PAC MAN Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/7547805/rivalry-week-brings-best-men-college-basketball Utah fans, despite all the trash I have thrown your way since that CU win in SLC last November, I will never say that basketball is bigger in Colorado than Utah because it simply isn't true. Not when you have schools that are league championship contenders in what seems like every year in Weber State (Big Sky), Utah State (WAC), BYU (MWC now WCC), and Utah (MWC now Pac-12). I know Utah is down in basketball but I believe the Utes will be back given its history. I wonder if I am leaving out Southern Utah and Utah Valley as well? And you got the Jazz which was great during the Malone-Stockton years. After reading the ESPN.com article, perhaps the relationship between BYU and ESPN could have played a role in showcasing the BYU-USU rivalry in a bigger light than I ever have heard about it? While it appears to me that hoops in Colorado is on the rise, it still doesn't match Utah in hoops given the success of different schools in different conferences...I beg to ask the question, what is so great about basketball in the Beehive State? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mano Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/7547805/rivalry-week-brings-best-men-college-basketball Utah fans, despite all the trash I have thrown your way since that CU win in SLC last November, I will never say that basketball is bigger in Colorado than Utah because it simply isn't true. Not when you have schools that are league championship contenders in what seems like every year in Weber State (Big Sky), Utah State (WAC), BYU (MWC now WCC), and Utah (MWC now Pac-12). I know Utah is down in basketball but I believe the Utes will be back given its history. I wonder if I am leaving out Southern Utah and Utah Valley as well? And you got the Jazz which was great during the Malone-Stockton years. After reading the ESPN.com article, perhaps the relationship between BYU and ESPN could have played a role in showcasing the BYU-USU rivalry in a bigger light than I ever have heard about it? While it appears to me that hoops in Colorado is on the rise, it still doesn't match Utah in hoops given the success of different schools in different conferences...I beg to ask the question, what is so great about basketball in the Beehive State? Short answer, Utah is a small state, and until fairly recently (past 20 years or so) did not have the resources to compete nationally in football, so there has been more focus was on basketball. Also, the predominant religion in Utah (LDS) seems to have basketball ingrained in it's culture. There is an LDS ward house in pretty much every neighborhood, and every one has a basketball court. I am always hearing (don't know first hand, non-LDS) how fiercely competitive they get playing ward basketball. So most kids in Utah are playing in competitive organized leagues from an early age, and have easy access to good basketball facilities, and this leads to both more good players per capita, and more rabid basketball fans in general. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExplorerSunDevil Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scorcho Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 Short answer, Utah is a small state, and until fairly recently (past 20 years or so) did not have the resources to compete nationally in football, so there has been more focus was on basketball. Also, the predominant religion in Utah (LDS) seems to have basketball ingrained in it's culture. There is an LDS ward house in pretty much every neighborhood, and every one has a basketball court. I am always hearing (don't know first hand, non-LDS) how fiercely competitive they get playing ward basketball. So most kids in Utah are playing in competitive organized leagues from an early age, and have easy access to good basketball facilities, and this leads to both more good players per capita, and more rabid basketball fans in general. agree with Mano long winters, abundance of indoor basketball facilities, LDS mens and boys programs, cheap to play and equip for large families = good basketball community. It's not Indiana, but it's similar. I'd also agree that it's faded a little bit. It's not nearly as popular as it used to be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mano Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 Ute basketball was my first sports love. I started watching back in the 70's, when Jerry Pimm was the coach. From 1977 to 1982 Pimm led the Utes to 5 NCAA appearances, with 4 of those teams reaching the sweet 16. A dark period of 6 years, known as the Lynn Archibald era followed, with only 1 NCAA appearance (a first round loss). But then in 1990, Utah basketball's golden era (at least in my lifetime) began with Rick Majerus' first full season as head coach. Utah went 30-4 that year, winning the WAC championship and advancing to the sweet 16 in the NCCA tourney. Under Majerus from 1990 - 2004, Utah won 11 conference championships, 4 sweet 16's, 2 elite eights, and 1 national title game. Since then, Utah has "only" won 2 conference championships, and been to the NCAA tourney twice (advancing to the sweet 16 once). Utah fans