Future looking brighter for Utes

A year after winning 29 games, advancing to the Sweet 16 and producing the national player of the year, the Utah basketball team took a bit of a nosedive, failing to make postseason play for the first time in 12 years and finishing with a losing record for the first time in 17 years.

The Utes finished 14-15, in sixth place in a mediocre Mountain West Conference. They did upset rival BYU in the first round of the MWC tournament, one of two wins over their rivals, who tied for second in the conference. But on the whole, it was a season to forget for Utah.

Second-year coach Ray Giacoletti knows better than anyone what a tough season it was and doesn't want to make excuses, except to say the Utes didn't have enough experience.

"Obviously we would have liked to have a better record," he said. "But the reality is, we had three freshmen and two sophomores playing a lot of minutes."

Giacoletti knew it would be a struggle this year after losing Andrew Bogut and Marc Jackson, along with underclassmen Justin Hawkins and Richard Chaney, who both transferred. It also hurt when 6-foot-10, 250-pound recruit Misha Radojevic suffered a season-ending knee injury a month before the season began.

The Utes were wildly inconsistent early in the season, beating Rhode Island and Utah State, but getting blown out by Washington State and Arizona. By early February, the Utes looked to have turned their season around after beating BYU by 19 points and knocking off eventual league champion San Diego State on the road during the same week.

Instead, the Utes lost consecutive home games in almost identical fashion to Colorado State and Air Force, giving up leads in the final 30 seconds and allowing their opponents to sink 3-point baskets.

If the Utes had won those two games and one of the final two road games at UNLV or TCU, they would have ended up 17-12, which looks much better than 14-15.

"That was my biggest disappointment, not finishing the season stronger," said Giacoletti.

The Utes did have several positives come from the season, including the rapid development of freshman center Luke Nevill and the improvement over the course of the season of sophomore guard Johnnie Bryant.

The Utes didn't get as much out of their seniors as expected. Bryant Markson tried to carry the load, but was more suited to be a complementary player. Chris Jackson started the first half of the season but saw his minutes diminish as the season progressed. Tim Drisdom struggled with his conditioning and was hardly a factor in his senior season.