Comments about ‘UteLinks: A look at Utah's RPI breakdown’

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Published: Monday, March 3 2014 11:55 a.m. MST

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Layton, UT

highland is outside of SLC and you Obviously care about Utah. In recent years your teams have suffered more than their share of humiliation at the hands of lesser teams...and most of all at the hands of the Utes!

East Salt Lake City, Utah


Despite them being able to beat BYU for the first time in 7 tries, and only the second time in around a dozen tries, they would still be a sub .500 team if they had just played a halfway decent OOC schedule.


No one agrees with your opinion.

Utes've come a long way, baby (ESPN):

"Yes, the schedule is soft, BYU the only notable nonconference opponent, but so what? Utah was 6-25 two years ago.... You can see this vast developmental gulf in more than box scores and results pages. You can see it in the way Krystkowiak works his team advantages on the court, in the Utes; smart situational use of timeouts and stoppages. You can see it in the way junior college transfer Delon Wright eventually [forces] double-teams and added rotations."

Utah only needed 4 minutes to run the #2 WCC team off the court. Since we are 18-2 a home, if we played BYU's schedule we would be at worst 17-14 (assuming all wins at home).

Gilbert, AZ


"Coach k was handed a program that was at it's [sic] lowest point in history."

LOL at your failed attempt to rewrite history.

Coach small k was handed a program that HE took to its lowest point in history.

Coach Rose was handed a program that was AT its lowest point since its lowest point in history, and immediately turned the program around, leading BYU to one of its highest points in history, with back-to-back 30+ win seasons, and a national championship contender, until Davies was suspended, in his 5th and 6th seasons.

coach k averaged 8.1 points and 4.9 rebounds in the NBA.

coach k debuted as the Milwaukee Bucks head coach on March 15, 2007 and was fired just over a year later on April 17, 2008, after "leading" the Bucks to the 6th worst record in the NBA. He was 31-69 (31%) as a head coach in the NBA.

Coach Rose was a team captain for Phi Slamma Jamma, one of the most famous teams in NCAA history.

coach k had a nice college career playing for Montana in the Big Sky Conference.

Gilbert, AZ

Coach Dave Rose

- SEVENTH among active coaches in career winning percentage (75%), behind Mark Few, Roy Williams, Thad Matta, Brad Stevens, Mike Krzyzewski and John Calipari

Remind us where coach k is on that list.

- Reached 200 career wins in his 259th game, making him 15th fastest in NCAA history to reach 200 victories.

At 33-60, coach k already has more than 59 losses, and isn't anywhere close to 200 wins.

Cottonwood Heights, UT

It's very clear that BYU fans are getting more and more nervous with the momentum on the hill - as they should.

utah by5
York, PA

No need to debate. The Utes proved who is better on the court! If they played again I honestly think it would be a worse beating than last time.

Go Utes!

Orem, UT

"Why are you giving Rose credit for what Cleveland did?"

Isn't Cleveland's 1997–1998 9–21 the exact same record as Cleveland's 2004–2005 9–21 record?

It would appear that Cleveland left the program exactly where it was after his first season.

Cleveland did a good job rebuilding the program to a 24-9 high, but it was slipping again.

Rose took it up a level or three:

2005-0620-9 MWC 2nd, NIT
2006-0725-9 MWC champ, NCAA 1st rd
2007-0827-8 MWC champ, NCAA 1st rd
2008-0925-8 MWC 2nd, NCAA
2009-1030-6, MWC champ, NCAA 2nd rd
2010-1132-5, MWC champ, NCAA Sweet 16
2011-1226-9, WCC 3rd, NCAA 2nd rd
2012-1324-12, WCC 3rd, NIT Final Four
2013-1421-10, WCC 2nd, NCAA?

Overall 230-76(75.2%), 6 going on 7 NCAAs, 2 NITs, 4 conf championships, 9 straight 20+ win seasons

Pocatello, ID

This season has been a GREAT season for my beloved Utes.

A .500 record this late in the season. 20 wins within reach, and a likely NIT birth is well beyond expectation.

If they could pull off these last 2 on the road it would really help their seeding for the Pac-12 tourney. There is a huge log jam in the middle of the Pac with 7 teams within 2 games of each other.

Go Utes!!

Provo, UT

@ skywalker "BYU is projected to be in the NCAA tourney"

Key word "projected". By all means, go ahead and celebrate something that hasn't happened yet. One more BYU choke against the basement of the WCC conference and that projection will turn in to NCAA rejection.

You're team just isn't good enough to warrant all the smack talk. There's not that much separation between the two schools as evidence by BYU taking their worst loss of the season at the hands of the Utes.

