3 bowl wins tops Christmas wish list


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SALT LAKE CITY — With Christmas fast approaching, Santa has come to deliver much-needed gifts to those in the local sports scene.

For the stocking stuffers we start with:

Bowl wins for BYU, Utah and Utah State

The Cougars and Aggies both should win easily, considering their opponents — Memphis and UTEP, respectively — have combined for exactly one win over a team that finished this season with a winning record. Memphis beat 9-3 Cincinnati, which lost starting quarterback Gunner Kiel to a rib injury in the first half.

Colorado State, which plays Utah, beat three teams that finished with winning records. No excuse for any local team to lose.

A proven veteran for the Jazz

Jazz general manager Dennis Lindsey has gone on record several times saying the Jazz won’t skip steps in rebuilding the team, but the glacier place has become too much. A cruel league, the NBA is not kind to youth, which is really all the Jazz have.

A solid veteran would help the Jazz win a few more games and put a dent into all the losing the team has experienced the last two seasons. A better record also shouldn’t hurt the Jazz draft position, considering the 76ers, Timberwolves and the Lakers have worse rosters.

If the Jazz stand pat, they could look to add a veteran free agent over the summer. The list of potential available players includes Paul Millsap, LaMarcus Aldridge, Marc Gasol, DeAndre Jordan and Greg Monroe.

Related:

A halfway decent big man for Dave Rose

Somewhere along the line, BYU lost the ability to recruit quality big men. The current crop suffers from an embarrassing lack of talent, even by West Coast Conference standards.

Since joining the WCC four years ago, BYU has failed to unseat Gonzaga as the league’s standard, and this season doesn’t look to be any different, in large part due to the expected significant advantage the Bulldogs will enjoy in the frontcourt.

Maybe it’s Lone Peak High’s fault for primarily producing a bunch of perimeter gunners that make BYU fun to watch but not to be taken too seriously during March Madness.

A quarterback for Utah

Since the 2008 Sugar Bowl season ended, Utah’s quarterback situation has been a complete mess. With the constant juggling and ineffectiveness at quarterback this season, it’s amazing the Utes finished the regular season ranked and with a winning conference record for the first time in the Pac-12.

With eight quarterbacks, counting the incoming Chase Hansen, on scholarship, the Utes should be able to find somebody to complete a few passes to augment a traditionally strong running game. Seeing that this season’s two alternating starters Travis Wilson and Kendal Thompson didn’t do much, it’s reasonable to assume that neither will start again next year. The guess here is Wilson tries to take advantage of a transfer rule that allows graduates to be immediately eligible.

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Look for Hansen and redshirt freshman Donovan Isom to get plenty of opportunities to win the starting job.

A head coaching position for Kalani Sitake

The longtime Utah assistant coach and defensive coordinator has earned the right to become a head coach, particularly at one of the non-power five schools. Having already turned down numerous assistant coaching jobs in the NFL and college, Sitake is waiting for the landing spot before he leaves his comfortable position at Utah.

Sitake and Kyle Whittingham have discussed staying put and waiting for the Utah coach to retire. The 55-year-old Whittingham has talked about not wanting to coach past age 60, but Sitake probably would be hesitant to wait another five years.

A reconciliation between the BYU fan base and Bronco Mendenhall

For whatever reason, the BYU coach and Cougar fans don’t seem to get along. During every season, in seemingly greater frequency, Mendenhall takes shots at the fan base for such things as football ignorance, booing him, misplaced priorities and loyalty.

Sometimes Mendenhall has good reason to lash out, taking into account the number of times a fan has interrupted him during public functions. Both sides need to come together, right now, over BYU football.

To all, a happy holiday season

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