SALT LAKE CITY — "Should I stay or should I go?"

Change is continuously occurring everywhere around us. You have the good types of change, like meeting a girl that you just can't take your mind off of, spending all hours of the night talking about random sports stats, as well as your hopes, dreams and aspirations.

Then there are the bad types of change - the kind that make you long for the "good old days".

For the University of Utah basketball team, they went from the highest of highs to near the lowest of lows in less than a decade.

Flashback to 1998. The Utes pulled off upset after upset in the NCAA Tournament, eventually taking on the Kentucky Wildcats in the championship game. It was the Utes' fourth Final Four appearance. For Ute fans, basketball was king.

Today, if you walked around campus interviewing students, I would be shocked if at least one student could name at least one player on the Utes basketball roster. When pressed to guess, most students would answer "Travis Wilson", "John White" or "that guy that ESPN always mispronounces".

Yes indeed, at the University of Utah, football is king. My oh my how times have changed.

Just this season, Utah basketball has experienced more highs and lows than a roller coaster at Six Flags.

They aren't bipolar, but certainly lack some sort of identity. A culture. A unifying cause to rally around. Just who are these guys?

And that may be the problem - we don't know, and neither do they. For senior Jason Washburn, this year's Runnin' Utes are the fourth completely different team he has played for. Not that he has come here via transfer, but that the entire cast of characters changes on a yearly basis. Only one of his teammates remains from last season's 6-25 disaster - Cedric Martin.

Stop me if you've heard this before - a team fires its coach, hires a new one, they win and go to the NCAA Tournament in their first year, and then half the team decides to transfer to other schools, causing a downward spiral that eventually buries the coach.

For the Utes, it hasn't just happened once, but twice in the last 10 years.

Ray Giacoletti went to the Sweet 16 with legendary coach Rick Majerus' players, but eventually was let go by the Utes for not getting the desired results and for so much turnover in the basketball program.

Jim Boylen won in his first year with Giacoletti's players, taking the Utes back to the NCAA Tournament. But after his first year, he had more yearly wholesale changes than a Saturday afternoon at Costco.

Now Larry Krystkowiak is in the driver's seat and the results are a little different. Utah went 6-25 in Krystkowiak's first year, far from being considered for any postseason tournament, let alone the NCAAs. But even he has had a completely different roster in year one vs. year two.

I'll save the why players are leaving to another article, but where would the Utes be if they were able to keep some of them on the roster?

Related:

Utah Utes Basketball- Stats Of The Ones Who Got Away

One of the questions that people ask is what is going on with all the players who would have been Utes over these past two season. People hear rumors here or there but I thought it would have been worthwhile to put it all in one place. So here is how some former Utes are doing.

Hoyo's Revenge has gathered stats for all of the Utes that have recently transferred. Some of the names on the list? Iowa State standout guard Will Clyburn, who is averaging 14.8 points and 7.2 rebounds per game and is a potential all-Big 12 first team candidate.

How about another? There is Ole Miss guard Marshall Henderson, who is averaging 19.9 points and 1.7 assists per game.

Both are guys that the Utes would love to have, considering that they are struggling to consistently put up more than 25 points in the first half.

Regardless, the Utes can't expect to build their basketball program back to prominence when the foundation - the players - are continually bolting after each season.

So, "should I stay or should I go now?

If I go there will be trouble

An' if I stay it will be double

So come on and let me know!

Should I stay or should I go?"

I just hope they stay. It will make it a heck of a lot easier on media day.

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