In our previous installment, we took the 16 best Utah basketball teams of all time and pitted them against each other in a sweet sixteen bracket. All the top seeds emerged victorious, setting up a battle of Runnin’ Utes legends in the round of Elite 8. Who will emerge victorious and move on to the Final Four?
by Kim Brenneisen
What this matchup really comes down to is the best players on each team at the time. Billy McGill vs. Andrew Bogut. Regardless of what the coaches helped these teams achieve during their careers at Utah, these teams heavily relied on their star players.
McGill is definitely one of the all time greats to come out of the Utah basketball program, but this 59’-60’ season wasn’t even his best season as a Ute. He was only able to do so much at the time for the Utes and brought them to just a regional semifinal. Bogut on the other hand single handedly brought his team to the Sweet 16 in a year where he was awarded National Player of the Year. Both played the same position, but when it comes down to it Bogut was able to achieve more and that’s why the more recent 04’-05’ squad would upset 59′ – 60′ Utes. That’s not to say it would be an easy win, this game may even go to double or triple overtimes, nonetheless a Bogut-led squad would come out on top.
WINNER: 04′ – 05′ Utes
by Kim Brenneisen
No disrespect to the 80′ – 81′ Utes, but losing in a regional semifinal, at home in the comfort of the Huntsman Center, doesn’t bode well so it’s exactly why they would lose to the 97′ – 98′ Utes who made it all the way to the Final Four.
Aside from which team went further in NCAA Tournament, the 97′ – 98′ squad was the last Utah team to take down Arizona, which is always a reputable program, since this year’s 15’-16’ Utes. In addition to that, Andre Miller was the leader for that year and certainly left his mark in Utah and is one of the undeniably greats to ever play in Salt Lake City. I think Miller would have a good handle in this particular matchup and don’t think the 80′ – 81′ Utes would be able to stop him.
WINNER: 97′ – 98′ Utes
by Griffin Adams
On paper, this might not sound like much of a matchup. You’ve got the 90’-91’ Utes, who finished the season with 30 wins, including a 15-1 mark in the WAC. They were champions of their conference and would end the year with a Sweet 16 appearance.
On the other side, you’ve got an older style of Utah basketball, in which many of the players were most likely shorter and didn’t have a three-point line to shoot from. The 43-44’ Utes even participated in the NIT in the postseason that year, and lost their first-round game.
But March Madness is about getting hot at the right time, and boy, did the 43-44’ Utes do that. After losing in the first round of the NIT, Utah was invited to participate in the NCAA Tournament after Arkansas was forced to withdraw due to an accident with some of its players. The Utes accepted the invite, and went on to win the school’s only men’s basketball national championship in its history.
Not only that, but they would go on to play the eventual NIT champs, St. Johns, following both tournaments, and the 43-44 Utes would win that game, as well. They were champions in the truest sense, and they pull off the upset here over the ‘90-’91 Utes in Cinderella fashion.
WINNER: 43′ – 44′ Utes
by Griffin Adams
This is another match up between old versus new, and we all saw how the previous matchup played out. However, this one is different. This time, former Ute great Andre Miller is involved, and even though he and the rest of the ‘98-’99 Utes underachieved in their season following a national title appearance, the new kids on the block still walk away with the victory; let me tell you why.
The ‘54-’55 Utes are a great team, and that’s selling them short. Legendary coach Jack Gardner was in just his second season as the head coach, and turned the team around from a 12-14 record the year before to an impressive 24-4 record and a conference championship. The campaign would end in Sweet 16 appearance.
Unfortunately for this ‘54-’55 Utah team, the game has changed and Miller in his prime would run circles around the older-generation players. As an all-time great, Miller would use his tournament heroics, like he did against Arizona the year before, to make sure his squad gets to the next round.
WINNER: 98′ – 99′ Utes
The Final Four Preview:
#5 98′ – 99′ Utes vs. #8 04′ – 05′ Utes
#2 97′ – 98′ Utes vs. #6 43′ – 44′ Utes
In our first game we have a battle between two teams who upset their higher-seeded opponents in the previous round. Andre Miller will look to lead his 98′ – 99′ squad to victory over Andrew Bogut and the 04′ – 05′ Utes. In our second game, we have the ultimate battle of past and present: Utah’s national championship team of the 40’s going up against the star studded 97′ – 98′ Utes, lead by Andre Miller and Keith van Horn.