Andrew Bogut officially packs his bags

Andrew Bogut made the announcement everyone expected today. He is leaving the University of Utah after his 2nd year to declare himself eligible for the NBA.

Bogut was as polished and mature as he has been all year long. He also announced that he had retained Dave Bauman of SFX sports to be his agent, so there is no going back. Andrew also, announced a parting gift for the University of Utah, in the form of a $125,000 donation for a new locker room.

Andrew Bogut was a class act and he'll be missed. Good Luck Andrew!



How will Andrew do in the Pros?
I think one on one he had little to no trouble with anyone. The 7'3" guy from Kentucky gave him a mild problem, but then Bogues figured him out and went around him twice from top of key. Without 3 guys on him, he would have done more. It's hard to pick on his numbers, but those of us who got to see him often, know that he is a team player who did not force shots or break the offense to get his numbers. In the NBA he'll make those around him better and probably not face as many creative zones and triple team combinations.

I am not sure he'll be superstar in the NBA, but as I follow the NBA pretty close as a part of the Utah Jazz Column on the Most Valuable Network, I do know that it is very hard to find good big men in the NBA. I think he could be an all-star level at that position within a couple years. After the O'Neals there is a lot of room in the league at Center position. Yao is good, but his level seems more than obtainable, for Bogut in that Bogut should rebound as well, shoot with a little more range, be a little more mobility, and should pass better than Yao.

Honestly, I haven't broken down the other players going into draft, so I'm not going to proclaim Bogut as #1 overall...but I would expect Bogut to be top 5 draft pick, have a long good career, and his international experience probably means he is more ready for the pro game at this moment than most of the other college kids coming out. His immediate area of improvement, would just be more strength. Bogut already has good hands in that he catches almost everything, but probably could get stronger in his upper body that would allow him to be even stronger going to the basket.

March Gladness Update: Utah-Kentucky preview

Tonight the 6th seeded, University of Utah battles the 3rd seed, Kentucky Wildcats in the Austin region of the NCAA tournament.

Utah 29-5 VS Kentucky 27-5

If you read a story about this game is will probably consist of talk about how great Andrew Bogut is and Kentucky's goal of stopping him, or you'll hear how Kentucky has beaten the Utes 5 straight times in the NCAA tournament since 1993. I don't disagree with either point, Andrew Bogut is great and a key, and yes Kentucky has beaten the Utes in the tournament before, but there are other things to consider.

Utah and Kentucky Mumblings....

• Kentucky is the favorite to win. Although, not the way they might have been favored in previous seasons. Vegas only has the Wildcats favored by 4 1/2 points.
• These are pretty young teams, given their place in the tournament. The two teams combine to start only two seniors.
  
• McDonalds knows more than Super Sized Meals. For a high school player there isn't many accolades higher than being named to the McDonald's all-American team. Super sized players usually go to the top basketball schools. In this case, Kentucky had one of the best recruiting classes in the country last year, netting a whopping three Big Macs in one year. Two of those guys, Guard Rajon Rando and Center Randolph Morris start as freshman. Utah, has at least three guys who ate at McDonalds this week.
• A good start to the game and rebounding could be keys to Utah's success. On the season, the Utes are 29-1 when leading at halftime and 28-3 when out rebounding their opponent.
• Kentucky has a legendary NCAA history. Utah, however, isn't exactly a slouch. This is the Utes 9th appearance in the Sweet 16 since 1975.
• The media is making a huge deal over the fact that Kentucky plays up to 13 players per game. The assertion is that Kentucky has so much talent and depth that they can force a tempo and a high scoring game that Utah cannot adapt to. The counterpoint would be, if Kentucky had its usual NBA caliber talent the starters would play more. As far as high scoring, this Wildcat team only scores five points more per game than Utah (73.5-68.4).
• Kentucky has lost 5 games this season, all of them to quality opponents: Florida (twice), North Carolina, Kansas, and South Carolina.
• The only common opponent for the Utes and Wildcats is the Coppin State Eagles. Speaking of Coppin St., they seemed to be everybody's tune up team this year and they played 7 NCAA teams: Utah, Kentucky, Oklahoma, West Virginia, Pittsburgh, Texas, and Delaware St.

Why Utah will win
For starters, Kentucky lost to Florida twice, who lost to LSU, who lost to Utah.

