Utes, SUU open basketball season tonight

With several returning players and a bunch of talented newcomers, the Utah basketball team officially tips off the 2006-07 season today at 7 p.m. when Southern Utah visits the Huntsman Center.

Third-year coach Ray Giacoletti is excited about this year's team, which will consist entirely of his recruits. In addition to four returning starters, the Utes have four freshmen, who are expected to see significant playing time along with a couple of players who saw considerable action last year.

Leading the way for this year's team are sophomore center Luke Nevill, junior guard Johnnie Bryant and sophomore forward Shaun Green. Last year, Bryant, Nevill and Green were three of the top four scorers at 13.1, 11.6 and 6.4 per game, respectively.

Those three are expected to start, along with Ricky Johns, the only senior on the team, who averaged 9.0 points on 6-of-9 shooting in the Utes' two exhibition wins.

The fifth starter will be junior walk-on Chris Grant, who started 16 games last year but wasn't expected to keep his job with all of the new talent on the team. However, Giacoletti said Grant during the first month of practice earned a starting spot.

"Chris Grant is a facilitator," Giacoletti said. "He does all the little things. He talks, plays good defense, gives good effort and helps keep the team organized."

Among the new players, Daniel Deane, the 6-8, 245-pounder from Judge Memorial, has been most impressive. He averaged 11 points and a team-high 8.5 rebounds in the two exhibition games.

Others expected to make contributions tonight include freshman forward Stephen Weigh, sophomore guard Lawrence Borha, freshman forward Kim Tillie, junior center Misha Radojevic and freshman guard Curtis Eatmon.

Freshman guard Luka Drca injured his shoulder in the first exhibition game and is questionable for tonight.

SUU coach Bill Evans, in his 15th year in Cedar City, has a small team with only one returning starter and will likely play its usual matchup zone.

The tallest players are forward Orlando Greigo and center Tate Sorenson, both 6-7. Nurudeen Adepoju, a 6-5 forward from Nigeria, led the team by averaging 13 points in two exhibition games.

All three frontcourt starters are junior college transfers.

The guards are seniors Steve Barnes and Justin Allen. Barnes led the team in assists the past two years and shot 49 percent from 3-point range, while Allen led the team in steals and averaged 9.1 points last year.