Utah college basketball: No ifs, ands or butts

Editor's note: This is the first of a seven-part series exploring the state of basketball in the Beehive State.

Where have all the people gone? Not so long ago, Utah was clearly a basketball state. That moniker was backed by plenty of empirical evidence.

In addition to an abundance of basketball hoops on garages and inside schools and churches, the game was backed by large crowds.

In the 1977-78 season, all four of the state's major collegiate men's programs ranked in the top 49 nationally in attendance. Out of 303 teams, BYU was third with 17,168 per game, and Utah was 10th at 13,074. Utah State and Weber State, meanwhile, were 45th and 49th respectively. The Aggies averaged 8,190 per outing, and the Wildcats drew 7,675.

That summer, the National Basketball Association's New Orleans Jazz relocated to Salt Lake City.

The return of professional basketball, which previously existed in the form of the American Basketball Association's Utah Stars from 1970-75, hardly put a dent in college attendance the first season.

BYU, in fact, moved up to second in the nation in 1978-79 with a bump to 19,787. Utah (12,114), Utah State (8,077) and Weber State (7,813) ranked 16th, 45th and 51st, respectively, that year among 306 programs.

The season was capped by the legendary NCAA Final Four pitting Larry Bird and "Magic" Johnson at the Special Events (now Huntsman) Center.

In the years that followed, however, college basketball in Utah has endured some serious peaks and valleys.

BYU went from an average of 22,506 in 1980-81 to a low of 8,430 in 1997-98. That was the same season Utah reached the NCAA championship game. The Utes' attendance peaked two years earlier with 14,281 per game. They're currently in a valley, though, with just 8,565 clicking the turnstiles this season.

Weber State has endured a major drop as well. The Wildcats drew 9,808 fans in 1979-80 and fell to 3,577 in 2007-08.

In the meantime, Utah State has bucked the trend. The Aggies are drawing an average of 9,554 fans this season, up from a low of 6,193 in 1981-82.

The Jazz, meanwhile, have also enjoyed some success. Since moving out of the Salt Palace in 1991-92, they've hosted an NBA All-Star Game and two championship finals. It's been almost a dozen years, though, since the national spotlight shined on basketball in Salt Lake City.

College football has stolen the show.

Utah has gone undefeated twice while reaching the Bowl Championship Series, and BYU has also returned to the national stage.

Has the local landscape changed? Is Utah still a basketball state? Can the sport rebound inside the Beehive State?

Only time — and perhaps attendance — will tell.

e-mail: dirk@desnews.com

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