, what they can't, and in which positions and situations they perform best.

In other words, everybody's going to get a chance to prove himself.

Don't be surprised, though, if Bryant winds up coming off the bench once the regular season rolls around. Boylen said he's starting to wonder whether the senior guard might flourish best in that role, and he's hoping to get a better sense of his feeling by bringing Bryant off the bench against the Razorbacks.

Maybe the Utes will have a better chance in their next game.

Having endured back-to-back losses against quality teams -- including an 87-76 loss to a team of promising young players from the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra on Monday -- the Utes will take a crack in a few hours at the worst pro team in Australia.

The West Sydney Razorbacks finished just 5-28 in the National Basketball League last season, seemingly giving the Utes a better chance at turning their trip around. So far, they have won only one game -- and by only one point -- while straining against turnovers and foul trouble.

Sound familiar?

The Utes have enjoyed strong rebounding in all three games so far, at least, and coach Jim Boylen cited that as a "continued bright spot" on the trip. But part of the reason is that the Utes are missing shots. In the loss to the AIS team, Boylen said the Utes did not finish plays in the paint, communicated poorly and did a poor job of moving the ball.

"We need to take this opportunity to continue developing our team defense and improving our defensive chemistry," Boylen said.

Guard Lawrence Borha scored 17 points in the loss to the AIS -- his best game of the tour -- but the Utes never recovered from a poor start and 19 turnovers in their first college-style, 40-minute game of the trip. They committed 26 turnovers in the 103-78 loss to the Perth Wildcats in their previous game last week, in a 48-minute, pro-style game like the one they will play against the Razorbacks.

The Utes were scheduled to tour the iconic Sydney Opera House in the morning before their Tuesday afternoon game at the Auburn Centre in Sydney. (Remember, Sydney is 16 hours ahead of Salt Lake City, meaning the game will start at midnight Utah time.)

Then, the Utes will play for the third straight day on Wednesday, against the Rockhampton Rockets, a second-division club for which Stephen Weigh once played.

The Rockets are part of the Australian Basketball Association, the national developmental league that feeds into the NBL, of which the Razorbacks and Perth Wildcats are a part.

By the way, the Utes have posted some amusing photos of their trip online -- including one of the fellas visiting the Aquarium of Western Australia in Perth.

Next up, the Utes head back to Sydney -- maybe the best city in the world, judging by my own travels and trip to the 2000 Summer Olympics -- before their next game Monday against a team from the Australian Institute of Sport that claims Andrew Bogut and Stephen Weigh as alumni.

The Utes are coming off a crushing loss in the second game of their exhibition tour of Australia, but coach Jim Boylen is hardly panicking.

Having had a night to sleep on it, Boylen phoned from the airport before the Utes flew back to Sydney and said he believes the team is coming along -- despite its 103-78 blowout loss to the Perth Wildcats on Saturday night.

"We're a little further along off than I thought we'd be," he said. "We are rebounding better than I thought we'd be. At times, our defense has been very good, and at times our defense has been very poor. We're getting it a little bit, but we're not consistent yet."

Hasn't looked like it.

The Utes impressively came back to beat the Wildcats in the first game of the tour 97-96 on guard Johnnie Bryant's basket with two seconds left, but then suffered "three bad possessions" near the end of the first half of the second game that allowed the Wildcats to lead by two at halftime and set the stage for a second-half blowout.

In all, the Utes committed 26 turnovers -- forward Stephen Weigh had seven of them, while scoring 16 points -- allowed the Wildcats to hit 15 of 34 three-pointers, and showed one of the painful traits for which they became known last season.

"What happened was, we started to struggle and they made a little run," Boylen said, "and instead of pulling together and sucking it up, we kind of separated. Guys getting snippy, guys getting frustrated, pointing fingers. When things are going well, we're great. But when they're not, we fall apart. ... That's where we have to get tough."

The Utes started the same lineup in the second game, with Curtis Eatmon at point guard, Bryant at shooting guard, Weigh at small forward, Shaun Green at power forward and Luke Nevill at center. Nevill had 25 points and 11 rebounds in the second game, showing Boylen that he could be "dominant at times."

Weigh had a hard time with the turnovers, but "it looks like he's becoming a confident player," Boylen said. "He's starting to understand the game." Bryant and Green, however, have strained to meet expectations. Green, for example, was scoreless with four turnovers in the second game against the Wildcats.

"That's a good learning lesson," Boylen said. "The great thing about these trips is it gives you examples of things you know you have to change."

The Utes plan to take the day off Sunday while they travel from Perth back to Sydney, before playing three games in three days. They spent some time after the game at Nevill's home with his family, and Boylen said "it was an honor for our team to be with Luke's family and to play in his hometown. It was important for our team to play well for him and for him to have success."

