Utah Has Bigger Fish Than BYU to Fry
by Tyler Crum
Duke and North Carolina, Louisville and Kentucky, Kansas and Kansas State. These are some of college basketball’s signature rivalries, and all have stood the test of time.
Three aspects that are common to these match-ups and nearly every rivalry in college sports include a history of competitiveness between teams, geographic proximity and shared recruiting pipelines, and a hostility between the players and fans of both institutions.
By these metrics, the Holy War can be considered one of the best rivalries in the country. In basketball, the two schools are almost dead even with the Cougars having a slight edge, leading the all-time series 129-128. The campuses are separated by 45 miles, and anyone who has grown up in the state can tell you about the vast differences between the universities that breed contempt and divide families.
This is why it came as a surprise to nearly everyone that a game that has been played almost continuously since 1909 was canceled so suddenly and at the wish of one man.
The drastic move made it perfectly clear that Utah head coach Larry Krystkowiak cares too much about the welfare of his players to be tied down by a century-old tradition. Coach K’s “player safety” justification may have developed into a running joke for the folks down in Provo, but it says a lot about the character of a man who is willing to contradict history, face immense criticism from both fan bases, and personally pay the $80,000 buyout to postpone the series in order to protect his team.
In defense of canceling the series, Krystkowiak mentioned several incidents over the last three seasons in which tempers on the court flared, in addition to off-the-court incidents that impacted Utah players and fans. Realistically speaking, Krystkowiak has no control over these external conflicts, but he can seek to curb the in-game violence. Throughout this history, there have been infractions by players on both sides, but taking a momentary hiatus from the game is a logical response to what Krystkowiak sees as an increasing frequency of unremorseful attacks on his players during rivalry games. Through his actions, Coach K has sent a clear message to any team playing the Utes that consistent unsportsmanlike behavior and violence toward players won’t be tolerated, rivalry or not.
The move is also in line with Utah’s efforts to establish a reputation for themselves in the West Coast. This was the case for football, which put the Holy War on hold for a few seasons after the Utes joined the Pac-12 and the Cougars went independent. It happened when Utah stopped playing longtime rival Utah State on a regular basis after leaving the Mountain West.
Conference realignment even put an end to the rivalry between Texas and Texas A&M, one that dated back to 1894. That rivalry was so integral to both schools that they reference beating each other in both of their fight songs. If the Utes can continue to schedule games against high-profile non-conference teams like Duke and Wichita State, the team could potentially benefit from another televised game against a top-tier opponent instead of the Cougars.
In the end, I do not believe the rivalry will be gone for long, and although Krystkowiak may take a season or two to explore other nonconference possibilities and let tempers cool, the sweetgrass-burning apprentice of Phil Jackson will likely revive the game when he feels that justice has been served and cosmic balance restored.
@tylerfcrum
Utah Wrong to End Rivalry, Despite Good Intentions
by Brock Jensen
And the drama continues.
Utah’s latest move to cancel the series starting in 2016 in the ever-changing rivalry between BYU had a plot twist that provoked emotion from a number of fans from both schools. If you’ve been on social media recently, you may have noticed that you can’t scroll through your news feed without seeing a comment or an article about the whole situation.
Just in case you haven’t gotten enough of the reaction already, I’m here to offer my two cents.
On the topic of putting the rivalry on hold, I’m going to be honest — I don’t like it and don’t fully agree with it. However, I do understand it.
The rivalry is one that has continually drawn attention from national audiences over the years, most recently during the Vegas Bowl, when the schools’ football teams squared off. It has resulted in some ridiculously exciting games and has sparked the kind of emotion that sports fans love and crave.
That is primarily why I will miss the rivalry during next year’s basketball season. Who isn’t game for a great college sports environment where fans are so passionate about their teams? But when those kinds of environments lead to potentially harmful actions, that’s probably where one should draw the line, which is exactly what Krystkowiak did. He, with the support of Utah’s athletic director, Chris Hill, decided to put the rivalry on hold for a number of reasons.
The most obvious reason relates to the incident of BYU’s Nick Emery throwing a punch at Brandon Taylor in the most recent BYU vs. Utah basketball game at the Huntsman Center. I know it’s easy to not think much of this, especially for BYU fans, but try to look at it from Krystkowiak’s point of view. How eager would you be to put yourself in a situation where you know a certain team has exhibited the type of behavior that resulted in physical altercations?
And let’s please put to rest any notion that Utah is “scared” to play BYU. That’s such a weak argument for anyone to make, and it’s poor reasoning. That said, I don’t think that one punch is enough to put an age-old rivalry on hold. The temporary halt on the rivalry hurts BYU more than Utah from a scheduling strength perspective, though. Yes, the basketball programs probably have less of a gap in talent than the football programs have, but let’s not pretend like Utah doesn’t want to play this game just because it thinks there’s a chance of losing.
I also think it’s important to mention that BYU isn’t the only party at fault here. Utah has also contributed to incidents that have happened in the past.
But let me reiterate: I don’t love the idea of canceling the rivalry. I think the rivalry yields more positives than negatives, so it frustrates me that it’s being put on hold. Yes, I can see the reasoning, but that doesn’t mean I fully agree with it.
It probably does go a little deeper than a punch, but nobody can read Krystkowiak’s and Hill’s minds — we shouldn’t try to interpret their statements as something else.
No, I don’t think it was an overreaction by Krystkowiak and the Utes, but as a student here at the U, I don’t fully endorse it either.
@brock_jensen02