are understandably upset with where the basketball team is now, and are impatient for the team to return to it's former glory. If not for the football teams success during this time period, there would probably be even more angst out there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrewute1 Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 Like Mano said, for me growing up Ute basketball was my first love too. My family has always had season tickets to both football and basketball since before I was born. During the 90's Utah football was decent but inconsistent. They had a great year in 1994 finishing near the top 10, but basketball was always king a that time. I remember every game was sold out with 15,000 in attendance and always rocking. Every home game we would go in thinking not just that we would win, but by how much and if we would reach at least 75 to get a free chalupa from taco bell. The Huntsman Center was one of the loudest college arenas, and teams would fear coming in there to play. Now its just plain depressing going to games. I cant wait for the day when we are at least revelant again and see at least one more sell out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DCtheUteFan Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 Basketball in Utah is huge. I was a mormon growing up, and played basketball in church leagues as well as High School. Hopefully the Utes come back in Basketball, I think the new coach is a step in the right direction, I'd also like to see us replace the aging Huntsman Center with a newer state of the art arena, that holds closer to 20,000, then the 13k or so it holds now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad Sexington Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 Hoops was huge when I was a kid many moons ago. The popularity of the game in Utah seems to have followed the national trend and fallen off a bit. I am a non-Mormon who played ward ball with my friends growing up. There were actual spectators at those games, beyond parents, siblings or significant others. There were actual spectators there to cheer on their ward team. Unbelievable. Most youngsters still play and there are numerous rec leagues, and ward ball is still as active as it ever was. However, aside from last two years of "Jimmermania" it seems attendance at the college games has declined, except at Utah St. They have been steady throughout, and they have a great atmosphere in their house up in Logan. It's a tough place to win. Additionally, since the madrassa in provostan (mip) has, as you would expect, the highest concentration of LDS students, and since Utah St is 2nd in that category, there is a natural rivalry that complements the in-state thing. Now that UTAH is in the PAC12, all that previous rivalry stuff has diminished quite a bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damage U Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 Like most everyone has eluded to, basketball is an easy/cheap sport to get into. It helps that the Local Uni's have a good history in the sport. The stability of the Layden/Sloan and Stockton to Malone years didn't hurt as well. It will be great once the big three schools in Utah get things running at the same time. I knew hoops was big in Utah but it has been a huge culture shock for me since moving to Boise. It is an absolute black hole here for other sports other than BSU football. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExplorerSunDevil Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 Its awesome to hear all of these stories about how basketball influenced so many of your lives in Utah. If I may add something to this. I personally think that the reason college basketball sucks is because the regular season lacks good rivalries IN and OUT of conference. Obviously there are more problems to current day basketball that this, but I thought I would just point it out. If Utah-BYU-USU could all get to a stage where all 3 programs are consistently in the tournament and all 3 fanbases get more active with their travel, that would become a huge tri-rivalry that could add a lot more flavor to the regular season, not just for those schools, but the conferences they play for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrewute1 Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 "If Utah-BYU-USU could all get to a stage where all 3 programs are consistently in the tournament and all 3 fanbases get more active with their travel, that would become a huge tri-rivalry that could add a lot more flavor to the regular season" You reminded me of something that has been talked about on utah boards from time to time. There has been thought to having a preseason tournament in Energy Solutions Arena between all the in-state schools: Utah, byu, Utah St, Weber St, Southern Utah, and UVU. I dont know if it will ever happen, but I think that would be a terrific event. It would be something to really get all the fanbases involved all at once and make for the ultimate bragging rights. It would create a buzz and kick college basketball off in a great way. I am sure that I am not the only one, but once football season just ends, there is definantly a lull wanting to get enthusiastic