COLUMN: Give it up for in-state basketball
Seven of nine: When it comes to free-throw shooting, it is a figure most college basketball players would be happy with.
While 7-of-9 shooting from the charity stripe is solid, it pales in comparison to another seven of nine. The seven of nine I am referring to is the seven men’s and women’s college basketball teams from the state of Utah that qualified for the NCAA Tournament.
Think about it. With all the talk that has been going on about the West Region of the men’s tournament being overloaded with high-caliber teams, little has been said — even locally — of the profound success Utah universities have enjoyed.
Southern Utah is the only school of the “Big Five” that will not send a team to the Big Dance, as the Southern Utah men were eliminated in the semifinals of the Mid-Continent Conference Tournament, while the T-bird women fell in the quarterfinals.
The other in-state schools more than made up the slack as the Utah State men, Utah men and women, BYU men and women and Weber State men and women combined to win a whopping 161 games this season. That’s an average of 23 victories per team.
In addition to this, six of the seven teams are regular or postseason champions in their respective conferences, with the WSU men and women capturing both.
One would be hard-pressed, if it is possible to begin with, to find another state that can boast of better collective success on the hardwood. Fans of in-state basketball can hold their heads high.
With team success comes individual accolades, as the schools combined to have nine players selected first-team all-conference. Eight other players received second-or-third-team all-league honors.
On the men’s side, Aggie Desmond Penigar was named first-team all-Big West Conference, and BYU swingman Travis Hansen earned first-team all-Mountain West Conference honors.
Weber State had three players selected to the all-Big Sky Conference first team, including Big Sky Player of the Year and three-time first-team selection Jermaine Boyette. Weber High School graduate Nic Sparrow and Ohio State transfer Slobodan Ocokolijic were the Wildcats’ other two selections.
On the women’s side, Utah freshman Kim Smith was named the MWC Player of the Year, while Cougar sharpshooter Erin Thorn garnered first-team all-conference honors for the fourth time.
WSU’s Julie Gjertsen and Crystal Howe led the Wildcats to their second straight NCAA tourney bid. Both players earned first-team all-league honors, and Gjertsen was selected co-Player of the Year in the Big Sky.
Unfortunately for USU, BYU and Weber State fans, their men’s teams’ seasons were over before this article went to press. All three teams were at least four-point underdogs heading into Thursday’s games.
Number 12-seed Weber State was a 7.5-point underdog to No. 5-seed Wisconsin, with No. 2-seed Kansas a 16-point favorite over the Aggies, and No. 5-seed Connecticut a 4.5-point favorite over the Cougars.
In other in-state action, the Ute men, seeded ninth in the Midwest Region, will take the court against No. 8-seed Oregon on Friday at 1 p.m. MST.
On the women’s side, the Cougars (No. 11-seed) will play No. 6-seed Colorado on Saturday, while the lady Wildcats and Utes will play their first-round games Sunday. The Utes, seeded No. 8, will square off against No. 9-seed Depaul, and WSU, seeded No. 13, will play No. 4-seed Ohio State.
When the USU women take the court for the first time in 17 years next season, the Aggies need look no further then their fellow Utah schools to see what it takes to be conference title contenders.
So support your in-state basketball teams as they look to make some March Madness noise. They definitely deserve it.
Postseason success by any one of the seven teams will only bring more and more respect to college basketball in the state. Respect will come no other way.
I know it may be painful rooting for some teams, especially for all you BYU haters, but take some pride in Utah basketball. After all, the in-state teams wouldn’t be hard to find.
There are seven of them.
Jason Turner is a senior majoring in broadcast journalism, and is having a difficult time focusing on school thanks to the NCAA Tournament. Comments can be sent to him at jasonwturner@cc.usu.edu.