13. Utah
If you listen to coach Rick Majerus, his depleted Utes don't stand a chance this season. Don't listen to him
Posted: Wednesday November 18, 1998 01:53 PM
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Mottola will have to be the main man up front for the Utes. Rocky Widner |
"I
can't believe people are ranking us," says Utah coach Rick
Majerus as he tucks into a plate of barbecued ribs at a
Salt Lake City meatery. "We have three solid players
and seven who have never played a Division I game. It's
Andre Miller, Hanno Mottola, Alex
Jensen and hiding two." Bite, pause. "But if it's
a three-on-three Rucker tournament, we're there with the
best of
them."
You might recall Majerus's pessimistic projections about
last year's team, which knocked off two No. 1 seeds in the
NCAA tournament before losing to Kentucky 78-69 in the title
game. Where could they possibly go without Keith Van Horn?
How could a team
with five freshmen and only two seniors compete with the
nation's elite teams? But if there's one thing we learned
long ago, it's never to count out a team coached by the big
man in the white sweater. It'll cost you in the office
pool.
Not that Majerus doesn't have a valid point about his
personnel deficiencies. In addition to the loss of forward
Drew Hansen and first-round NBA draft pick Michael
Doleac to graduation, three other letter winners—including
forward Britton
Johnsen, whom Majerus describes as one of the best athletes he's
had at Utah—left school to begin their two-year Mormon
missions. The Utes' rookie class of three transfers and
four freshmen includes no obvious stars, but then, what
first-year Utah class
does?
However much he likes to downplay it, Majerus has something
few coaches do: three solid players with
championship-game experience. Point guard Miller, a Wooden
Award candidate who graduated in June with a sociology
degree but decided to stay another
year to bolster his draft prospects, played on the U.S. team
in the Goodwill Games this summer and worked on his jumper.
"It's going to be different without Doleac," says
Miller of the departed
6'11" center. "He could really extend a defense.
Now they'll be hunting the guards. But we have a lot of
good shooters."
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| STARTING LINEUP |
| POS. | HT. | CLASS | KEY STAT |
| SF Alex Jensen* | 6'9" | Jr. | 6.8 ppg |
| PF Hanno Mottola* | 6'10" | Jr. | 12.5 ppg |
| C Nate Althoff | 6'11" | So. | 1.8 ppg |
| SG Jeremy Killion | 6'1" | Jr. | 27.0 ppg** |
| PG Andre Miller* | 6'2" | Sr. | 14.2 ppg |
'97-98 record: 30-4
Final rank (coaches' poll): No. 2
*Returning starter
**ppg as junior college sophomore
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Jensen, a junior forward, is one of them, though you would
never guess it. "Alex wins every good-sportsmanship
award there is for passing the ball,'' Majerus says.
"But I told him if he doesn't shoot this year, we'll
get our butts kicked." From
6'10" forward Mottola, Majerus wants versatility.
"He can play the four or the five or, conceivably, the
three," the Utah coach says. "He may have to play
all
three."
Majerus says he's convinced he'll never coach in a Final
Four again. His players aren't buying it. The Utes don't
have a tough schedule—aside from WAC rival New Mexico,
the big hurdles are Rhode Island, Texas and Wake
Forest—and in any case, a few
losses can sometimes do wonders. "After we lost to UNLV in
the WAC tournament last year, we decided to be the
hardest-working team out there, and we did that," says
Jensen. "If we do that again and get some of the
breaks we got last year, you never know, it
could happen
again."
—Kelli Anderson Top 25 | Rest of the Best
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