with college basketball (especially when your team has sucked balls for a few years). They could play the tournament like the first or second week of Decemeber, right before finals so they can really get the students involved. I can just picture 20,000 fans in the ESA, half red on one side and half blue on the other. That would be a spectacle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PAC MAN Posted February 10, 2012 Author Share Posted February 10, 2012 Hoops was huge when I was a kid many moons ago. The popularity of the game in Utah seems to have followed the national trend and fallen off a bit. I am a non-Mormon who played ward ball with my friends growing up. There were actual spectators at those games, beyond parents, siblings or significant others. There were actual spectators there to cheer on their ward team. Unbelievable. Most youngsters still play and there are numerous rec leagues, and ward ball is still as active as it ever was. However, aside from last two years of "Jimmermania" it seems attendance at the college games has declined, except at Utah St. They have been steady throughout, and they have a great atmosphere in their house up in Logan. It's a tough place to win. Additionally, since the madrassa in provostan (mip) has, as you would expect, the highest concentration of LDS students, and since Utah St is 2nd in that category, there is a natural rivalry that complements the in-state thing. Now that UTAH is in the PAC12, all that previous rivalry stuff has diminished quite a bit. Very unfortuante to hear about the rivalry stuff being diminished due to the conference move. And speaking of BYU-USU, suppose the news of BYU leaving the MWC for the WAC didn't leak, I can only imagine how much that rivalry could have grown with those two in the same conference. If CU can stay on the upward slope it is on along with Utah basketball being back plus ASU having a pulse in basketball, the basketball rivalries between the Mountain schools could take off. We'll see tonight how it goes between the Buffs and Wildcats on ESPN. The Utes and Sun Devils will be in the pillow fight game tomorrow evening as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PAC MAN Posted February 10, 2012 Author Share Posted February 10, 2012 You reminded me of something that has been talked about on utah boards from time to time. There has been thought to having a preseason tournament in Energy Solutions Arena between all the in-state schools: Utah, byu, Utah St, Weber St, Southern Utah, and UVU. I dont know if it will ever happen, but I think that would be a terrific event. It would be something to really get all the fanbases involved all at once and make for the ultimate bragging rights. It would create a buzz and kick college basketball off in a great way. I am sure that I am not the only one, but once football season just ends, there is definantly a lull wanting to get enthusiastic with college basketball (especially when your team has sucked balls for a few years). They could play the tournament like the first or second week of Decemeber, right before finals so they can really get the students involved. I can just picture 20,000 fans in the ESA, half red on one side and half blue on the other. That would be a spectacle. I think a similar event was proposed for the Colorado schools (and possibly Wyoming) in the Pepsi Center but it died quickly because the state isn't quite into basketball like its western neighbors. I wonder if there was some kind of spillover effect at Northern Arizona since they have had good basketball as well and I can only imagine the excitement for Southern Utah's move to the Big Sky Conference this coming July. As for the Front Range schools, CU has been playing all of those schools and put the Air Force series on ice when Jeff Bzdelik was the coach since he didn't want to coach against his recruits and the same is occuring now with Northern Colorado until Tad's recruits for that school leave Greeley then CU would be playing every Front Range school on an annual basis. The Buffs just beat the Falcons in a close one in Colorado Springs but lost to the Rams in a close one in Ft. Collins and got rocked for our lone loss at home by Wyoming. The MWC looks like a good basketball conference this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tacoma Ute Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 I think Weber State is being taken too lightly in this conversation given their success. There is a big 4 not a big 3. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PAC MAN Posted February 14, 2012 Author Share Posted February 14, 2012 I think Weber State is being taken too lightly in this conversation given their success. There is a big 4 not a big 3. I do view Weber State as one of the good basketball programs from Utah. I know it's the Big Sky Conference but they have done good in that conference for a long time. Now that Utah and BYU are in different conferences, the state of Utah could eventually add to a long line of basketball success. Utah Valley looks like they will win the Great West but I wonder where the Wolverines will be given that the Great West is going to fold soon (I believe). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.