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SALT LAKE CITY — Since taking over the reins in 2011, University of Utah head basketball coach Larry Krystkowiak has done the little things necessary to improve the state of the declining program he inherited.
Through a ramped-up recruiting effort, piecemeal scheduling, multiyear patience and getting people to buy into the program, Krystkowiak is on the verge of bringing Utah basketball back to its former days of competitiveness and perennial winning. And many around the state and country have started to notice.
“We talk in our program an awful lot about believing what we’re doing, and it always hasn’t been easy sometimes to believe in the direction and the hours that we’re putting in,” Krystkowiak said following Utah’s 69-68 overtime win Wednesday against the No. 8 Wichita State Shockers. “It’s been a staple, that word 'believe.' And now it’s really cool because in my assessment now people in the area believe in what we’re doing. It’s not just this internal cheerleading deal.”
Utah’s marquee win over the Shockers was the first step in Krystkowiak’s master plan to get Utah basketball back to the NCAA tournament and to create a winning attitude around the program. In early Bracketology projections by ESPN, the Utes are seeded as a No. 5 team and look to challenge conference foe Arizona for the Pac-12 title.
Sports Illustrated recently ranked Utah No. 13 of the best teams in the country, and Gary Parrish of cbssports.com put Utah at No. 14. In the Associated Press Top 25 poll, Utah sits at No. 25 but is expected to rise when the latest rankings are released Monday.
“To see people come out to a late night, staying till midnight, the student section and the fans, it’s terrific,” Krystkowiak said, speaking about the atmosphere at the Huntsman Center on Wednesday night. “To me, that’s why I signed up. You can’t re-create this kind of adrenaline. The nausea that I’ve had the last couple of days leading up to it and then you come out and see that many people in the arena, it’s really what college basketball is all about.”
"To come in as freshmen, even the fan base tells us, to see how it is now, it is a surreal feeling," Brandon Taylor said. "We are blessed and fortunate to have this opportunity."
The increased attention around the program is also a result of the recruiting Kryskowiak and his staff have done to make Utah competitive. According to the latest Chad Forde NBA draft projections for 2015, Utah has two first-round picks in senior Delon Wright and freshman 7-footer Jakob Poeltl.
Wright’s talent and skill set have been praised since joining the program last season, but Forde describes Poeltl as “this year’s draft sleeper.” He added that if Poeltl could play well against Wichita State with 22 NBA scouts in attendance, he has the potential to be a top 10 pick. Poeltl finished the game with 12 points, 11 rebounds and three blocked shots and was key to helping Utah late in overtime to beat the Shockers.
The attention is a bonus for Utah, but Krystkowiak recognizes that one big win over a top 10 team isn’t enough to turn the metaphorical ship around; it’s just the beginning. And with three more extremely competitive nonconference road games — BYU, No. 11 Kansas and UNLV — left to play, it’s no time to say Utah has arrived or to get caught up in the hype.
“There’s a lot of basketball left to play against some really good teams,” Krystkowiak said. “When you get these kind of wins it certainly brings it up in the discussion when those committees get together at that time. But that’s something we can discuss after the fact.
“Some of it is a little luck, too,” Krystkowiak added. “You get in some close games and you can knock tactical all you want, but at the end of the day you need to catch a bounce and maybe we did at some point. I think maybe with Brekkott (Chapman)’s 3-point basket that just about hit the top of the Huntsman Center off the first bounce and went back in, that’s maybe the one that made the difference. It’s better to be lucky than good.”
Utah now sits with a 6-1 record, with its only loss coming to a tough San Diego State team, and one of its best scorers, Jordan Loveridge, out for about a month. But Utah has a deeper bench with more talent than it’s had in several years and has found a way to minimize the loss of Loveridge with players such as Chapman, Dakarai Tucker and Kenneth Ogbe.
Utah will resume play on the road next Wednesday against in-state rival BYU at the Marriott Center in Provo at 7 p.m.
