The ties that Andersen, Sitake and Roderick have forged in the West will be deeply missed and their absence could be disastrous during the Utes' offseason sales drive.

Turnovers don't look so hot right now. Utah is averaging 22.7 a game, and has a margin of minus 8.2 per game. That's good enough for last in the Mountain West Conference.

Defensive coordinator Gary Andersen, who has been with the Utes since 2005, has accepted the head coaching position at Utah State.

I think professional sports can learn from the NCAA's established M.O. by levying fines against entire organizations. Players will get the message one way or another.

Quarterback Brian Johnson was named Mountain West Conference Offensive Player of the Year, Louie Sakoda was named MWC Special Teams Player of the Year and Kyle Whittingham was named the league's Coach of the Year as Utah cleaned up nicely in the conference's year-end awards.

Kepkay had a team-high 23 points off the bench, while Green followed with a 21-point, six-rebound effort in Utah's 95-81 win over Oregon.

Tyler Kepkay and Shaun Green combined for 44 points off the bench and the Runnin' Utes took a 12-point lead into the second half and beat the Oregon Ducks 95-81 for their fifth straight win.

Despite riding a mentally draining four-game losing streak, being on the road and going into halftime down 15, Utah was able to pull it together and come out on top against Marquette 79-76.

Although Utah might not be the best team of the bunch, it has more of a claim than any of the other teams simply because it has found a way to win every week under constant scrutiny.

After winning the Mountain West Conference championship with a 14-2 conference record, the Utes had four team members selected to the all-MWC team, while head coach Beth Launiere was named MWC Coach of the Year.