Utes v St. Mary’s in HOT NIT ACTION
The Utes went from almost the 3rd seed in the Pac-12 to a five seed in the NIT.
Such is the way of sports.
But the second season begins tonight and hope springs eternal.
Although Utah’s road to New York likely won’t come back to Salt Lake City, getting to New York is not an impossible task. But first the Utes must deal with St. Mary’s
St. Mary’s starts with two names, Brad Waldow and Stephen Holt. And remember I follow WCC basketball so I’ve heard your Where’s Waldo and Arrested Development jokes like a 100 times so keep them to yourselves.
Waldow is the inside man averaging 15 and 8 and shooting 58%. Holt is the outside guy averaging 15-4-4 and shooting 44% from three.
I expect Utah to win this game. This St. Mary’s team is down a bit from their usual squads. They went 0-5 against Gonzaga and BYU and were blown out by the Zags 3 times. But if one or more of the three following things starts to happen, this is where you should be concerned:
- Brad Waldow is scoring and Utah’s bigs begin to pick up fouls. Especially if it forces Bach and Olsen out early.
- Holt is extremely hot from three.
- One of the other guys like Carter, Walker or Levesque find themselves scoring, especially from outside.
As long as, Wright and especially Loveridge are attacking the basket, and our bigs don’t get in trouble (which is where a WCC style crew could cause and you’d all find out why Gonzaga seems tough in December and soft in March) the Utes should be fine. We need Jordan not to fall in love with the three point line.
The plan is simple, hopefully the execution will be as well.
See you post game.