JoeF

Coach - Rick Majerus is considered one of the top coaches in America. Majerus’ career winning percentage of .740 is the third-highest among active NCAA Division I coaches and ranks 16th all-time. Among active coaches, only Roy Williams (Kansas) and Bob Huggins (Cincinnati) have better winning percentages. He is a good reruiter and IMO if you give him some time to prepare, one of best game coach in college basketball. He is very demanding and runs more players out of the program than he keeps.

Key losses
Chris Burgess, 25.5 MPG, 13.2 PPG and 7.2 RPG but was limited by injury to only 11 games.
Jeff Johnson, 29.7 MPG, 10.8 PPG, 3.0 RPG, 36. 3pt% 73. FT% in 29 games. He was a good defender, a hustle 100% effort guy who did whatever the coach asked of him.
Travis Spivey, 31.0 MPG, 6.9 PPG, 4.1 RPG and 4.5 APG (#2) in 28 games.
Phil Cullen, 16.1 MPG, 6.7 PPG, 2.7 RPG, 39.8 3pt% and 80.9 FT% in 29 games.

Key Returning Players
Nick Jacobson, 6-4 198 junior guard. Jacobson averaged 33.2 MPG, 13.1 PPG, 2.0 RPG, 43.7 FG%, 44.6 3pt% and 76.1 FT% in 29 games. He is going to need to step up his game this year. He may have to play more PG.

Britton Johnson, 6-9 213 senior forward and last years MWC POY. Johnson averaged 28.0 MPG, 12.9 PPG, 6.4 RPG, 50.2 FG% and 36.5 3pt% in 29 games. He needs to also step up his game. He needs numbers more in line for a POY.

Trace Caton, 6-5 214 senior guard/forward. Caton averaged 22.1 MPG, 4.8 PPG, 2.1 RPG, 45.9 FG%, 50.0 3pt% and 82.8 FT% in 29 games. He plays SG, SF and PF depending on the matchups and can even defend the PG. He is a very versatile valuable player. He is their best defender, a hustle 100% effort guy who will do whatever the coach asks of him.

Other Returning Players
Cameron Koford, 6-11 230 senior center. Koford averaged 10.2 MPG, 3.9 PPG, 2.6 RPG and 66.7 FG% in 23 games. He got more minutes at the end of the season and will probably be getting more minutes at this year.

Key Newcomers- since they only return 4 players from last year all are key newcomers.
Marc Jackson, 6-1 185 sophomre point guard. Jackson played in 21 games as a freshman in 00-01 but only got 125 total minutes. He has a great chance to play this season. He and Drisdom are the only PGs on the roster though Jacobson can play there. He played a year for Majerus so he probably has a slight advantage especially early.

Tim Drisdom, 6-3 195 true freshman point guard. Drisdom averaged 25.3 PPG, 10.5 RPG, 9.5 APG and 57.3 3pt% as a senior. He was three-time first team all-state selection and twice California POY in his division. He was a heavily recruited by USC, Stanford, Texas, Marquette and Georgia Tech in additional to Utah. The question mark on him is competition. He played for a small school. Utah only has 2 PGs on the roster so if he can learn the system and play adequate defense he will get lots of minutes.

Richard Chaney, 6-5 180 true frshman guard/forward. Chaney averaged 25 PPG, 12 RPG, 2 APG and 4 BPG as a senior. He also recruited by Arizona, Maryland and USC, among others.

Bryant Markson, 6-7 190 true freshman forward. Markson averaged 26.9 PPG, 8.9 RPG and 4.6 APG. He is an outstanding athlete and is very quick laterally. He has great potential but needs to improve his strength and outside shooting. He was also recruited by Kentucky, Missouri, Arizona, Kansas, North Carolina and Michigan State, among others.

Chris Jackson, 6-11 244 redshirt freshman center. Jackson averaged 20.0 PPG, 9.7 RPG, 4.9 BPG and 71.6 FG%. He was the USA Today Gatorade New Mexico Player of the Year and a McDonald’s All-America top 100 finalist in 2000-01. He was ranked as the 18th-best senior center by ESPN.com. He has good size , good hands, good shooting touch and runs the floor well. He will need to adjust to the major college level after playing against small high school competition. He was recruited by Stanford, Purdue and New Mexico. He will fight with Frost and Koford for playing time.

Tim Frost, 6-10 234 junior center who transferred from University of Portland. Frost played 56 games in two seasons with the Pilots. As a sophomore in 00-01 he averaged 27.9 MPG, 14.9 PPG, 7.0 RPG, 1.9 BPG and 77.4 FT%. He will fight with Jackson and Koford for playing time.

Andrew Bogut, 6-9, 205 forward/center from Austrailia. Due to the Australian school calendar, Bogut will not be able to join the Utes until December. This could be a disadvantage for him. If Jacson, Frost and Koford perform the rotation will be fairly set.

Conclusions
Utah has only four returning players and due to the number of players that graduated and transferred from the program Majerus will start the season with 10 scholarship players. Bogut will join the team in December and they will then have 11 scholarship players. They return a couple of good players, Jacobson and Caton and a POY candidate in Johnson. They have Tim Frost who transferred from Portland of the WCC. They are very talented but inexperieced after that. They will be relying heavily on freshman and sophomores, who have a little or no college experience, especially at PG. With so many new players chemistry and finding roles on the team could be an issue. This could be one of the toughest years that Majerus has faced in a while. I think they will have down year by Utah standards but still a good year for many teams. I think they will finish around #3 in the MWC and go to the NIT or even possible the NCAA.

JoeF

JoeF

Salt Lake Tribune preview
http://www.sltrib.com/11222002/sports/4309.htm