Oh expectations.
Gone are the days of watching the Runnin’ Utes get shut out by every opponent. Gone are the walk-ons, the placeholders and the should-be intramural stars, and in their places are the all-Americans, all-conference performers and four-star recruits.
In just three years, head coach Larry Krystkowiak has raised the Utes from the doormat of the Pac-12 to a team with a national ranking being pegged as the biggest threat to No. 2 Arizona’s league crown.
All has worked out according to plan as the Runnin’ Utes steadily improved before taking a big step forward a season ago. With that big step, Krystkowiak may find his hardest challenge still in front of him — dealing with the fans’ high expectations.
Fans will demand a better performance than the National Invitation Tournament in 2009 and will be less likely to forgive blowout loss in the Pac-12 conference tournament.
This is now the world Utah will function in. When you have success, fans demand more.
The Utes will have some new faces this year, but many will be familiar. Delon Wright, Jordan Loveridge, Brandon Taylor and Dallin Bachynski — key contributors to last year’s team — are back to play major roles this season. But they don’t return as underdogs and overachievers, they return as heavyweights, as one of the favorites in the conference.
How will they respond when they are getting everyone’s best shot?
This is the first season under Krystkowiak in which Utah is expected to not just be an elite team in the conference, but also grow into one of the top teams in the nation. After 2012’s Pac-12 tournament run into the semifinals, fans allowed themselves to have hope that maybe, just maybe, the Utes could compete. This year hope has turned into assumption.
Utah hasn’t faced many quality teams as favorites lately, but the one time it did, the results didn’t shine with optimism.
In the first round of the 2014 NIT, the Utes traveled to Saint Mary’s for a showdown with the Gaels. Yes, Utah was on the road, and they were the lower seed, but they were still expected to win that contest. The Utes had been snubbed with their ranking. The plan to start Huntsman Center renovations the week of the NIT could have influenced whether Utah got a higher seed and thus a home game. As it was, the Utes were forced to play on the road.
Utah controlled the whole game before an inspired St. Mary’s rally turned a 10-point deficit with 12:30 remaining in the contest to a 12-point win for the Gaels.
I don’t want to draw conclusions based off of one game, and especially one from last year, but for this season to be as successful as both players and fans want it to be, the Utes have to learn to play as the favorites.
The Utes collapsed that night. Did they learn their lesson?
Please, no more talk of how they still feel they are the underdogs with a chip on their shoulder. The media and fans have been praising the program all offseason, and it’s time for the Utes to accept and embrace it.
The Kansases, the Dukes and the Arizonas of the world sure don’t waste their time pretending to be underdogs. In order to compete with and beat the top teams in the country — which Utah both has the opportunity and the ability to do — the Utes have to start thinking they are one.
Think like a blue blood and learn to play as a favorite, and come the end of the season, expectations might just be met.
@millerjryan