The Utes open up in the desert tonight as they head to Arizona St. and then down to Arizona on Saturday.
The Sun Devils are led by three players scoring in double figures.
Jahii Carson 17.7
Carrick Felix 14.6
Evan Gordon 11.4
As I’m sure all Ute fans know, the elder Bachynski brother Jordan plays for Arizona St. And I think all Ute fans are hoping that Dallin becomes the player Jordan is for ASU. Maybe Dallin would be better if he grew a his hair long and got a neck beard. ASU’s coach Herb Sendek is also on the hot seat.
Arizona St. is much improved on paper, similar to the Utes, although a home loss to DePaul makes one wonder how much. KenPom.com has ASU ranked at 117 and their schedule at 340 as compared to a 161 ranking and the 304th ranked schedule.
If Utah is to get a road win in the Pac-12 one would think this is the place that it will have to come. We don’t play at USC.
I think the conclusion to take away from this is that this game will tell us where we can expect the Utes to finish. A bad loss might mean dead last. If we’re competitive maybe we could look at finishing 9th or dare I say it 8th place.
The things to look for with the Utes. How do, Dean, Dubois and Bachynski play. Loveridge has proven he is a prime time player. But the trio I mentioned have been all over the map and without consistency from them, well we aren’t going to win this game.
I’m off for Tempe so we’ll see how it goes.