Coach Jim Boylen and his staff stayed up well past midnight in Australia reviewing game film of their 97-96 victory over the Perth Wildcats, but he made time to offer a few comments about the first game of the team's summertime exhibition tour.

"I really thought we went out there and competed," he said. "I'm proud of how we battled back after falling behind. It was kind of a bend, but don't break situation."

The Utes fought back from a 16-point deficit in the second half -- they trailed 57-43 at halftime -- and won on Johnnie Bryant's lay-up with two seconds left.

"I was a little disappointed with the way we played on the defensive end in the first half," Boylen said. "We just didn't bring the intensity that we need to have to be successful. I thought we were tentative from the start and our communication was not where it needed to be. Give the guys credit though, they did a better job in the second half."

Center Luke Nevill scored 13 of his 16 points after halftime to lead the comeback in front of his hometown fans, and Boylen said he was "very happy" with the performance.

"I'm glad he had the chance to come home and play in front of his family," Boylen said. "The arena was sold out tonight and I think that made it really special for him. ... One of the things I was most pleased with was that our conditioning was great. Luke gave us 40 minutes, which is something we really needed from him to win."

Among the other performances, forward Kim Tillie scored 10 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. However, the Utes made only 15 of 24 free throws and committed 18 turnovers. The starting lineup included point guard Curtis Eatmon, Bryant at shooting guard, forwards Stephen Weigh and Shaun Green and Nevill.

Well, this has to be an encouraging sign for the Utes.

In the first game of their exhibition tour of Australia and their debut under new coach Jim Boylen, they fell behind by 16 points in the second half against the Perth Wildcats -- yet fought back to claim a 97-96 last-second victory at the Perry Lakes Stadium on Friday.

"It went pretty well," director of operations Jon Dykema reported.

You think?

The Utes were playing a 48-minute game with only eight players against a professional team that has won four Australian national championships, using a 24-second shot clock instead of the 35-second version used in college. And while they predictably endured some foul trouble, the Utes also held together to win in dramatic fashion.

Guard Johnnie Bryant drove "pretty much the length of the court," Dykema said, and laid the ball in with two seconds left for the 97-96 lead, before Perth's Rashad Phillips missed a desperation three-pointer at the final horn.

Forward Stephen Weigh enjoyed the game of his life in his native country, scoring 32 points with nine rebounds -- and making 8-of-12 shots behind a three-point line that was nine inches farther from the basket than in college. Forward Shaun Green finished with 17 points and eight rebounds in just 20 foul-plagued minutes, while center Luke Nevill scored 13 of his 16 points in the second half, when the Utes used a 12-0 run to get back into the game.

"Coach was really happy with Luke and how he battled back," Dykema said. "They were really physical with him, but he really fought back."

That's a good start.

Now, the Utes will see if they can keep it up; they play the Wildcats again on Saturday, before taking a day off and then playing a team from the Australian Institute for Sport.

Twenty-nine hours later, the Utes landed in Australia.

That was the word today from coach Jim Boylen, who just delivered the first dispatch of the trip. There's really not too much to report at this stage, only that the flight "wasn't too bad" and that the Utes ran through a "pretty high-spirited practice" upon their arrival in center Luke Nevill's hometown of Perth in Western Australia.

Boylen felt that was important, because "I'm trying to get the guys to understand that we have to overcome all obstacles."

The Utes were scheduled to take a short tour of the city in the morning, Boylen said, before holding some meetings in the afternoon in advance of their game against the four-time national champion Perth Wildcats at sold-out Perry Lakes Stadium in suburban Floreat.

The Wildcats are led by captain Paul Rogers, a veteran center who played at Gonzaga and figures to provide a good challenge for Nevill. The Wildcats also recently signed guard Rashad Phillips, the journeyman who nonetheless clearly embraces comparisons to Allen Iverson.

Judging by the photo gallery they're posting online, it looks like the Utes made it to Australia just fine.

Now, we just have to wait to see how they play.

The Utes play their first of six games on Friday night -- that's early Friday morning, our time -- and until then, we need something to do.

How about catch up with Rick Majerus?

The former Utah coach is now running the show at St. Louis, as you recall, and he recently hired former Utah standout Alex Jensen as an assistant coach. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch has a good blog about the Billikens, including one entry specificially about Jensen and his role with the team.

Get a load of the Billiken schedule, though.

Home non-conference games against the likes of Detroit, Furman, Loyola of Chicago, Sam Houston State and IUPUI? That certainly recalls the good old days of rotten attractions for the fans at the Huntsman Center. Won't the new audience in St. Louis be pleased.

Seemingly lost amid the hoopla surrounding the football team's scheduled trip to Michigan next season was the fact that the basketball team soon will be playing the Wolverines, too.

Curious, though, the way it was divulged.

