Question of the Day: Utah coach Craig Smith says his team is excited for the NIT. What’s your lev…
Got another question up on our Facebook page here the youths Utah coach Craig Smith says his team is excited for the NIT what is your level of excitement I have very little level of excitement for it but I think it’s important for Utah’s perception and I think it’s important for Craig Smith and
His perception as a good coach got to win the games that are in front of you regardless of whether they’re high level games Medium Level games lowlevel games if you turn around and lose to Irvine who’s a decent team that’s just a bad look for your team and you know you’ve been struggling
To find any level of consistency pretty much since the conference season started and you lost a couple of ball games at home one was in triple overtime and then the other one was inexcusable uh to losing to you know you lose a triple overtime game to Arizona
Okay all right that it’s not fine but but they it’s not terrible yeah but they’re losing the ASU lousy team I was I texted Jake Scot because he was wondering why they’re so bad oh because they have six guys who are playing in the NCA tournament now that are not on
The team yeah I mean they were all there yeah they could have been a good team right right but they all split yeah so I mean that’s what when you got the N nil nil so what are you going to do uh now losing then to Irvine I think is a bad
Look upon the program so I wouldn’t be jumping up and down if you want it this particular I’m just speaking of this game but certainly it’s a bad look and this team’s perception wise I don’t think there is a lot of excitement around the team for what they’re trying to
Accomplish so that’s the way I look at this game I look at any game that you play I always look at the NIT as another game you know and and if you’re playing a game most likely the objective ultimately is to win the game and this
Is like a I view these as non-conference games in a in a respect that you know you’re playing to win if they should win it all I guess you celebrate at that it’s a tournament but it’s to me it’s like one of those non-conference tournaments you want to win and if you
Win you feel good about yourself because you you’re playing the team’s got referees the lights are on and so forth and particular at the college level you just don’t get that many chances you know how many games are you going to have if if you stay at any place for
Four years and play I guess five the ball park 30 Games a year 120 games that’s just it goes by in a Flash every time you talk to a senior and every senior man woman says the same thing I can’t believe how fast it went by I mean
They say that every year without fail every senior who’s ever put on a uniform in any sport so take advantage of it you Pro I assume you like your guys you like your gals that are on your team and this thing is going to go away as soon as you lose or
Next week whatever comes first it’s going to go away so take advantage of that but I think this is a bigger issue now for Utah you look at Irvine they come up here you know they had a good season no doubt about it right and and they lose one game in their situation
With the big West I can’t really crack on them because in a one game Deal pretty much any team can lose a game uh in in that situation so you have that so they didn’t get the NCA so they’re disappointed if they would have lost if
They lose tonight they still had a good season for what Irvine is about but Utah is about something higher and you’re at home you you cannot afford to lose in terms of momentum of the program you understand that does that make sense 100% I mean you’re trying to create some
Momentum so anything you can do I mean the the number one thing Smith could sell right now is I got a pile of nil money that that would be awesome the second and he can’t really control that the second thing he can control is we’re an NCA tournament team well that’s
Gotten away from them so the third thing is hey we won 20 games we won 22 games whatever and the big West is seen as a couple levels lower I mean you’re about to go into the Big 12 next year which selling point seen as the best league
And it’s a selling point so it’s like well yeah we play these guys we of course we win so if that’s going to be your message we’re a 20- win team we’re going to well this would be win 20 if you get it yeah and this is a good team
In what’s viewed as a lower league so beat them they’re a good team I think run for what they’re about good team I think they’re a good program that coach has been there i’ have to look up but he’s been there at least a decade and
They have been a 20-ish win team most of that time and so they’re good and they should be you could throw a net around that area and town in Southern California you ought to be able to get a few good players to go to UC Irvine yeah
I mean I’ve been there I’ve covered games there it’s not a bad place the Bren Center hello re nice place to live you’re a little bit away from all the hustle and bustle and all that type of stuff but I think For What by or Utah’s trying to accomplish they’re trying to
Build momentum and they’re trying to have selling points now you have to have the cash it’s just a fact of life these you you talk to any coach and they’ll tell you mark Pope has been talking about that says that he’s spending what
Did he say 60% of his time on nil uh I think he said that earlier at some point in the season so that’s the reality of it uh and that’s that’s got to take care of itself and it’s got to be there uh and then but then you have to build
