U.'s Giacoletti happy with debut year

Ray Giacoletti calls the year since he was named head basketball coach at Utah "a 12-month blur."

It was a year ago this week that Giacoletti was selected to take over the Ute program. If you'd told him at the time he'd go 29-6, run away with the Mountain West Conference championship and make the NCAA Sweet 16, he'd have gladly taken it. And also said you're crazy.

It turned out to be the best first season — by far — for a basketball coach in Utah history. Better than Vadal Peterson, Jack Gardner, Rick Majerus . . . all of them.

Giacoletti called his first Ute season "beyond our expectations." When asked about any disappointments, he just smiled and said he had no gripes. What could he complain about?

Sure, there was the disappointing defeat to Kentucky in Austin last week and the two late-season losses to New Mexico. The 26-point loss to rival Utah State in early December was an embarrassment, while the early losses to Washington and Arizona were close games against top-flight teams.

Otherwise, it was all positive for the Utes, including an 18-game winning streak over a two-month period, wins over Colorado and LSU, and wins over UTEP and Oklahoma in the NCAA tournament.

The Utes ran their offense through Andrew Bogut, which likely helped him become a AP first-team All-American and a top candidate for national player of the year honors.

Marc Jackson returned to the team after a one-year layoff and earned first-team all-MWC honors. Bryant Markson blossomed once he got the chance to start and ended up becoming a third-team all-MWC player.

Justin Hawkins suffered from bouts of inconsistency, but had several strong games down the stretch once he became healthy. Tim Drisdom was steady, though unspectacular, at point guard while Richard Chaney had some good games early in the year before breaking his hand.

Giacoletti is already moving full speed toward next season. He's leaving for the Final Four in St. Louis today and will have plenty of activities going on, many to do with the accomplishments of Bogut.

Then he has a week for recruiting high school juniors before the signing period, when he expects to add another player for next year, and more recruiting from April 15-30.

Looking ahead to next year's team, Giacoletti hopes to be two-deep at every position, unlike this year when the Utes were forced to play Bogut and Jackson for 40 minutes on several occasions.