While the Utes announced that they are still finalizing details of a home-and-home series with Michigan in 2009-10 and 2010-11, the Wolverines offered no such qualifier. Athletic director Bill Martin definitively said it was a "great opportunity to get ... a strong men's basketball team on our future schedules."

Whatever the wording, though, it appears the deal is done.

The Utes are expected to play the Wolverines at Crisler Arena in Ann Arbor in 2009-10, with the Wolverines returning the favor in 2010-11. Of course, who knows who will be starring for either team, by that point?

What we do know is that the Wolverines were 22-13 last season but only 8-8 in the Big Ten Conference in the first year for coach John Beilein -- the former West Virginia coach who went 104-60 in five years in Morgantown before replacing UM's Tommy Amaker.

Center Jason Washburn from Battle Creek Central High School in Michigan has indeed committed to play for the Utes next season, as first reported on the Block U. blog.

Washburn's father confirmed today that his 6-foot-11 son committed to Boylen last Thursday, though they kept it quiet awhile in order to inform other suitors of their decision. Evidently, the "state's best big man" had received scholarship offers from LSU, Vanderbilt, Marquette, SMU, Penn State, Miami, Minnesota and Northwestern, among others -- though Michigan and Michigan State "decided to go elsewhere," Bob Washburn said.

That's when the family started considering out-of-state schools, a consideration that ended easily once Boylen became the Utah coach.

"Coach Boylen was the first one who started recruiting him at Michigan State," the elder Washburn said. "He's been after him for three years."

Washburn is a shot-blocking standout for a team that finished 11-12 last season, and enjoyed a strong showing for the Michigan Mustangs AAU team at a recent tournament in Las Vegas.

The Scout.com recruiting web site ranks him as the 33rd best center in the country, saying that he "takes care of shots that come his way. Strength is an issue but once he bulks up his game should expand. Defense is ahead of offense in high school which is natural for a guy his size/position."

Washburn is the second recruit to commit to the Utes for 2008, following point guard Chris Hines of Klein Forest High School in Houston, Texas.

So, that was a surprise, walking into the Utes' last workout before their trip to Australia to see 7-foot-1 center Luke Nevill doing nothing but sitting in a folding chair on the side of the court.

What the ...?

"It's nothing drastic," coach Jim Boylen said later.

Evidently, Nevill has a sore groin, and the coaches and trainers wanted to give him a little extra time off before they play six games in 12 days in his native country. Nevill practiced with the team in both of its workouts Monday, before taking Tuesday off in advance of their long flight later in the day.

"He should be fine," Boylen said. "He practiced yesterday. He could have practiced this morning. We held him out. So it wasn't like he couldn't have practiced. ... It was just a precautionary thing."

Meanwhile, Boylen -- he's making a return trip to Australia, after going with Michigan State in 1989 -- said he feels as if his new team has made some significant strides in the 10 days or so it has been practicing for the trip.

"We have created that attitude of work and what it's going to take conditioning-wise to be a competitive team," he said. "We have instilled that."

Boylen said he and his staff also have tried to impart the importance of the running game in their offense, but that with only eight players available for scrimmaging, they don't have enough guys to run much.

Well, check that.

The Utes run plenty, but Boylen has made them do so mostly for toughness and disciplinary reasons. And with so few players available, he doesn't feel like he can also run them for strategic purposes, too, without just killing them and getting people hurt.

"I thought we had to change the culture here," he said, pointing to his head. "We'll get the running game later. ... Would I like to coach everything and have everything great and all that? Yeah, but that's not realistic. Nobody's like that."

It hasn't been hard to notice one big difference while the Utes work out in advance of their trip to Australia. Sophomore guard Curtis Eatmon has been running the show as the point guard.

But don't be fooled.

Coach Jim Boylen still expects incoming junior-college transfer guard Tyler Kepkay to run the point next season, with senior guard Johnnie Bryant playing mostly his natural position at shooting guard. But Kepkay has not joined the Utes yet, and won't make the trip -- leaving those duties to Eatmon in the meantime.

"He's a developing player," Boylen said.

Eatmon will get plenty of practice at the point during the trip, while Bryant gets re-acquainted with his natural shooting guard position. That's where Boylen expects him to play next season -- though he does envision being able to use both Bryant and Kepkay at either guard spot, depending on match-ups and situations.

That figures to be a big improvement on last season, when the Utes had to use Bryant as the point guard for lack of any better options and tried to mix and match at shooting guard. As a result, the Utes ranked last in the Mountain West Conference in steals, turnover margin and three-point defense.

Everybody already was expecting to get plenty of minutes for the Utes during their summer trip to play club teams in Australia, since only nine players are going.

But really, it's more like eight.

Sophomore guard Luka Drca is making the trip, but isn't expected to play while he continues to rehabilitate from offseason surgery to repair the torn labrum in his shoulder.

