New Faces, New
Expectations
This Wednesday, October 24th
the University of Utah basketball team will kick off their 2012-2013 season
with “Runnin’ Utes Night” at the Jon M. Huntsman Center. This will be a scrimmage free to fans and
will start at 7 p.m. For the casual Utah
basketball fan, this scrimmage can serve as an opportunity to get to know the
names and faces of almost an entirely new team.
Despite the
6-25 record from last season, these new faces provide promise and hope for the
upcoming year. Over the past year, the
Runnin’ Utes have gotten big men, playmakers, and guys who they hope can
provide consistent outside shooting.
These are all areas where the Utes struggled last season. Look everywhere from transfers, to JUCOS, to
incoming freshman to all make an immediate impact on this year's squad.
Let us not
forget the big man, Jason Washburn, whose game seemed grow as the season
prolonged last year, as he ended up being the Utes leading scorer, rebounder,
and shot blocker. The senior had little to
no help in the post last season, being the only player on the team over
6’7. However, this year will be
different with help from Renan Lenz, a 6’9 forward and Brazilian native, who
will give assistance to Washburn at the center position and provide size when
he plays the power forward spot.
Freshman, Jordan Loveridge, who is possibly the most anticipated player for the upcoming
season, was an ESPN Top 100 recruit and is the program's highest-rated recruit
in recent memory.
Many Utah fans hope
Loveridge will help restore the program to its old winning ways in his years up
on the Hill.
It looks like this year
Loveridge will spend a majority of his time at power forward due to the injury
and loss of big man David Foster, who re-injured his foot in preseason
practices and will have to miss the entire 2012-2013 campaign.
There is certainly no shortage of
wing players this year for the Runnin’ Utes. Junior, Aaron Dotson will most
likely fill one wing spot to add athleticism, experience, and maturity to the
team. As a freshman at LSU, Dotson
started 17 games, then as a sophomore started 21 more before transferring to Utah. Senior, Jarred DuBois, who transferred to
Utah as graduate student from Loyola Marymount University, will mostly likely
fill the other wing. DuBois will help offensively,
as he averaged double-digit points in the three full seasons at LMU, and
defensively with his aggressive parameter defense. He may also see time at point guard in some
situations. There are several other
players who could see time as a wing, including freshman Justin Seymour, a
natural scorer and deep threat, freshman Dakarai Tucker, a long and athletic
young talent, and senior Cedric Martin, who started 31 games for the Runnin’
Utes last season and shot 37% from behind the arc.
One of the
biggest areas the Utes struggled last season was the lack of a floor
general.
The team struggled not having
someone who could create for others, set up the offense, or handle the ball
without turning it over.
The
unquestioned answer to these problems is transfer point guard Glen Dean.
The junior is a transfer from Eastern
Washington University where he led the team in scoring and assists both his
freshman and sophomore year.
He was
named Big Sky freshman of the year, and his sophomore year he averaged 13.3
points and 4.2 assists per game and shot 41% from three-point land while
earning a second-team All-Big Sky Conference selection.
Dean looks to be close to being back to full
strength after having
brain surgery last December to repair a ruptured blood
vessel in his brain.
Freshman, Brandon
Taylor may also see some time as the point guard.
Expect
Coach Larry Krystkowiak to have this team solid fundamentally and playing with
tremendous effort. Despite the poor
record last season, the team was very good defensively. It appears through the first few days of
practice, defense has been the main focus yet again. The Runnin’ Utes will open with an exhibition
game Friday, November 2nd at the Huntsman Center at 7 p.m. against
Simon Fraser, then will have their first regular season game at the Huntsman
Center on Friday, November 9th versus Williamette. The Utes will continue against a fairly weak
non-conference schedule until they start playing the powers of the PAC-12 in
early January.
Regardless of the performance of the team on the court, no team in the country can match the
Utes performance off the court.
Starting
in July, senior Jarred DuBois and others
began making and delivering sandwiches to the homeless in Pioneer Park.
With
coaches and media unaware, more and more players started going and dropping off
sandwiches and it became a tradition for the team every Sunday afternoon.
These actions show the caliber of people
these players are.
We should be proud
they are representing not only the basketball program, but also the
University.
Be sure to follow
@TheMUSS on Twitter for information regarding the upcoming season!
The MUSS and Utah Athletics has exciting news for the Pac-12 Basketball Tournament in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand, starting on March 13th.
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