Giacoletti has Utes running, gunning and grinning

Things are quite different around the Utah basketball program these days.

The players are smiling more, the coaches are talking to the media, which is allowed to watch Ute practices for a change, and on the court the Utes are running again.

Now the question is, can the Utah basketball team keep winning games the way it did for the past 15 years under Rick Majerus?

Ray Giacoletti is the man charged with continuing the winning tradition that actually dates long before Majerus' 15-year reign that included 10 conference championships. He was named coach last April and has hardly caught his breath since.

Giacoletti has been coaching his first Utah team for the past month and, two exhibition games notwithstanding, will see the fruits of his labors Friday night (8 p.m.) when the Utes open the season against Stony Brook at the Huntsman Center.

The cupboard wasn't empty for Giacoletti, who has talent to work with in Australian center Andrew Bogut, returning starters Tim Drisdom and Richard Chaney, along with guard Marc Jackson, a second-team all-Mountain West performer two years ago.

Experienced players include sophomore forward Justin Hawkins, junior forward Bryant Markson, junior center Chris Jackson and sophomore forward Jonas Langvad.

Beyond that, the Utes have some young and inexperienced players, who may see action as the season goes along.

Majerus built his teams on strong defense and Giacoletti believes that's the way to win, although he'll employ a different approach.

"Our style is to try to set the tone with our defense," he said.

"Utah has played great defense in the past with low field goal percentage defense. We'll try to get out and extend the defense a little more and hopefully our first line of offense will be our defense."

Leading the way for the Utes is Bogut, who while impressive as a freshman with averages of 12.5 points and 9.9 rebounds, is much improved after a summer of playing international competition, including the Olympics in Greece.

"I have more confidence and more shots," he said. "They'll be looking for me to score and be the primary option."

Bogut is happy with the offense Giacoletti has installed.