Still early in the 2016-17 college basketball season, the question of who is the best team in the state of Utah is challenging to answer. However, midway through the month of January there have been a few eye-opening games and players making a case for each team.
Let’s start here at UVU. The Wolverines earned an appearance on ESPN’s SportsCenter with a thrilling 114-101 road victory over the BYU Cougars. The reaction from local fans and media members was mixed; the Salt Lake Tribune’s Jay Drew deemed it the “worst loss in the Dave Rose era.” The Wolverine faithful were not as surprised, and tried explaining to BYU fans that by season’s end the loss would not be as bad as it originally seemed.
After that historic game, UVU dropped three in-state matchups in heartbreaking fashion: falling on the road to the Utah Runnin’ Utes 87-80 and to the Weber State Wildcats 93-85. The Wolverines also fell to the Utah State Aggies in Orem by a single point in overtime. The loss to the Utes was not a huge surprise, but with the Wolverines leading with 2:04 remaining, the game felt closer than the final score indicates. The loss to the Wildcats was a stunner, as many thought Weber would have a down season after losing Joel Bolomboy to the NBA. The idea of UVU being the best team in Utah suddenly seemed like an afterthought, but the play of other local teams makes it hard to come to a consensus.
The Utes were competitive with basketball elites like Butler and Villanova, but lost to San Francisco after Kyle Kuzma went out with an injury. With Kuzma back in the starting lineup and transfers David Collette and Sedrick Barefield now eligible, Utah should finish in the top half of the Pac-12 conference. What hurts the Runnin’ Utes is their watered-down nonconference schedule, which could be deadly come Selection Sunday.
Outside of the loss to the Wolverines, BYU swept its other in-state opponents, beating Utah State and Weber State. However, BYU lost to USC, Illinois and Valparaiso in nonconference action. The Cougars best out-of-conference victory came at home over Colorado, a team the Utes recently hammered. With a much talked about roster, BYU looks like a team that hasn’t figured out how to gel just yet.
After defeating UVU, Weber State went into Logan and beat the Aggies. Since those two victories the Wildcats, led by Jeremy Senglin, have been playing excellent basketball. The Aggies have also shown glimpses of greatness, but suffered some surprising setbacks along the way. With a trio of scorers in Sam Merrill, Jalen Moore and Koby McEwen, the Aggies could be a threat in the Mountain West Conference Tournament.
The state of Utah consistently produces quality and entertaining hoops and this year is no exception. However, this year it seems we may have to wait until March to crown the best team in the Beehive State.
