Starting five: Branden Carlson, Ben Carlson, Lazar Stefanovic, Rollie Worster, Marco Anthony

Unless an absolute miracle happens during the Pac 12 tournament, Utah will have gone seven straight seasons without a trip to the NCAA tournament. This is the longest drought Of not making the big dance since the 10-year streak that ended in 75-76.

If Utah loses the opening game of the Pac 12 Tourney not only will they fail to make the NCAA, a NIT bid could be out of reach too.

Yes we did see some improvement this year, especially with Brandon Carlson but injuries contributed to the late season losing streak. It could be argued that Utah is treading water. We more of the same even though we have Craig Smith.

Is Smith in over his head over at this level? Can he realistically recruit P5 level players? Can he build a program that competes for an NCAA tournament bid every year and finish in the top four of the Pac 12 conference? So far the answer is no. Will the boosters start complaining that they are not happy with what is happening with the basketball program.

Craig Smith’s seat could heat up starting in April.

Hi guys, I was able to interview Stanford before tonight's matchup against Utah. Below are links to interviews with head coach Jerod Haase, sophomore forward Harrison Ingram, and senior forward Spencer Jones. All three talked about the Runnin' Utes.

It was a mixed bag at the Combine For Utah NFL prospects. Dalton Kincaid is rising and considered the top TE, even without doing drills. Clark Phillips III didn’t help or hurt himself, necessarily. Braeden Daniels was impressive in his drills. Tavion Thomas needs a much better showing if he does participate at Utah’s Pro Day.

Here’s the article:

https://utah.rivals.com/news/how-utah-prospects-faired-at-the-nfl-combine

Here’s the combine article for Dalton:

https://utah.rivals.com/news/nfl-combine-utah-s-kincaid-is-rising-fast

I'll be honest, I don't believe it but thought I'd post anyway:

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Dropping from #3 to #8 before the NCAA tournament seeding comes out is questionable to me. WSU did beat them but they went on to win the tournament and are ranked. Why didn't Stanford drop?

Worster and Madsen returning to the lineup wasn't enough to stop the losing streak:

One more until the Pac-12 tournament

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This is the worst time of year for football. Can hardly wait for spring practice so we at least get some news about the team. Afterwards we also get a glimpse of who stays and how transfers.

News drought is killing me.

BTW - so tired of all the speculation on PAC12 demise and the fact we will never get a TV contract worth anything. Lots of speculation from lots of us that know absolutely nothing about what is actually going on. (Flame away!)

They started off the season and Pac-12 play great. Although, coming off of four straight losses — and two crucial injuries to Madsen and Worster — are you still locked in and watching or have you hit the point where your over the season?

I hope they get a nice following in Vegas for the tournament because this group deserves it. I do however think that they’re season is coming to an end ASAP if Madsen and a Worster can’t return. The team is just too beat up, right now.

Clark Phillip III got off to a good start at the NFL Combine with his interview on Thursday. Here's Halie's and Alex's recap:

Let’s dispense with the obvious…. More money is greater than less money. With that out of the way, what is the big deal between 60m dollar deal and a 45m deal and a 35m dollar deal?

Football and basketball coaches will be well compensated. So too with gymnastics. The extra $ or not will impact the lesser sports.

Money becomes a huge issue if we have to pay players. Absent that then maybe we don’t have the best locker room? Maybe we don’t have all the ancillary “stuff” that is given in lieu of payment. But the teams can still be incredibly competitive.

What we want is good distribution and ability to see games across the country at times that are not past midnight est.

What am I missing?

Courtesy of my friend Kevin Noon at College Football Playbook:

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There will be select practices that we can view the last 20 minutes. Those aren’t disclosed, yet.

We also did a video talking about the gymnastics team as well. Here's the basketball video: Login to view embedded media

The Lady Utes are ranked 3rd!! That's another school record and well deserved after winning the PAC-12 conference against then 3rd ranked Stanford.

Awesome honors

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That was a fun game to watch against Stanford today. Congrats to them!

No surprise here:

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This is pretty cool, just like Devin Lloyd before him.

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