A couple of other considerations. Utah turns the ball over a lot (14 per game) which could allow Kentucky to take advantage. However, Kentucky also turns the ball over a lot (13 per game) and so one area that may have been a big Wildcat advantage may not play out like the experts expect. Bogut will impact the game, but Kentucky will make such an effort to stop him, he may not have a big scoring day. However, his presence will open the door for the other Utes to hit some shots. Unlike some past years, these guys can and should be able to seize the opportunity.
For Kentucky to win, they will have to make some outside shots. Oklahoma and UTEP couldn't and they lost. In fact, most of Utah's opponents have not. However, New Mexico had some strong outside shooting games when they beat Utah twice this season. Unlike other experts, I don't see fatigue being the key issue. I do think Kentucky will try and get Bogut tired, but I think fouls are more important. If Bogut and Marc Jackson stay out of foul trouble, the Utes will be better than Kentucky at the two most important positions and have a chance to win.

March Gladness continues

The Big dance is no longer "big" in terms of number of teams playing, but is "big" in that only 16 teams are still playing. The University of Utah stunned #3 seed Oklahoma 68-57 to get their invitation to the sweet 16 and a date with Kentucky on Friday in Austin, Texas.

The Utes did so with perhaps their most balanced effort of the season. Andrew Bogut killed the Sooners with his passing, rather than by posting his normal 20 points per game. You had to really appreciate Bogut's patience in this game. Most top scorers in the country would have been forcing things to try and get their shots. Bogut did not score for over 8 minutes at the start of the game and didn't reach double figures until about a minute was left in the game. Bogut only took 7 shots the entire game, making four and scoring 10 points. If you didn't see the game you'd assume that Oklahoma shut him down and limited his touches. The opposite was true. OU did swarm Bogut on every possession, but he was still able to get touches and do something with the ball. Instead of recklessly attacking the double and triple teams, he did what few 7 footers can, and took a few dribbles and passed to a variety of cutting teammates. Along the way he picked up 7 assists and several other passes led to baskets, fouls, or a missed layup.

You cannot minimize the fact that Bogut picked-up his teammates. However, when he gave them the opportunity, they seized it in a big way. A couple of these guys are pretty fearless, which I can't say was a mark of recent Ute teams. Justin Hawkins, and Bryant Markson have been complimentary players, but they both willingly attacked the basket when given the opportunity. In addition, despite the media's clamoring over Bogut, none of this gets done without PG Marc Jackson. He has been terrific and isn't just getting it done only on the offensive end of the floor, he has shown the ability to slow down the speedy guards like Utep's Riviera and OU's Lavender and Godbold. As long as we are spreading credit around, I do believe coach Ray Giacoletti deserves a lot of credit both for keeping the team loose and full of confidence, but also his decision to move Bogut to the high post where he could distribute to his teammates.

As you might expect, the media attention is raining down on the Utes and Andrew Bogut in particular. Some that you may or may not have seen:

• Tim Dahlberg, AP Writer, wrote a nice piece about Bogut and included the strong statement,

  "..if Bogut isn't everybody's player of the year, something is wrong with the balloting. If he's not the first pick in the NBA draft in June, some general manager is sleeping."

• Jim O'Connell, AP Writer, announced that Bogut is the leading vote-getter on the AP All-America team. Bogut joins players who are from college basketball's elite programs - Kansas (W. Simien), Syracuse (Hakim Warrick), Duke (JJ Redick) and Wake Forest (Chris Paul). O'Connell mades a strong point when he said,

  "Bogut was the only member of the first team not to have received any recognition after last season. In fact, he was the only one of the five not to have been at least an honorable mention selection in the preseason All America balloting. Now Bogut is considered a sure lottery pick, and the possible top pick, if he decides to declare for the NBA draft".

• Joe Beatty, Utah Chronicle, offers a good recap of Utah-Oklahoma game. Joe also mentions a great statistic about turnovers, by saying that Utah had 21 turnovers, and,

  "the Sooners committed a season-low seven, and were 20-1 this season when winning the turnover battle.."

The Utes draw the Wildcats on Friday night with a chance to become a part of the Elite Eight. Certainly followers of the Ute program did not expect a season like this on the heals of Rick Majerus' departure and starting the season with a new coach. However, the Ute fans, much like Majerus who picked OU to beat the Utes before the game, didn't know Giac!

Utes seeking March Gladness

The University of Utah squeaked by UTEP 60-54 in round one of the NCAA tournament. For the Utes it was like a road game, as many of the UTEP faithful made the trip to Tucson. The Utes came back from an early deficit, and then gave up a big lead of their own, to hold on for a win. The game actually went about like I envisioned, even down to my predicted final margin of victory (5-6) although the ending was more tense than I expected. Andrew Bogut was terrific and received just enough help at the end to get it done.

Next up, the Oklahoma Sooners. I get the sense that many Utah fans and the media that covers the Utes aren't giving Utah much of a chance at this point. Well, if you look at the schedules of the two teams, it becomes clear what will happen....