The 6-foot-5 native of Serbia who showed an occasionally deft shooting touch while playing through his injury for most of last season has been practicing with the team as it prepares for the trip that starts next week, but he has not participated in any live scrimmage drills.

Instead, he rides a stationary bicycle when the Utes go live.

Coach Jim Boylen said he had expected Drca would be ready by now, but doctors said he's going to need a couple more months until he's back to full strength. He's not the only one nursing an injury, either.

Sophomore forward Stephen Weigh has been wearing a plastic face mask during the workouts, after breaking his nose while playing with his teammates earlier this summer. But Weigh -- like everybody else -- is expected to play plenty when the Utes travel around his home country.

So, my first thought after looking at the Utes' schedule this season?

Just wait till next year.

Not that the schedule this year is bad, by any stretch. It's just that most of the best games are on the road -- Oregon, Cal, Gonzaga, potentially Washington. What's left for the fans who buy tickets at home is a little less impressive, with the likes of Missouri State, UC Irvine and Santa Clara coming to the Huntsman Center.

Certainly, that's a much better lineup than some the Utes have featured in the past.

But next year is when the Utes will enjoy the return trips from the marquee teams they're playing on the road this season. Oregon, Cal and Gonzaga (as well as Weber State, in place of Utah State this year) all are expected to play the Utes in the Huntsman Center in 2008-09, when the Utes are loaded with experienced upperclassmen and theoretically in far better position to take advantage of the opportunity.

Still, the overall quality of the current schedule is pretty strong.

The Utes will face at least five teams that played in the NCAA Tournament last season -- Oregon (26-7), BYU (25-8), Gonzaga (23-10), Weber State (20-11) and UNLV (28-6). They also could play two others, depending on how they fare in the NIT Tip-Off Classic in Seattle.

If the Utes beat High Point and then, presumably, Washington, they will advance to the tournament semifinals at Madison Square Garden in New York City, where they could play any of four tournament teams -- Ohio State (30-3), Texas A&M (25-6), Oral Roberts (23-10) and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (26-6).

That would seem to accomplish what Boylen wants -- to test his players in difficult situations early, so they can be ready for the Mountain West Conference season. Whether that works or not, I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

The Utes are going to have plenty of tough tests in the preseason under new coach Jim Boylen, but the two opening games don't figure to be any of them.

The Utes learned today they will play High Point of North Carolina in the second game of the season at the 16-team NIT Season Tip-Off Tournament on Nov. 13 in Seattle, Wash. That makes them likely to face Washington in the second round the following day; the Huskies open against the New Jersey Institute of Technology and its fleet of 5-foot-10 mathematicians.

Should the Utes win both of those games -- hey, it's not impossible; the Huskies were a modest 19-13 last year with a losing record in the Pac-10 Conference -- they will advance to the tournament semifinals Nov. 21 at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

The entire schedule is due out soon; the Utes are working out the last few details of some times and place, though they do know they will open the season at home against South Carolina Upstate, whatever that is.

But the list of non-league opponents is indeed challenging, including Oregon in Portland, Gonzaga (and the reunion with former coach Ray Giacoletti, who's an assistant for the Zags) on the road, and Cal in Oakland. The Utes also will play Fresno State, UC Irvine and Santa Clara at home, among others.

In case you missed it, CollegeHoopsNet.com came out with a season preview of the Utes a few weeks ago.

The prognosis?

Not good.

If the folks over at CHN know their stuff, the Utes will be staying home from the postseason again amid concerns about their depth both in the backcourt and up front.

The preview ranks the Utes 130th out of the 144 teams that CHN is previewing, and just sixth in the Mountain West Conference -- though it's pretty clear the assessment is written largely off statistical information, and by a writer who probably doesn't see the Utes all that much.

So maybe he's wrong.

It has been common knowledge for some time that the Utes planned significant changes to their uniforms for next season, but they released a design sketch of them today while announcing that adidas will supply the uniforms, shoes and apparel for the team.

"The way they've treated us so far is an awesome statement about their commitment to University of Utah men's basketball," new coach Jim Boylen said in a statement.

The uniforms will eliminate the strips of black that had been featured as an accent color -- the official school colors are crimson and white -- and will not include players' names on the back of the jerseys.

Instead, in keeping with arguably the most annoying trend in college basketball -- purportedly to connote the importance of the team over the individual -- the jerseys will simply say "Utah" above the number on the back of the jerseys.

"From day one, I've said that the players and the people who are supporting this program need to take more ownership," Boylen said. "We're trying to build this program the right way. I felt there wasn't enough emphasis on playing for the University of Utah and what it means to have Utah across your chest or your back. Again, this is an outward statement toward our inward commitment to become the best program in the country."

If it works, I guess ...

The uniforms also will include numerous references to "The Muss" student section and fan club, in an effort to "connect" more with with the students.