In each of his first three years at Utah, Utes men’s basketball coach Craig Smith has delivered something better for the fan base.
He started with an 11-20 record in his first season in 2021-22 and followed that up with a 17-win season. Then last season the Utes found some real success, as they went 22-15 and got all the way to the NIT semifinals.
Utah missed the NCAA Tournament, but the way they’ve played the past couple of years it feels like that berth could be coming soon.
This is a proud program, one that has made Final Four appearances previously, including their most recent appearance under the late Rick Majerus. It also won a national championship in 1944. The Utes join the Big 12 Conference hoping to make waves in their first season. Utah will have to do it after losing five of their top six players from a season ago.
Here’s a preview of the Utah Utes’ upcoming season.
Odds
BetOnline’s opening odds gave the Utes +2000 odds to win the national title. The Big 12 coaches picked Utah to finish 16th in the preseason poll. The Utes were not ranked in the AP preseason Top 25.
Three Players to Watch
G Gabe Madsen: He was the first player James signed when he took over at Utah. He’ll be the experienced player the Utes have to lean on. He is the programs single-season leader in 3-pointers made (105), fourth all-time in single-season 3-point field goals in the Pac-12, sixth all-time in 3-pointers made and ninth all-time in 3-point field goal percentage in the Pac-12. He averaged more than 13 points last season.
G Miro Little: The former Baylor recruit is probably going to get the chance to be the Utes’ starting point guard. He was buried on the depth chart with the Bears, but it’s worth reminding that he was a highly-respected recruit coming out of the prep ranks.
F Ezra Ausar: The East Carolina transfer is in line to start after a fine season with the Pirates, during which he averaged 11.4 points and 4.7 rebounds per game. The year before he was named to the American Athletic Conference’s all-Freshman team.
Biggest Strength
Shooting. Madsen is a volume shooter who hits at a high percentage. More than half of his shots came from behind the 3-point line, so defenses must focus on trying to get him to put the ball on the floor and give it up. Little has a solid reputation as a shooter, though he didn’t get to show it much at Baylor. Several of the other transfers also have a good history of not just shooting the 3-pointer well but overall. Ausar, for instance, shot better than 50% from the floor last year. For a team with a lot of new pieces having guys that can fill up the basket at a high percentage as a plus.
Biggest Weakness
Chemistry. There is just so much new with this team going into the season. When you lose the volume of experience Utah did after last season, you expect a long tail in terms of creating chemistry. But Utah must also adjust to the rigors of a new conference, additional travel and reigniting its rivalry with BYU in a conference setting. We talk a lot about what happens on the floor, but for Utah this season what happens off the floor in terms of building this team into one that is cohesive is just as important.
Season Prediction
It has the potential to be a rough season in Salt Lake City this year. Like another new Big 12 school, Colorado, the Utes lost a ton of experience from last year’s team and that experience, frankly, filled up the basket. Having Madsen back for one more year helps. But given the amount of talent that Smith lot and has tried to replace, it’s hard to see this team winning more then 15 to 17 games going into the Big 12 Tournament in Kansas City.
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.