Utah and Oklahoma share four common opponents. Both schools beat Coppin St., Northern Colorado, and High Point. Please don't ask me where those schools are because I would only say..... Coppin is not a state that I know of, unless it's some small north eastern state hidden around Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine, that none of us out west remember from geography class. Northern Colorado, I'd only venture to guess is in some small obscure city north of Denver, no wait that is Colorado State which is in Fort Collins and since there isn't a north and south Colorado like Carolina or Dakota, I'm at a loss...,....and High Point, for lack of a better guess, I would say they should be in some mountainous region maybe in Northern Montana. Okay, refocusing now. Both OU and Utah lost to their other common opponent, Washington. Utah and Oklahoma are also teams that generally win games they are supposed to win. All five of Utah's losses are to tournament teams, and six of the seven OU losses came to tournament teams. That one loss is the one that makes this whole thing clear. The Sooners lost to Missouri, which finished just below .500 this season. Missouri lost to UNLV. Utah beat UNLV three times, so its clear Utah will win.

Using the same logic, Utah should win the National title. That poor Illinois squad lost their only game to Ohio State by one point. That opened the door for the consideration that Ohio State lost to Creighton who lost to Wyoming. Utah beat Wyoming twice. Clearly this isn't March Madness it's March Gladness for Utah.

Seriously, with regard to the Sooners, they look to be very high powered. Strong back court and two big guys to battle Bogut down low. Deep bench of athletes and an extra big guy or two. That might be just the combination to slow Bogut and the Utes. However, keep in mind some of Bogut's best games came against Colorado St., which boasts three 7-footers and was the biggest team in the league. Also, while OU has many good players, I am not sure there is one that is NBA bound on this roster right now. Utah will have to do some obvious things to compete in this game: Control the tempo, hit a few of the open three pointers when OU sags in on Bogut, and keep turnovers within reason. To do that Utah will need the support players to make more of an impact than they did against UTEP.

Despite all my impenetrable logic, Vegas says OU is a 5 point favorite. I think that feels about right.

Midweek Sports Mumbling....

Tomorrow the Big Dance starts and the Utes are in Tucson getting ready for a 1:15 local tipoff against UTEP. However, despite the basketball team being away from Campus there was still a lot going on up on the hill.

Alex Smith held his personal workout day in front of more than 60 NFL scouts and coaches. Charles Robinson of Yahoo! Sports gushes over Alex's performance in his write up today. He stated that Alex did so well that he has likely vaulted himself to the top of the draft board. This is amazing, but great news. Cal's QB Aaron Rodgers will have his personal day tomorrow and attempt to steal the spotlight. Right now its looking like Alex Smith, Aaron Rodgers, Braylon Edwards (Michigan), Michael Williams (USC) and perhaps Cedric Benson (Texas) are vying to be the top 5 picks in the draft.

Back to Tucson...

The Utes are either a darkhorse to make a run to the sweet sixteen, or a prime candidate to be knocked off. Top college basketball analysts are offering both opinions with nearly equal frequency. On one side you have the school of thought that the school with the best big man and best guard is the team that wins. Utah looks great to those people with Bogut and Mark Jackson. On the other side of the fence are those that suggest the Utes haven't played great talent and will fall when the do.

I looked for, but didn't not see any common opponents for UTEP and Utah. I did see both schools playing several patsies:
Utah: Stony Brook, High Point, Furman, Montana Western, and Coppin State.
UTEP: Panhandle St. (seriously), Occidental, IPFW, Jackson St., and Delaware State.

I expect UTEP to keep it close with their athleticism. I don't know much about them, but I think their choice of defense will be important. If they play a zone, it will be good and bad for them. They will do so to battle Andrew Bogut, but if they do, they will sacrifice the tempo they need to win. Despite their good foul shooting, I think they will get handled on the glass and lose a low scoring game. If they don't play zone, and rely on double teams to handle Bogut, they will probably fail to stop him, but may win because of the tempo. It will be interesting to see their choice. I see a close game with Utah winning by 5-6 points.

Sports Mumbling, March 15th

This is one of the great times of the sporting year no doubt. March Madness is upon us, the NBA enters the final quarter of the season, baseball is at spring training, and Golf's show piece, the Masters is drawing near. While I'm not keenly aware, I'm sure there are exciting things going on in tennis, soccer, professional fishing and Nascar right now too. Too bad the NHL is only in the news for not having any. Anyway, I mumble on....

First about the University of Utah.....

