Over the past few years, the Runnin’ Utes haven’t had much to hang their hats on. But when things were at their worst, they had a player who always tried to make things seem better.
Big man Jason Washburn was a mainstay for Utah as it recycled its roster season after season. When things went from bad to worse for the Utes, Washburn saw many of his teammates pack up and leave, transferring to other schools looking for brighter days.
However, Washburn stayed at Utah, invoking his positive energy for his team. He congratulated teammates when they were doing well and fired them up when they were down.
In short, he was a leader. With Washburn now gone, the Utes are in search of someone to fill that role.
“I think it’s safe to say that everyone’s talking up,” said sophomore guard Brandon Taylor. “Each and every day, it’s different people. No one really stands out.”
No one may be standing out to Taylor because, according to his teammate Jordan Loveridge, he’s doing most of the talking.
“He likes to talk all the time,” Loveridge said. “It’s a good role for him, and I think he has filled it.”
Taylor will likely be Utah’s starting point guard this season, the floor general for a young team that plans to run a lot. If he is focusing more on being the floor leader and bringing positive energy and less on his natural ability to speak up.
Even though Taylor is a natural leader, he said there are advantages to not just having one person looked upon as the vocal leader of the squad.
“When you have five guys out there, then its a player-led team,” he said. “So I think there is more advantage to having five guys that speak up than just one.”
Still, the sophomore admits to what Loveridge said about him.
“I am pretty vocal, but there’s plenty of us that speak up,” Taylor said. “I am happy to be one of them.”
While Taylor may become the Utes’ vocal leader, Loveridge is seen by many as the face of the team. He said he is focusing on leading by example, and he has gone about fulfilling that role by answering teammates’ questions and helping younger players pick up on schemes.
Besides leadership, Utah also lost low post productivity with Washburn’s departure. Jeremy Olsen, Dallin Bachynski and Renan Lenz are back to help with that, but the Utes’ depth in the frontcourt has already taken a hit. It was revealed Wednesday that junior transfer Marko Kovacevic is expected to be out for six weeks because of a broken hand.
Utah head coach Larry Krystkowiak said the Utes have used swingman Dakarai Tucker and Princeton Onwas as power forwards in practice as Utah has dealt with injuries to its big men.
“You have a couple injuries to some big guys, you shift the lineup one direction, and you get a couple injuries to some smaller guys and you shift the lineup the other direction,” Krystkowiak said.
Though Onwas and Tucker won’t be expected to fill these roles when the season begins, Loveridge could. He was the starting power forward a year ago but slimmed down over the summer in anticipation of playing more on the wing. Still, he feels he can play either forward spot depending on what the team needs.
“I think it depends mostly on what guys are stepping up and at what positions,” he said.
Krystkowiak said he feels the team is versatile enough to successfully deal with injuries.
“I like the fact that we do have a few solutions when we are presented with these problems,” he said.