This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
The state's disastrous weekend of college basketball that ended Sunday night with Utah's late meltdown at Oregon State started promisingly Saturday afternoon when Southern Utah avoided becoming the sole owner of a Big Sky Conference record for consecutive home losses in league play. But then a season that already was going badly around here got much worse for Utah's other five men's teams in Division I.
SUU's breakthrough against Northern Arizona after 14 straight conference defeats in Cedar City over two seasons didn't play along with the statewide theme of the weekend. Even so, the Thunderbirds hardly salvaged a collective showing that stands as the worst effort for flagship sports in Utah athletic programs since October 2002. That's when BYU (Air Force), Utah (San Diego State), Weber State (Montana) and SUU (Cal Poly) lost football games by a total of 152-54 — and Utah State, blissfully, was idle.
None of the basketball teams lost by more than 13 points, but that's not consoling. Utah blew a nine-point lead with barely three minutes left in a 68-67 loss at Oregon State, resulting in the worst defeat of coach Larry Krystkowiak's six-year tenure — which is saying something, considering his team trailed by scores such as 52-18 and 34-2 during his initial tear-down season. The Beavers had stood 0-14 in Pac-12 play.
Saint Mary's is a Top 25 team. Yet even with that disclaimer, BYU's 70-57 home loss to the Gaels was just as ugly in its own way. In their last scheduled Marriott Center appearance of the year, the Cougars were down by 25 points with about seven minutes remaining in one of the worst home-court performances of coach Dave Rose's 12 seasons.
Shifting from the debate about the relative merits of Jimmer Fredette's 73-point game in China, the fan bases of BYU and Utah can rejoice in each other's misery. Both groups have to be slightly fearful of a rivalry meeting in the NIT, though, recognizing what the lasting image of this season could become.
The Salt Lake Tribune's chronology of the season is an interesting study in itself. In November, I said Weber State would be Utah's only NCAA Tournament contestant, citing personnel upheaval in the other programs. Two weeks ago, I again endorsed the Wildcats and offered the rationalization that because my expectations were low for the other schools, they could feel OK about their seasons. That's hardly satisfying, I know.
And then Saturday morning, before anybody took the court, Gordon Monson posted a column saying Weber State's NCAA chances had dipped below 50-50, amid dire odds for the other teams. How did he know? Or, viewed another way, why was he so optimistic?
Sure enough, the Wildcats fell out of the Big Sky lead with a 77-68 home loss to North Dakota. And mixed in with the BYU and Utah disasters were two other defeats, also with the opponent scoring 77 points: Utah State lost 77-66 at Nevada, a team the Aggies somehow had beaten by 17 points in Logan. Senior forward Jalen Moore became a top 10 scorer in USU history, but his teams are now 30-39 in Mountain West play. Utah Valley remained the state's biggest underachiever, giving away a six-point lead in the last nine minutes of a 77-71 home loss to Grand Canyon. UVU, the BYU-killer of November, is 3-8 in the Western Athletic Conference.
So what's ahead for everybody? Opportunities exist for redemption — or more embarrassment, from another perspective. BYU visits No. 1-ranked Gonzaga to conclude the regular season Saturday and is positioned to meet Saint Mary's in the semifinals of the West Coast Conference tournament. Utah (8-7) stands sixth in the Pac-12 with three games remaining, still with mathematical hope for a No. 4 seed and a bye in the Pac-12 tournament. If the Utes finish sixth and get a first-round game in Las Vegas, they could face UCLA, Oregon and Arizona, in that order.
Weber State probably will be the No. 2 or No. 3 seed in the Big Sky tournament in Reno, Nev., with North Dakota in the other bracket. That would give the Wildcats a decent shot at an NCAA berth. At least, they'd have the best chance of any Utah school. But we've known that, all along.
Twitter: @tribkurt