"Yippee, we're #68 and Utah is only #69.

Riley Mendenhall
Provo, UT

Utah is on the way up. May not make it this year, but they have been competitive in every game but one.

BYU doesn't have much to brag about, they have lost to the following powerhouse teams this year:
Loyola Marymount

Oh yeah don't forget about the blowout in the Huntsman Center. Lately rivalry games always get swept under the rug...

Orem, UT

Riley Mendenhall

BYU also has a winning record 7-6 versus RPI Top 100, unlike Utah, which has a losing record 5-8 versus Top 100 teams.

And lets not forget, almost half of Utah's wins came against BOTTOM 100 or non-D1 high school teams.

Provo, UT

@SportsFan "BYU also has a winning record 7-6 versus RPI Top 100, unlike Utah, which has a losing record 5-8.

I guess it all depends on how you want to slice the stats or which rating service you look at. Versus top 50 teams Utah has a .400 winning percentage while BYU is .375. In the BPI Utah is 34, BYU 46. Sagarin also ranks Utah higher than the Y.

In reality, there's not a lot of separation between these two schools when you look at ALL the numbers. However, when you look at actual head to head results, it's not that close.

Palo Alto, CA

"Yippee, we're #68 and Utah is only #69"

Nice try, but fail.

BYU is #35 and Utah is only #82... BIG difference.

Magna Ute Fan
Magna, UT

This is a great conversation. Just two short years ago cougar fans like the Duck were gleefully telling us that the Running Utes were destined to be a cellar dweller in PAC12. Now they are frantically trying to prove they are still the better team. That is fantastic progress for the Utah basketball program.

I just want to add one more thing to this discussion.


Bubble Boy
Salt Lake City, UT

"Just like football! Just like football! Just like football!"

Magna Ute Fan
Magna, UT

Bubble Boy-

I remember those chants at the end of the game too. And the blue streams headed out the door.

Sweet music to my ears.

Idaho Ute
Rigby, ID

It is also interesting how BYU fans keep harping on the OOC schedule when they really haven't thought the concept through. Clearly BYU was one of those teams and they lost by a comparable margin as the other OOC teams. Maybe the UTE fans should be making a big deal about BYU's in conference schedule?

In the end, the head to head is a factual result that cannot be denied. "Projected" and "not projected" are fantasy at this point. It doesn't change the permanent result in the win-loss column and the "projections" could all change in a weeks time and totally destroy the current fantasy.

Overton, NV

Congratulations, Utah, you beat BYU in basketball this season. At home. Where your team has been really good. Yay for you.

Now, let's talk about Utah's Tournament resume, rather than smack talk. Utah has one OOC win of any merit. Just one. That was the win over BYU. When the selection committee looks at resumes, the DO look at the OOC schedule. And Utah's is pretty weak, which is why they are just BARELY getting any inkling of recognition for any shot at the Tournament. Even after they upset UCLA, nobody mentioned them as a possible selection.

Second knock on Utah's resume: a paltry one win away from home. Only winning one game away from the Huntsman does absolutely nothing for Utah's chances, especially when that one win was against USC (who has just one win in conference).

If Utah had changed just one of those two things, they would have a strong case for an at-large selection. However, going 0-2 puts them well outside the bubble.

Now, win both road games this week, and then make a deep run in the Pac-12 Tournament? Do that, and we can reevaluate.

Down under
Salt Lake City, UT

Once again it is so funny how u fans sweep the last 12 games under the rug when comparing programs over the last 10 years. Just proves that u fans hang their ENTIRE season on beating BYU and nothing else matters.

Coach Rose has consistently out performed coach k. Numbers do not lie and u fans can twist the facts all they want to make the program seem similar to their big brother in Provo. Although I agree with many u fans that the utes are better this year than last I would also say that there was nowhere else to last year but up. IF the game this year would have been played in Provo the results would have been flipped. Utah plays well oat home and just the oipposite at home. Very few Div. 1 teams have a worse road record that the utes and selection committees look at that stuff.

Highland, UT

And yet utah "fans", BYU is in the NCAA tourney as it stands today and utah is out. Why is that? utah beat BYU head to head didn't they? utah plays in the pac12 don't they? utah has a better winning percentage don't they? utah has the better legacy don't they? Well with all of that going for them why is utah not even a distant ncaa consideration while BYU is in according to almost every bracketologist?

How could this be? It just doesn't make sense does it? I just don't understand how BYU, which according to utah "fans" is inferior to utah in every way, is considered an NCAA tournament team while utah isn't even the slightest bit of a consideration. Please explain this to me utah "fans", I really want to know and you guys obviously have it all figured out.

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