I’m not sure if the Utes know what Final Four “sleeper” actually means.
Since the start of the season, Utah has been grouped into this sleeper status — not really a top-echelon team, but one that theoretically has all the parts needed to make a deep run.
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On Thursday though, the Utes actually looked like they were sleeping. Can we check when the Utes bed time is? Because they seemed to be dozing off more than they were playing a game.
Hey Utes, I get it. I would bet a fair amount most people watching Thursday’s game probably did some snoozing, or at least were fighting off heavy eyelids.
Many Utah players have said how much the team uses the MUSS and its loud home crowd for energy. Looking around at the barren Wazzu crowd, I’m beginning to think the Utes may just need them for an alarm clock.
Utah just isn’t the same team away from the Huntsman. NCAA college stats guru Ken Pomeroy tweeted after Saturday’s game that, “only against Kentucky would Arizona have to play a game as tough as ‘at Utah’ in the tourney.”
The “at Utah” part is pretty important. In the Hunstman Center, the Utes are a team to be feared. They have rolled opponent after opponent, and only a pair of top 10 teams have been able to keep close, with only one of those (Arizona) walking away with a victory.
Away from Salt Lake though, the Utes are more than just vulnerable, they are down right beatable. Sure, Utah has had its moments on the road — beating Colorado and Arizona State pretty good, but looking down their road wins, the Utes don’t have a true quality victory in the bunch.
So until I hear word the Pac-12 has elected to move its conference tournament to the Huntsman Center, or that the NCAA is going to allow the Utes to host all their NCAA Tournament games, forgive me for having more than a little pause on the idea of a championship run — in either tournament.
Yeah, the Utes eventually woke up Thursday, drilling some threes and making enough defensive stops to make it look like they didn’t have much trouble handling the Cougars.
But it was anything but easy. Utah trailed by eight itself with less than 10 minutes remaining and looked apathetic and disinterested.
Weird stuff happens in basketball and upsets aren’t the end of the world, but doesn’t it seem like this is becoming more and more the norm?
After starting the season so strong, with encouraging signs everywhere, it seems the Utes are losing momentum at the worst possible time.
Did Utah lose more than just a game when it lost to Arizona last Saturday? Did the Utes lose its confidence and its mojo too? Maybe Thursday was just a game the players were disinterested in playing, and the surge at the end was a sign of them having the ability to turn it on when they need too, or maybe there is a much bigger problem going on.
We’ll found out soon enough, but at this point, a long tournament run seems to be nothing but a dream. Maybe that’s what they mean when they say Final Four sleeper, after all.
@millerjryan