• The University of Utah stumbled slightly in the Mountain West Conference Championship against New Mexico. However, I think we need to break out of the negative mindset. It was a terrific game to watch. New Mexico is playing well and Danny Granger is terrific right now.
  
• A note about the Utes loss, was that Bryant Markson was competing and trying to help the Utes win, despite dealing with the deal of an Aunt to whom he was really close. He missed the funeral to be with the team, but instead of traveling home with the team, went straight to be with his family. Hang in there Bryant!
• Utah's 6th seeding is the highest ever for the Mountain West Conference. Remember however that the league is all of about six years old.
• Utah's first round game against UTEP is anything but a gimmee. UTEP rolls in with a 27-7 record and has the athleticism to win against the Utes. Not saying they will, but they could.
• If Utah were fortunate to get to the sweet sixteen they'd probably be playing....who else, but Kentucky. Kentucky seems to be the team to knockout the Utes every year.
• Maybe you didn't know.....All 5 Utah losses came against NCAA tournament teams (Washington, Arizona, Utah St, and New Mexico-twice) and on the road. That means it takes a quality team to beat the Utes. The Utes did beat tournament teams: LSU and New Mexico.
• Utah outscored 26 of 29 regular season opponents in the 2nd half.
• A Utah win over UTEP could bring a matchup with Oklahoma in the 2nd round. As Utah was hoping to play the Sooners in football and didn't get the shot, this might be at least a small consolation prize.
• ESPN has a good wrap-up of Utah's season available for all to see.

More Mumblings...

• Ever notice that much ado is made about all the team's on the bubble for the NCAA tournament. It is interesting to see who gets in, but really how often do those teams make any dent in the tournament. Of course, I'm speaking from the vantage point of a #6 seed, University of Utah fan.
• Carlos Boozer won't be in Cleveland when the Jazz make their first visit there since acquiring him. The Cleveland fans are still pretty chapped over the whole thing and you don't have to look hard for a group of Cav fans who are still steaming. I wish Carlos was healthy enough to play and get this behind him. All the drama aside, the chance to see Lebron James makes the game something to look forward to.
• I bet you aren't up to date on the USPPBA. You know, the United States Perforated Plastic Ball Association. You know, The Wiffle Ball League? Yeah, there is a such a thing. Their website requires registration to see much, but its kind of interesting. Here are other two sites I recommend. First, www.wiffle.com, is your place to get wiffle balls, equipment, and souvenirs. Second, Major League Wiffleball, is a great site with statistics, standings, wiffle ball rules, and a connection to some major league baseball players. So if you want to swing big without the aid of Steroids and the intense media glare that comes from the big leagues, go back to the basics and play some wiffleball!
  

The Utah Jazz Blog has moved

As you may have noticed on this blog, I've also been keeping a Utah Jazz Blog, and re-posting some of the entries here. About a week ago, I was invited and accepted, to move the Jazz Blog to the Most Valuable Network. I'm excited to be apart of the growing and committed team at MVN. Please come check it out:

ALL THAT JAZZ

Andrew Bogut is ESPN's player of the year

It has been a great year for the University of Utah Athletic Department, and it just became even better. Andrew Bogut was just named ESPN.com's National Player of the year today. ESPN also announced it's Men's College Basketball All American team, which included Bogut, Chris Paul (Wake Forest), JJ Redick (Duke), Wayne Simien (Kansas), and Sean May (North Carolina).

As Bogut is definately leaving Utah after this season to go to the NBA, the Utes will have a player in the top 5 of the NFL (Alex Smith) and NBA drafts in the same season, with rumors of each going as high as number one overall.


(photo from ESPN.com; taken by Levine)

Arroyo is gone, but the talk continues

They say the month of March comes "in like a Lion"......instead I think I'll come in with "I hate to whine about the whiners who are whining about old news, but I can't resist, and must get it off my chest so I'll beat it to death with a big stick".

Therefore, my Whiney Sports Mumbling Rant...

