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SALT LAKE CITY — University of Utah head basketball coach Larry Krystkowiak and his staff will embark on a two-week Pac-12 all-star tour through China starting next week. The tour, which will include three Utah players, will be a valuable growing opportunity for the upcoming season.
“I never would have dreamed that we’d have the chance to do it,” Krystkowiak said. “We can bring our staff in its entirety and obviously three players, so it’s a great benefit for us to get together as a staff.”
The opportunity to work with the coaching staff more closely in the summer months is something Krystkowiak said will be an advantage coming into September when the basketball team starts its fall training. The staff will spend time going over in-game situations and testing out some of their game plans against Chinese teams.
“There’s a lot of things, situations in basketball and a long list of things that I have, that we want to have the answer to before we’re in a game,” Krystkowiak said.
“It’s kinda like a coaching clinic in the summertime that forces you to be visiting about basketball. And we’ll be able to implement a few things in this team,” he added. “But there will be plenty of meetings where we can start sharpening the saw a little bit and thinking about some things when otherwise we wouldn’t be.”
The all-star team will play a Chinese university all-star team and three games against teams in the Chinese Basketball Association, including the Shanghai Sharks, which is owned by former NBA All-Star Yao Ming.
The opportunity to represent the University of Utah and the Pac-12 is something Jordan Loveridge, Brandon Taylor and Jeremy Olsen said they’re excited about.
We're at a point now where we're kinda having expectations and people kinda know that Utah is a team that's here to compete for a top spot in our league. I think we've got our work done, but we still have a lot more work to do. We've just knocked that door down. We showed the league that we can compete and we showed the league that we're here.
–Brandon Taylor
“It brings more attention than we had before the previous years,” Taylor said. “Things like that bring more attention to our program.”
“Just having the experiences like that just helps us be more competitive and get our names out there,” Loveridge added. “With Delon (Wright) doing a great job with the camps he’s been to, he just comes back to us, and he’s playing for us and him at the same time. That’s kinda what we’re doing going on this trip.”
After a much-improved season, the expectations surrounding the University of Utah have been set high. Many see the university competing for the Pac-12 championship against teams like Arizona and then making a decent run in the NCAA tournament.
“We’re at a point now where we’re kinda having expectations and people kinda know that Utah is a team that’s here to compete for a top spot in our league,” Taylor said. “I think we’ve got our work done, but we still have a lot more work to do. We’ve just knocked that door down. We showed the league that we can compete and we showed the league that we’re here.”
“As much as the attention we’re getting I think we’re still going to approach every game like we’re the underdogs,” Taylor added. “Because at the end of the day we really are. We still have something to prove. We haven’t been top five, we haven’t been top three. Expectations and polls about who’s going to be No. 1 or who’s going to be No. 12 really doesn’t matter at the end of the day. You have to go out there and compete and really let that fade away, let the talk be the talk.”
Krystkowiak said it’s been a great summer having a group of guys that will return for the upcoming season. He added that it’s been a nice change having a team that buys into the system and is looking to always get better.
“I couldn’t be happier with the progress that our guys have made. They’re getting together on their own," Krystkowiak said. "They played open gym (Monday) night on their own and then we had a (morning) practice (Tuesday) morning. I don’t know how many teams are going to be organizing an open gym the evening before they have to practice. … It’s a pretty good indication our guys are buying in and trying to get better."
Although Krystkowiak feels his team has bought in to the system and will be able to pick up where the team left off last season, he said he and his coaching staff will approach the season the same way they did when everyone was predicting the team to finish last in the conference.
“It’s the same philosophy I’ve had three years ago when we were predicted to finish last by a landslide,” he said. “Everybody’s got to come up with ideas of who is going to fit where, but it doesn’t change what we do. I knew we weren’t going to finish last and we didn’t. Wherever it is that we’re picked, there’s a pretty good chance we’re not going to finish where everybody has us picked.”
However, Krystkowiak said the increased attention to the program has helped recruiting and has put the U. on a level playing field with the rest of the conference.
“When we were trying to build this thing there really wasn’t much to talk about,” he said. “Even in recruiting in July you’d run into coaches and nobody really had much to say. Everybody would just kinda wink and say good luck. Now we’re on a little bit of an upward trend and people say, ‘hey you’re going to be good this year.’ It’s all just talk.
“It’s just discussion and talk, but at the end of the day we’ve got to get out and play,” he added. “And I think we’re all looking forward to getting out there and doing that.”
