Runnin' Utes - On to Stage Two

motorpike · Nov 16, 2021

So far so good with expected wins over the three weakest opponents on our schedule. Now onto stage two which are two neutral court games against teams that are a step up from the first three - Boston College and either Tulsa or Rhode Island.

I'll be watching for answers to the following questions in these next two games...

Can we cut down on turnovers?
Can we continue to guard the three point line as well as we have so far but against better competition?
Can we shoot a respectable percentage from the field, particularly from 3-point distance?
Can we continue to dominate the boards - and can we do so even if Carlson has one of his low rebound games?

My main takeaways so far are that we ought to be in most games IF we can continue to control the boards and play the kind of defense we've been playing. That said, I suspect we'll need to cut down on the turnovers and improve our shooting if we plan on having success against the next tier of opponents starting with BYU and then into conference play.

I'm encouraged by what Smith has the guys doing so far. If we had a bit more shooting ability I think we'd already be fairly dangerous in the Pac 12. But who knows, maybe we will be anyway.

JWunderli1 · Nov 16, 2021