Throughout the season, head coach Larry Krystkowiak has dodged questions about his team’s NCAA Tournament chances.
Whenever the big dance is brought up, he has responded with the typical and dull “taking it game-by-game” quotes, but that all changed Sunday night.
Moments after Utah demolished Arizona State, Krystkowiak was asked if the NCAA Tournament was still a possibility. His response?
“I plan on winning the tournament in Vegas, and then we don’t have to talk about any selection committee or anything like that,” he said. “I couldn’t be more sure that’s going to happen.”
Krystkowiak has called his shot — the Utes are going to be Pac-12 champions.
It’s appropriate he brought up the selection committee, for as of this moment it’s likely the Utes wouldn’t even be brought up for discussion. Even after the shellacking of the Sun Devils, Utah still sits 94th in the Ratings Percentage Index, the most common source used by the selection committee.
Elsewhere, the Utes look like an NCAA at-large bid. According to ESPN’s Basketball Power Index, as well as the growing-in-popularity Pomeroy College Basketball ratings, Utah is the 35th best team in the country. Unfortunately for the Runnin’ Utes, those rankings won’t hold much water come Selection Sunday.
The Utes still have three remaining games against opponents rated highly in the RPI, and victories could help them move up in that ranking system. Colorado (26th RPI), Stanford (39th) and Cal (52nd) are all considered, as of today, to be tournament teams, but even going 3-0 in these games might leave Utah uninvited to the ball.
Though Krystkowiak is ready to declare the Utes the future champs, his players aren’t as bold.
“We can’t get ahead of ourselves,” said big man Renan Lenz. “Colorado is next and then Cal and Stanford. The Pac-12 Tournament is a couple weeks away still, and we have to get some more wins.”
The players might not be ready to give everyone they face in the tournament bulletin board material, but it is because of them that Krystkowiak is so confident.
He talked about the disappointment the team felt after the loss to Arizona and how he was worried there may have been too many days between games to just weigh on the minds of the Utes. Instead of hanging their heads, the players responded by showing up early to practices and putting in extra effort so the Arizona game would be a learning a experience and not the start of a downward spiral.
“Before I got into the gym Saturday, the guys had already started practice on their own,” Krystkowiak said. “They were all lathered up and communicating, and I walked into the gym and thought, ‘Man, this is a pretty special group of kids.’ ”
The Utes have turned into a deep team as of late. In the first 10 minutes of Sunday’s game, 10 Utah players saw action on the court. That could become the norm as players such as Princeton Onwas, Kenneth Ogbe and Ahmad Fields continue to have performances that warrant more and more minutes. That team depth could really aid the Utes in a conference tournament setting, where the team could be required to play four straight days.
That could be required, and if you ask Krystkowiak, it will be.
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