The Utes just spent a weekend in Vegas and I think they may have developed a bit of a gambling problem.

Did Utah bet on Stephen F. Austin and points? Because good night, this was a blowout that turned into a nailbiter. Sure, you can say the Lumberjacks were scrappy, tough, resilient and (insert another generic March Madness term here), but let’s be clear, the Utes made this one close all by themselves.

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I get there was a lot of talk about a potential SFA upset but in the opening minutes something became quite clear — Utah was clearly the superior team. The Utes size differential was substantial and their athletic advantage was obvious. Yet, even when Utah appeared to have things in command, a glance at the scoreboard would show SFA always hovering around striking distance.

How were the Lumberjacks able to do it? Utah simply couldn’t get out of its own way. Sloppy turnovers, head-scratching offensive decisions and some flat-footed defensive possessions down the stretch allowed the Jacks to make it a game in the end.

Which leaves me with the question, does Larry Krystkowiak overcoach?

How many timeouts does the Ute head coach need to call just to have Brandon Taylor get trapped at mid-court and turn the ball over, or for his team to jack up a contested jumper when Jakob Poeltl is standing by the basket being guarded by someone who looks like his kid brother, or for Delon Wright not to touch the ball at all when he is the best player on the floor?

It’s baffling sometimes. Utah has one of the best guards in the country in Wright. He’s an NBA talent that can split double teams, draw fouls or find open teammates — so the perfect person to break a press, and yet it seemed the Utes were content not getting him the ball late.

Larry, if you’re going to call a timeout, at least make sure your best player gets the ball out of it. Too many times that wasn’t the case and the Lumberjacks took advantage pouncing on Taylor, causing turnovers and slowly cutting the Utes lead.

And while Wright has clearly been Utah’s best player this season, he wasn’t Thursday. That honor went to Jakob Poeltl.

The Austrian center had 18 points, eight rebounds and five blocks, in what might have been his best performance of the year. He knocked away shots, forced SFA to shoot from deep and ran the court like a freakin’ gazelle. It was a dominant game from him, but as good as it was, it should have been better.

Poeltl went 7-for-7 from the field, which begs the question, why the hell did he only get seven shots? There was no foul trouble keeping him on the bench, no bruising big man checking him, it was just the Utes not getting the ball inside enough.

I’m not really sure why Poeltl didn’t get the ball down low on every single possession. He was that good and that effective on Thursday night.

It just didn’t seem the Utes were willing to take impose their will on the Lumberjacks and they got some heart-pounding moments because of it.

Utah has the tools and the players to make a deep tourney run, the Utes just need to actually use them.