I keep reading articles in the Salt Lake Papers about Carlos Arroyo and how the Jazz miss him and how great he is doing for Detroit (reference, Jo-Ann Barnas article for Detroit Free Press picked up and ran in Salt Lake this week). I've even read opinions sent in to the newspapers and other online sites by fans who hate the trade of Arroyo and are mad at the Jazz and mad at Coach Sloan in particular. The point they are missing, and missing, and missing (they could stop shooting and missing at that point, but since Carlos hasn't stopped, why should they), and missing....is Detroit is asking him to be a part-time helper. In Detroit he is a back-up and averaging only 18 minutes per game. In Utah, the Jazz thought he was the man who could embrace the team's philosophy, lead the team, play heavy minutes (35 per game), and basically make those around him better. Truth is, he did not play well this year, despite the contract and faith the Jazz put in him. Truth is, he got on the wrong side of Coach Sloan, and while some of that may have been Jerry's fault and this league at times may be run by the players, the Jazz never have been. He was woefully immature and continues to complain that no one talked to him, as if, Carlos had no idea where Coach Sloan's office was. I for one am tired of reading his quotes and tired of all the fans who continue to push this side of things. Its a team game, but Carlos chose to make it about him and didn't like the result. I've said a million times...I'd rather lose with the right guys than win with the wrong ones. If it took giving in to a player who demanded kid gloves and special treatment to win, I'd rather lose. Is Carlos a bad guy? Whoa, that's not the point. I liked Carlos and enjoyed the good times while he was here, but unlike great players in this league he didn't fight through adversity. He isn't as valuable as people make it seem, and to hint that he means more to the Jazz than Sloan (as many have done) is idiotic.

To Carlos I say,

"take care Carlos, may you end up better than the other guys who left thinking they could do better outside the Jazz system (see: Shandon Anderson, Howard Eisley, DeShawn Stevenson, etc) . I'd like to send some of your Utah fan supporters with you, but you know how they are...fickle, as soon as they see that the grass isn't greener, they'll be bagging on you in no time."

My guess is with the recent improvement of the Jazz and Keith McLeod, and Arroyo's failure to really change the fact that only 5-6 guys on the Pistons really carry the load, that this issue will die down. Come next summer when the Jazz have the money from the Arroyo contract to spend elsewhere and an extra first round draft pick, people will be glad the Jazz held to their principles and really evaluated the situation for what it was.

In the spirit of statistical overkill, and to convince those that still wish to argue the over value of Carlos Arroyo, I offer the numbers below (thanks to the www.82games.com for the +/-). The result is that both teams, Utah and Detroit, have been better while Carlos is on the bench.

+/- points
Carlos in Utah (this year): -7.3
Carlos in Detroit: -6.4
Keith McLeod (Utah Starter): +2.5
Chauncey Billups (Detroit Starter): +4.9

Shooting %
Carlos in Utah (last year): 44.1%
Carlos in Utah (this year): 40.1%
Carlos in Detroit: 39.0%

Minutes Played - per game
Carlos in Utah (last year): 28.3 mins
Carlos in Utah (this year): 24.7 mins
Carlos in Detroit: 18.7 mins


To assert that Arroyo and his 39% shooting and 18 minutes per game is the reason, or even a critical influence, for Detroit's hot streak (winning 8 of 10) makes only slightly more sense to me than heaping extra praise on the hot dog vendors at Auburn Hills. I mean yes technically they are there, and yes in some remote way they are making an impact on the things inside the building, but its really only a coincidence that they are associated with the Pistons at a time when they are rolling.

Whew, all better now. Until the next article...

(Originally Blogged on the Utah Jazz Blog)

Sports Mumbling, March 3rd

Sports Mumbling on March 3rd...

• New Ute Hoop Rankings- Now 15th (coaches) and 16th (media) ranked in the country. Based on what I've seen this year, those rankings feel about right. Sports Illustrated has them at #17 in their power rankings, by Luke Winn.
  
• I give credit to "Ancient Ute" who posted a 'Historical trend for Utah Basketball' on the utefans.net website. His report (click here), shows that the Utes have only had 6 losing seasons in the last 50 years.
  
• Ute center Andrew Bogut has his own blog, "Awesome Aussie". Its not too bad, although he is certainly much better on the court than he is online. Some good stuff in there, but don't buy into the bit about him having a pet crocodile and kangaroo as he stated on Jan 23rd!
  
• Looking to move to Utah this spring? I think Karl Malone's house is still for sale. Better hurry and jump on it though, it looks like the price has dropped to a mere $5.75 M.
• The Jazz have won 3 in a row, and go for 4 against the Hornets in New Orleans. The Jazz would win by 15-20 right now in Utah, but momentum and the road atmosphere probably makes this a game. I'm not a big Byron Scott fan (coach of the Hornets), so I can't say their struggles bother me.
• One part about the Hornets I like, is the point guard Dan Dickau. He has taken over for the oft injured and finally traded Baron Davis. Dickau is a point guard who shares the ball, and is thinking about others when on the floor. He is probably going to earn himself some cash as he is a free agent this summer and only going to get better. If you are a rumor monger, remember that the Jazz will have cash to spend, have an unsettled point guard position, and Dickau went to Gonzaga, which coincidently was the same school as John Stockon. A little more you ask...remember that Stockton used to go home to Gonzaga for pickup games and played many times with Dickau.