Hill has decision to make with Giacoletti

Now that we have the NBA All-Star Game and Daytona 500 out of the way, let's turn our attention to other matters, such as college basketball ...

As each defeat piles up, Utah athletic director Chris Hill has to be losing sleep over what to do about his basketball program next year. The Utes are likely to end up with the worst record in more than 20 years and could end up with the worst record in more than 30 years (they aren't likely to be worse than the 8-19 team of 1972-73).

For much of the season, I've thought that coach Ray Giacoletti would be given at least another year to get him halfway through his seven-year contract. However, no matter how much Hill likes Giacoletti or believes in giving him more time to build his program, the two biggest factors in the decision may be the declining attendance and the lack of support from big-money donors. The 8,394 paid attendance Saturday has to be the lowest in 30 years and the season average of about 9,500 is the lowest in 31 years. And some of the Utes' top donors are apparently not very happy with the direction of the program ...

One of those big donors, Jon Huntsman, attended only his second game of the season Saturday at the building named after him. He left by halftime, not because the Utes were losing but rather because of a minor medical issue that required attention ...

The fans on the fire-Giacoletti bandwagon who expect a quick decision from Hill the week of the MWC Tournament may have forgotten that the Utah athletic director will have other matters on his mind that week. As a member of the NCAA Men's Basketball Committee, he'll be holed up for several days in Indianapolis figuring out who should go to the NCAA Tournament ...

It's too bad for the Utes they aren't a bubble team this year.

With wins over top teams like Washington State, Virginia and Air Force, they probably have more "quality" wins than they've had in several years. It kind of hurts, though, when you have 16 losses ...

BYU continues to be the hottest team in the MWC and should make the NCAA Tournament thanks to its high RPI number. However, the Cougars shouldn't start thinking about a trophy and No. 1 seed for the MWC tournament yet. The Cougars still have to play at San Diego State on Saturday and at Air Force the following Tuesday ...

Knowing there's still a couple of weeks to go in the Mountain West Conference season, my vote for player of the year right now would go to BYU forward Keena Young, who wasn't even on the all-MWC preseason team ...