NCAA Tournament 'part of being successful' for Utah's progress


Save Story
Leer en español

Estimated read time: 5-6 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

SALT LAKE CITY — The Runnin’ Utes gave soon-to-be-crowned Pac-12 champions Colorado a run for its money in the opening round of the Pac-12 Tournament four years ago. The close call would be the end to Utah’s first season under the leadership of coach Larry Krystkowiak — a season that ended with six total wins.

“We weren’t that far away,” Krystkowiak said, looking back at that first season as head coach, particularly at the end of the season where Utah was competitive in most games.

But from an outside perspective, Utah was the farthest program from relevancy. Utah was no more than an historically great program in a deep rut stuck on rebuilding in a difficult basketball conference. Couple the rebuilding with a then-apathetic fan base, whose reaction to Utah was more focused on the glory days of a National Championship game and several deep runs in the NCAA Tournament under Rick Majerus, and the program simply didn’t matter.

“A lot of those early experiences teach you to be patient,” Krystkowiak said. “I used to get a lot of texts from friends: one of the favorites was, ‘hey, it will pass.’ And you keep having to remind yourself that this is pretty turbulent right now and not very enjoyable. But at the end of the day things pass and you hope you’re in a better spot before too long.”


I used to get a lot of texts from friends: one of the favorites was, 'hey, it will pass.' And you keep having to remind yourself that this is pretty turbulent right now and not very enjoyable. But at the end of the day things pass and you hope you're in a better spot before too long.

–Larry Krystkowiak


Now, Utah stands on the cusp of its first NCAA Tournament game since the 2008-09 season, hoping for the postseason success and trajectory of a program looking to make a mark. The invite to the tournament — let alone being a five seed — is what marks a successful season in college basketball. It’s the so-called rite of passage to being relevant again in a sport dominated by perennial powerhouses — Kentucky, Duke, Kansas, North Carolina.

While a tournament invite classifies a successful season, it’s not enough to just be a part of the discussion. Although an obvious point, Krystkowiak said it’s about winning games that brings the success and attention back to a program — his program.

“It’s part of being successful,” he said. “I don’t want to just be an NCAA Tournament team and not win a game. There’s no more pressure than us trying to win the next game. You talk about those things as a result and you try to improve and try to get a little bit better. This is the time I think a lot of programs are defined with what you’re going to do.

“The way that we’ve prepared for four years has been the same,” Krystkowiak added. “We’ve always prepared like we want to be champions, so not a whole lot is changing for us mentally. It’s still the same game plan, it’s still a process moving forward. Hopefully when it’s all said and done we look back and say, ‘man, we did a little something special.’ ”

For the players, though, who have invested their all into the program, a tournament invitation is about being rewarded for all the hard work they put in, collectively, over the last four years under Krystkowiak’s leadership.

“It means a lot and it just shows how our program has progressed every year,” junior Jordan Loveridge said. “It just shows that we’ve had a great season up to this point and shows that we’ve earned a chance to play in the NCAA Tournament.”

Related:

“It’s amazing,” junior Brandon Taylor said. “This is something I’ve never been a part of in my life. I’ve always grown up watching these kind of NCAA Tournaments and looked at these big schools. Me being a part of it and this program getting back on its feet and being a part of this NCAA Tournament is amazing. It’s a tremendous honor to be a part of it.”

The tournament will be a new experience for the entire Utah basketball team, but Krystkowiak said the team isn’t caught up in the unchartered territory. He said he’ll touch on the different aspects of the upcoming tournament, but said the team is focused on winning each game the same way it has prepared for each game of the season.

“I’ll mention it a little bit, but our focus is really going to try to dial in on what it is we can control, and that’s going to be the next couple days of our practice and our scouting report,” he said.

“I’m just going to continue to play how I always have,” senior Delon Wright said. “Now that we’re in the tournament I’m not going to try to do anything different.”

“It’s kinda like being back at the preseason how you’re playing teams that you normally don’t play,” freshman Brekkott Chapman said, speaking about the preparation for this week’s game against 12th-seeded Stephen F. Austin. “But you’ve got to be ready because every team in the tournament can beat anybody. You’ve just got to play as hard as you can night-in and night-out.”

“I’m going to approach it like any other game,” Taylor said. “If I go out there and pay attention to who is around me and the importance of the game, I’ll get distracted. If I go out there and warm up and approach it like every other game, then we’ll be good.”

Utah will play Stephen F. Austin Thursday in the second round of the NCAA Tournament at 5:27 p.m. MST on truTV (Comcast channel 77-SD, 736-HD; Dish ch. 242; DirecTV ch. 246).

Related links

Related stories

Most recent Sports stories

Related topics

SportsUtah Utes
Josh Furlong

    ARE YOU GAME?

    From first downs to buzzer beaters, get KSL.com’s top sports stories delivered to your inbox weekly.
    By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

    KSL Weather Forecast