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The future beckons for Utah basketball. It's just not as close as it seems.

At halftime of the Runnin' Utes scrimmage on Tuesday night, a team made up of Utah's two returning starters trailed 18-38 at halftime to a team starting almost all newcomers. Two of those newcomers, David Collette and Sedrick Barefield, had a combined 22 points and were the only scorers in double figures.

Utah fans won't see them play in a game until Dec. 22, when the Utes travel to the Diamondhead Classic in Hawaii.

A month from Utah's home opener, there's an impression that the season will be divided into two halves: One without Collette and Barefield for the first nine games, then one with those players — expected to be dynamic forces in the front and back courts respectively — suited up and ready to play.

The Night With The Runnin' Utes exhibition seemed to hammer in this idea: While junior forward Kyle Kuzma finished with a team-best 20 points, Collette had 16 and four rebounds with two blocks, while Barefield had 13 points (5-for-8 shooting) and 10 assists. While it might seem strange that two of Utah's best players will be sitting on the bench for two more months, http://bit.ly/2d7mw89";>the Utes have prepared for it.

The team looked raw, but versatile. Guards were relatively interchangeable. Bigs played multiple positions. The roster split at halftime, with the red team representing ball with Utah's tallest members Collette and Jayce Johnson (8 points, 7 rebounds), while white played more lineups with Kuzma and Tyler Rawson (16 points, 4 rebounds). Players who started slow, like Rawson and JoJo Zamora (14 points, 3 assists), finished stronger.

"I think the team showed that we have a lot of pieces, a lot of guys who can play multiple positions," Kuzma said after finishing with 20 points, 10 rebounds and 4 assists. "I think a lot of guys showed sparks in certain senses of their games today. It was great."

One of the strange dynamics of an intra-squad scrimmage is that the team inherently knows its opponent. Some of the practice rivalries came across: Johnson vs. Collette, Kuzma vs. Rawson, Lorenzo Bonam vs. Barefield. They jab-stepped and spun against each other, but every move was familiar.

Coach Larry Krystkowiak said he saw players cheating against schemes and plays that they knew were coming. It won't go that way when Utah finally plays another team.

"We get a lot of that cheating, because guys don't want to get embarrassed," he said. "I think we'll be a little bit better offensively when we can have a little bit of that surprise element."

Krystkowiak said he was glad with the overall evening, which featured a few thousand fans and was broadcast on Pac-12 Networks. He was glad to get new players out on the Huntsman Center floor in front of a crowd, where how they'll play under the lights becomes more apparent.

The players seemed relieved, too.

"It felt good" Barefield said. "I think everybody's juices were flowing through the game. Once the ball went up, we were all just ready to compete."

There will be more break-down and postgame video coming up, but here's some stray observations:

• Most athletic play of the game: Devon Daniels ran up to the other end of a Sedrick Barefield pass, and finished a half-court alley oop over Gabe Bealer for the most impressive two points of the night. It is readily apparent he brings some unique athletic ability. His through-the-legs dunk attempt was by far the most ambitious of the contest.

• Two players weren't available on Tuesday: Chris Seeley and Tim Coleman. Seeley is recovering from tearing his labrum — Krystkowiak described it as a hard foul in a pick-up game two days before he came into the program. He had surgery, and he could be seen putting up shots after the scrimmage. Coleman also recently injured his shoulder, and Krystkowiak said he would get an MRI by week's end.

• Utah has new uniformshttps://twitter.com/Runnin_Utes/status/788531274306560000";>. Unveiled were red and white uniforms, with mountain trim on the belt and the hem of the shorts. The clothes also appear more breathable, with some holes in the stitching. Utah fans have reacted negatively to mountain themed uniforms before. It will be interesting to see how they'll react to these.

• It's worth noting that the Utah men's basketball team wasn't the only roster introduced on Tuesday night: The Utes women's team was also brought on, and that group has significant returning talent including four starters. Center Emily Potter, at 6-foot-6, is one of the top returning bigs perhaps in the nation, while Paige Crozon proved to be an explosive scorer and capable rebounder in the wing. With new talent entering the program under second-year coach Lynne Roberts,http://bit.ly/2dnj5Kj";> the Utes seem poised to build off of last year's WNIT season.

• The winner of the "dunk contest" was Tyler Rawson,https://twitter.com/utahathletics/status/788549172219830272";> for an alley-oop to himself followed by a dunk from underneath the rim. The word "contest" is in quotes, because it wasn't exactly a thrilling display of otherworldly athleticism before the scrimmage: Every competitor missed at least one dunk, and Gabe Bealer failed to dunk at all in the 30-second window.

• The best players at the game were in the audience. Utah welcomed a brigade of former Ute basketball greats: Keith Van Horn, Michael Doleac, Alex Jensen, Britton Johnsen, Danny Vranes, Jeff Judkins (yes, the BYU women's coach came to the Utah scrimmage), and many more. For a crowd of only a few thousand, it was a pretty elite showing. Krystkowiak gave each player a black Under Armour backpack as a gift(?) before running out of bags near the end of the line.

kgoon@sltrib.com
Twitter: @kylegoon