Other stuff and right now Utah to me needs some more selling points I think going in the Big 12 playing a great schedule playing in front of packed houses where basketball and these communities that they go go in really really matters it matters far more than
It did in the Pack 12 just just just a fact life not even close the atmospheres are going to be so much more energized I BYU fans can speak to that already yeah they weren’t in the Pack 12 but they that’s a selling point that Craig Smith
And his guys need they can tell you how crazy it is in some of these Arenas I mean West Virginia was you know certainly not an elite team in the league but it was a great environment it’s the Blue Ridge Mountains there you go saying [Laughter] saying
It and then you will go into Colorado you’ll be in the Rocky Mountain High and then I think being able to sell BYU as a league game I think is important because you know that those games will be emotional both Arenas will be packed and it’ll be fun we talk a lot about
Football but I think that bringing back basketball in this rivalry is important for both programs and I think it’s more important for Utah because BYU has a tendency to fill that place far more often than the Huntsman Center is and then when those guys come in here uh I assume they’ll
Play twice I would think that they’d be smart enough to do that you would think uh and and put them in a home and home situation and that’s that would be a jolt so this program I I think I can say desperately and I don’t want to use the word
Desperately lightly but I think I can say desperately needs a jolt I think in this circumstance and the reason why I feel like I can use it is actually a positive not a negative and why I say it’s a positive because the program has been good many many times in over a long
SPI of time it’s not like they just had a little run and then they went away no this program has been very good over an extended period of time and they know what it’s like to have packed houses and nationally ranked teams and local good players and good players from out of the
State and to go on to the NBA that’s all been a part of Utah basketball’s DNA that’s it’s inarguable and that’s why they need that jolt to get back to it because the standard has been high I think that if it were a negative it would be they need
To finally get there no they need to get back to there which is where they’ve resided for many years I don’t think they can get that jolt now I think the jolt would have been get in the NCA tournament and then win a game or two that’s a kind of jolt
You’re talking about now it’s the NIT so now it’s well pile up as many wins as you can I mean Craig took over 11 wins his first year 17 and second he’s on 19 now if he gets to say 20 21 22 I mean you know coach which is you’ve heard
Recruiting spiels if he’s at 11 to 21 wins he’ll say look 10- win Improvement we’re building something if it’s 22 we double the wins look at what we’re building here he’s going to sell whatever he has to that’s why I can give him a jol I disagree that this can’t
Give him a jol I think it can give a it’s not a earthquake type jolt where the ground moves look at the NCA tournament as a jolt and that’s a bigger jolt this is not but it’s something more wins is something collectively it’s a jolt so win win more that’s why it’s
This n is important for Utah I don’t think it’s that important for Irvine and it’s uh and this is still old school recruiting Because the number one thing we have been told so many times by so many people is how much nil do you have because this is all old school and
And if the money’s about the same for the kids options then the old school stuff kicks in if they’re going to make ballpark the same thing at a couple different programs now all the other stuff the relationships matter are you going to win the atmosphere like and all
That but if you don’t have the nil I I just don’t think those old school things are going to carry that much weight no but if if a kid’s getting if a kid’s getting offered you know 150 Grand at three different schools okay well which of those do win and where
Does he feel like he has the best relationship and the coaches and and we know coaches are trying to figure out the market for kids it’s just like anything else kids are trying to Bluff saying it’s going to take this much money and the coaches try to figure out
Yeah but it doesn’t because they all have budgets they have a number they know how much they get to spend yeah I don’t think that it’s it’s going to be even I think then you have biders and then you take the highest bid yeah Reed says I’m old school I remember
The you making a run in the NIT with the likes of Luther Ticky Burton and Company it was exciting to see them play in New York City and now they’re going to Indianapolis no more uh Garden juel says I’m gas station Sushi excited I don’t even know what that means it
Doesn’t sound good though gas station Sushi we’re brought to you by uto Community Credit Union learn and earn the app paying your Fame and learn about money UCCU love where you Bank DJ and PK it’s 975 The Zone Barry traml one of our favorites columnist and podcaster for
Sellout crowd.com joins us at 9 o’cl and he’s got a bad feeling about BYU in the tournament he will explain why coming up
DJ & PK talked about the Utah Runnin’ Utes opening play in the NIT against UC-Irvine and what they expect from Craig Smith’s program.
