Head coach Jim Boylen’s rebuilding process for the Utah men’s basketball team has been compared to remodeling a house. If so, Friday’s somewhat embarrassing loss to Arizona in the first round of the NCAA tournament also signals a significant change in landscape for Boylen’s chore list.
No matter how languorous his career seemed, Luke Nevill has been the centerpiece8212;for better or worse. For remaining Runnin’ Ute players, this should be the jump start they needed. No more training wheels, so to speak.
Making a direct comparison between Nevill and someone like Kobe Bryant or LeBron James is obviously ridiculous. But bear with me for one moment, because there are some interesting similarities between having a team with one of these players.
For one, an opponent’s entire game plan starts with taking that one player out of the ball game. It’s also not uncommon to see a few of said player’s teammates turning into spectators, which leads to obvious problems when said dominant player struggles.
The problem is, Nevill merely looked like a player who should dominate. Maybe in the NBA, he will be molded into a player who could live up to his size and potential. Lord knows, Boylen tried his best. The sad reality for Nevill is that he ran into Boylen too late in his career. It might still turn into some sort of NBA career for the 7-foot Aussie, but I don’t think I’ll ever be able to decide if Nevill looked more eager to play basketball or a healthy helping of video games afterward.
Now, that’s neither here nor there. Nevill is gone and so is the safety net for guys such as Carlon Brown, Luka Drca, Kim Tillie and a slew of freshmen and sophomores with nearly as much in-game college basketball experience as Associated Students of the University of Utah President Patrick Reimherr has “sustainable” brain cells. No more 7-foot backstop to make immediate amends for blown coverage on a backdoor cut. No more end-of-the-shot-clock bailouts by a skyscraper with a baby hook that’s, at times, softer than orange sherbert.
I like the end of this era. Brown will work on his defense this off-season. Drca will use his experience against Arizona as a constant lesson on ball handling and good decision making. Boylen will help Tillie fill Nevill’s shoes8212;after all, he’s one of the toughest and most athletic guys on the team. My military background has shown me that young men rise to the occasion when needed. So has closely watching sophomores who somehow mature into seniors in college athletics for the past three years.
David Foster returns from a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints next year. He’s got Nevill’s size, but my hope is he’s not used the same way. College basketball has become a game of speed and athleticism as much as the ’70s were about fundamentals and height. Sure, you can’t teach height, but it can become a crutch. Height can also foul out or become non-existent in a double-team or pressure situation. I’m ready to see Utah evolve into a team that runs on solid guard play and thrives on a few tenacious swingmen.
Utah’s incoming class of Marshall Henderson (6-foot-2-inches), Jeremy Olson (6-foot-11), Matt Reed (6-foot-9), Jay Watkins (6-foot-6) and Shawn Glover (6-foot-7) seem to be evidence that Boylen might have a similar line of thinking. Utah’s centerpiece is gone, but where one door closes, another should open.
