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For the BYU basketball team, this week of final exams follows the Cougars' first in-state test of the season—a weekend win over Utah that further solidified BYU's current status as the dominant force in the blue-red hardwoods rivalry.
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Saturday's come-from-behind, 61-58 victory improves Dave Rose's record to 12-3 against the Runnin' Utes, with BYU having won seven in a row and 11 of the last 12 meetings. The seven straight wins equal a BYU streak set from 1964 through 1967 and is second only to an eight-game run from 1909 through 1912—-the first eight games played between the two schools.
Over any 12-game span in the rivalry's history, BYU's 11 wins have set the new program standard, as have Rose's 12 wins in the last 15 games. By any measure, BYU is enjoying unprecedented success against its number-one rival, approximating the kind of advantage Utah enjoyed over BYU in the mid ‘90s through early ‘00s, when the Utes won 12 consecutive meetings and 20 of 24 get-togethers overall.
Of Rose's 12 victories over Utah, nine have been by double digits. The average margin of victory in the 12 wins is 13.5 points per game. Rose's first-ever game at Utah resulted in a 19-point loss; his ensuing two losses to the Utes were by four points (2006 MWC Tournament) and in overtime.
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The most recent rivalry encounter was unlike recent meetings, in that Utah led for the majority of the game and had its best chance to win since its last victory over BYU: the aforementioned 94-88 overtime decision in Salt Lake City, back in 2009. Yet, despite trailing for roughly 35 of the game's 40 minutes, and in spite of 31% shooting from the field, the Cougars came together and found a way to send the Utes home unhappy for a seventh straight time.
There is little doubt that Utah head coach Larry Krystkowiak has done a tremendous job in transforming his team from one with little expectation of success in 2011-12 to one with enough weapons to worry any opponent in 2012-13. Krystkowiak has an engaging yet competitive personality to go along with a notable college pedigree and a clear idea of what it will take to restore respect for the Ute program and competitiveness to the BYU-Utah rivalry.
Indeed, by merely coming close against BYU, Krystkowiak has persuaded some local observers that Utah has already narrowed the chasm that the Cougars have widened over recent seasons. Yes, the Utes are better, and with Krystkowiak in charge, one can reasonably expect improvement within the program's competitive components. Such progress should result in more consistently compelling games with BYU, not to mention a better chance of survival in the Pac-12.
To say "Utah is back," however, is to jump the gun—-at least relative to its relationship with BYU. It will take more than a 58-point performance in a three-point loss to even Utah's recent score with the Cougars. It will take more than Jordan Loveridge to counter BYU's in-state advantage on the high school recruiting front. It will take more than media kudos for a narrow setback to return parity to the rivalry.
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If there is a perception that BYU has somehow taken advantage of a hopelessly fallen foe for 12 wins in the last 15 meetings, it is a false one. The only season in which BYU faced a Ute team without a reasonable chance of victory was last season. That 6-25 Utah squad was kind of a mess, and BYU's 61-42 victory on the hill was as devoid of style as it was drama. Krystkowiak knew that his only chance to hang with the Cougars was to ugly it up and slow it down. Playing in front of a sparse crowd, BYU and Utah played a game hardly representative of the rivalry--but that game was the exception and not the rule, and BYU deserves full credit for its present dominance.
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Rose's first season at the helm of the BYU program was the first of 7'2" center Luke Nevill's four playing seasons at Utah. BYU faced a Nevill-led Utah team nine times and won six of those meetings.
In the six seasons preceding the Utes' 6-25 campaign, Utah compiled a 94-94 record, with winning home records in all six seasons. Utah was by no means a world-beater, but until the bottom fell out in 2011-12, the Utes were hardly annual doormats. Nevill, Johnnie Bryant, Bryant Markson, Shaun Green, Carlon Brown, Will Clyburn, J.J. O' Brien, Lawrence Borha, Jiggy Watkins, Jay Watkins—even Marshall Henderson--these are all among good players who kept Utah competitive in the Rose era at BYU.
Because the rivalry has turned so recently one-sided, the presumption might be that BYU has had it easy. Dave Rose will tell you that every rivalry game is hard. Rose will tell you that every game he has coached against the Utes has featured players from both sides battling as you would expect rivals to battle. Rose will tell you that he and his guys have never felt they were going to have it easy against Utah.
Even last season, with a team that would finish 6-25, Utah made BYU grind for its win. Rose's 12-3 ledger against Utah can't be disregarded with a concession that Utah has simply been unable to compete. That has not been the case.
The Utes have competed, every time, and in every BYU win, the Cougars had to prove they are indeed the better team. Nothing was handed to them—-just as nothing was handed to Rick Majerus' Utah teams when BYU was rebuilding in the late ‘90s, even though the Cougars' descent to 1-25 was much more program-damaging than Utah's recent struggles.
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Rose has now faced three different Utah coaches in his eighth season as BYU's head coach. In buying out a resigning Ray Giacoletti, Utah spent $700,000. Successor Jim Boylen had his contract extended at $850,000 annually (incentives-—not reached—-would have pushed the deal to near $1,000,000/season). In firing Boylen, Utah committed to a $2,000,000 buyout (subject to change pending Boylen's future employment). Utah is now paying Krystkowiak $950,000 annually.
As a Pac-12 member, Utah now has more money to allocate to its coaches and all other facets of the basketball program. BYU's fiscal capabilities are understandably more limited, which underscores the return the school is getting on its investment in Rose, his staff and his program. Rose has led BYU to six consecutive NCAA Tournaments, while Utah has expended considerable fiscal resources for coaches of a program that has been to the NCAA Tournament only once since 2005.
I think it's great that Krystkowiak has taken such a substantial step up with his program in the second year of his tenure. I really like him, and while rooting for Utah is not part of my DNA, I will be happy for him when he experiences success—-in all but one annual game, of course. And, the better his teams are, the better the rivalry games will be.
Krystkowiak wanted badly to win last Saturday's game, and declined to acknowledge any moral victories, telling the media on Monday that he was still taking the loss pretty hard. Rose, after the game on Saturday night, told us on KSL that "all wins are good, but sometimes they're just a little bit more special. The fact that it was the Utes is one thing that was really important…"
Whether or not the current BYU team turns out to be the best of the Dave Rose era, the Cougars on Saturday proved yet again to be the better team in the now-annual meeting with their historical and geographical counterparts. The fact that it was BYU's seventh consecutive win and 11th in the last 12 meetings should not diminish the remarkable effort it has taken to construct the current run of success--just as the fact that Utah came close in one game doesn't mean it has automatically closed an eight-year gap.
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Photo: Courtesy Jaren Wilkey, BYU Photo
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