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SALT LAKE CITY — When you thought about college basketball in Utah 20 years ago, you probably didn’t think about Utah Valley University.
In fact, you still might not think about them today. The Wolverines, however, have been on the rise in the college basketball world as of late.
Initially, UVU was part of the NJCAA, but in 2003 it was included in Division I sports. It was right around that time that UVU men’s basketball got its first big taste of press and recognition with the emergence of future NBA player Ronnie Price.
Price made a huge splash in the NCAA world during his three seasons with the Wolverines, receiving the most attention during the 2004-05 season by finishing third in the nation in scoring at 24.3 points per game.
His scoring ability mixed with his dynamic finishes and massive dunks brought excitement to the university. After Price left for the NBA, the excitement in Utah Valley and the relevancy of UVU basketball deviated back to the norm.
Since then, athletic director Vince Otoupal has been working to improve the paradigm associated with the UVU basketball team and athletics in general.
The Wolverines took a big step in their program in 2015 when they hired former NBA player Mark Pope. Along with Otoupal, Pope has also been working to grow the UVU program.
“I think I just was excited about trying to really really grow our program, and kind of do it in every facet, and do it really aggressively, and try to go as fast as we possibly could,” Pope said.
In the third season of the reign of Pope, UVU has awaken. The Wolverines have an overall record of 21-9 and a WAC-leading 15-1 home record.
“Since coach Pope got here, our fan attendance is up, our student involvement is up,” Otoupal said.
Junior guard and second team All-WAC selection Conner Toolson said Pope's personality and his "way of coaching" makes it "easy to respect him because he knows what he’s talking about.”
UVU’s success under Pope this season has given the Wolverines the second overall seed in the WAC tournament that will begin Thursday in Las Vegas.
“This is my most talented roster, so I think we have some higher expectations we’re trying to meet,” Pope said.
Teamrankings.com gives UVU a 22.4 percent chance to make the NCAA Tournament. Currently ranked 74th in RPI, UVU will likely need to win the WAC tournament in order to receive a bid to play in the NCAA Tournament.
This would require it to beat the 25-5 New Mexico State Aggies, who won the WAC tournament a year ago. The Wolverines split the season series with the Aggies this year.
“I expect us to win it (the WAC Tournament),” Otoupal said. “I think if you get into a tournament like this, whether you’re a coach or a player or a fan or the athletic director, you expect your team to put their best effort forward, and to win it.”
If the Wolverines do win the tournament, it would put them in unprecedented territory.
“That would be a landmark step for us,” Pope said. “Obviously, we want badly to get to the NCAA Tournament, we want to win games in the NCAA Tournament and go deep, and that’s huge; that’s really really hard.”
Last year, the Wolverines, made the final four of the CBI tournament, which was an immense step for the team.
“Being in the final four of the CBI was a huge deal for us,” Pope said. “That was something, we’ve never won national postseason tournament games here before, so that was a huge deal for us.”
Other big steps for the Wolverines came with their defeat of BYU last season, and playing both Duke and Kentucky in a 24-hour span at the beginning of this season.
The stunner against BYU came on Nov. 26, 2016, when UVU went 18-37 from behind the arc en route to a 114-101 win.
“I think that was a day that really legitimized what we’re doing at Utah Valley University, not just for basketball, because basketball was a catalyst, but for our entire athletic program.” Otoupal said.
Otoupal believes that the win against BYU enabled them to play against both Duke and Kentucky this season.
“I think because we had that game, that victory, we also had a chance to get the toughest 24 (the toughest 24 hours in their history) this year with Kentucky and Duke,” Otoupal said. “Without that win against BYU, I don’t think we get the Duke and Kentucky games.”
Toolson said that playing in the games against the two powerhouses was a special experience.
“It was really cool, a cool atmosphere to be in. Obviously, not very many people get to experience that,” Toolson said. “So it was fun to be able to go against two of the best teams in the nation, to see what we compare against.”
Along with these great moments and positive steps, building up UVU basketball has come with some challenges. Because UVU is not a household college basketball name, Pope has to spend a lot of his time doing other things to grow the program.
“We have a lot more work to do, there’s a lot of things that occupy my day that have nothing to do with basketball but have a lot to do with growing our program,” Pope said.
While working to build the program is difficult, it is also filled with special moments.
“We have a bunch of guys that are kind of giving everything they have to their chosen sport and to their academic career. You have amazing moments all the time,” Pope said.
“The individual efforts make the team successful,.” Otoupal said.
These individual efforts have not been in vain. All of the efforts throughout the team and throughout the staff have come together to create collective success for Utah Valley basketball.
UVU will play CSU Bakersfield on Thursday at 3:30 p.m. MST.
Editor's note: This story has been updated to reflect the context of Otuapal's comments regarding the Western Athletic Conference Tournament.
