Utah coach Larry Krystkowiak doesn?t look at the Pac-12 standings often. He did, however, give them a glance Tuesday morning and realized that the every conference team remains in the hunt after seven games. Ten of the 12 teams are within two games of first place.
The Utes (15-5, 4-3) are in a pack of six squads in the middle, one game away from sharing the lead.
?We?re all fighting. Everybody?s got their own issues,? Krystkowiak said. ?We?ve all lost some games I?m sure we didn?t want to lose or didn?t think we were going to lose. Who knows how many of them you feel like you stole that maybe you shouldn?t have won.?
Regardless of the situation, Krystkowiak insists it?s irrelevant until all 18 games are played the Saturday before the Pac-12 tournament in Las Vegas.
?That?s going to be the first time you really sit down and study it and go: ?Wait a minute, who do we play next and who might we play if we win that one,?? he said. ?Just kind of add them all ?em up and it?s going to make for some interesting tournament games. Some storylines.?
The logjam in the standings should ensure the latter.
?They might be into some new pages on the tiebreaking protocol,? Krystkowiak said. ?Instead of the first A, B, C in case-of-a-tie kind of deal, it might go down a little ways and who knows they might even have to make up some new rules to break some ties with the way it's going.?
Krystkowiak added that life in the Pac-12 is about just trying to survive. He later called it ?survival of the fittest.? Unlike other years, Krystkowiak believes teams in the league can beat up on each other a little because the Pac-12 represented itself well in non-conference play.
Now, Krystkowiak acknowledged that each of the 18 conference games kind of tells a different story. Even so, he quickly noted that you?re never as good as you think you are after a win. Same goes for not being as bad as you think you are after a loss.
The Utes enter Wednesday?s home game against California (9 p.m., ESPNU) with a good sense of both situations. After a 77-59 loss to Oregon in the Huntsman Center, they?ve won three straight games ? topping Oregon State (59-53) before prevailing at Washington State (92-71) and Washington (80-75, OT).
Krystkowiak said it's more about a consistent effort, mentally and physically. He also stressed the importance of staying in the moment and not getting caught up in the highs and lows of it all.
As such, Krystkowiak noted that the Utes don?t know what the win at conference-leading Washington game did for them because they haven?t seen how they?ve responded to the triumph.
It?s one of the reasons why Krystkowiak has never really given ?two seconds of thought? to how things are going in the standings. He?s too busy trying to figure out what the Utes are doing and who they?re playing next.
California (14-6, 4-3) is one of the six teams tied with Utah one game behind front-running Oregon and Washington. The Bears, who are just 1-6 away from Haas Pavilion this season, are coming off of home wins over Arizona State and Arizona. On Jan. 3, they handed the Utes a 71-58 setback in Berkeley.
Making adjustments, Krystkowiak continued, is what round two is all about.
California is playing without leading scorer Tyrone Wallace (15.4 ppg) who is sidelined for several weeks with a broken bone in his right hand.
Utah, meanwhile, is coming off a strong showing by its scoring leader. Jakob Poeltl finished with 29 points and 10 rebounds in the win at Washington. He had 19 points and was 6 of 14 from the field in the first meeting with Cal.
Poeltl said the Utes have found a ?little bit of a rhythm? since their last home game ? the win over Oregon State.
?We?re more confident on offense and we?re back to what we used to do ? like getting stops,? he explained. ?It?s going a lot better now.?
EXTRA STUFF:
. . Cal leads the nation in two-point field goal defense. Opponents are shooting just 39.2 percent from inside the arc.
--desnews.com
The Utes (15-5, 4-3) are in a pack of six squads in the middle, one game away from sharing the lead.
?We?re all fighting. Everybody?s got their own issues,? Krystkowiak said. ?We?ve all lost some games I?m sure we didn?t want to lose or didn?t think we were going to lose. Who knows how many of them you feel like you stole that maybe you shouldn?t have won.?
Regardless of the situation, Krystkowiak insists it?s irrelevant until all 18 games are played the Saturday before the Pac-12 tournament in Las Vegas.
?That?s going to be the first time you really sit down and study it and go: ?Wait a minute, who do we play next and who might we play if we win that one,?? he said. ?Just kind of add them all ?em up and it?s going to make for some interesting tournament games. Some storylines.?
The logjam in the standings should ensure the latter.
?They might be into some new pages on the tiebreaking protocol,? Krystkowiak said. ?Instead of the first A, B, C in case-of-a-tie kind of deal, it might go down a little ways and who knows they might even have to make up some new rules to break some ties with the way it's going.?
Krystkowiak added that life in the Pac-12 is about just trying to survive. He later called it ?survival of the fittest.? Unlike other years, Krystkowiak believes teams in the league can beat up on each other a little because the Pac-12 represented itself well in non-conference play.
Now, Krystkowiak acknowledged that each of the 18 conference games kind of tells a different story. Even so, he quickly noted that you?re never as good as you think you are after a win. Same goes for not being as bad as you think you are after a loss.
The Utes enter Wednesday?s home game against California (9 p.m., ESPNU) with a good sense of both situations. After a 77-59 loss to Oregon in the Huntsman Center, they?ve won three straight games ? topping Oregon State (59-53) before prevailing at Washington State (92-71) and Washington (80-75, OT).
Krystkowiak said it's more about a consistent effort, mentally and physically. He also stressed the importance of staying in the moment and not getting caught up in the highs and lows of it all.
As such, Krystkowiak noted that the Utes don?t know what the win at conference-leading Washington game did for them because they haven?t seen how they?ve responded to the triumph.
It?s one of the reasons why Krystkowiak has never really given ?two seconds of thought? to how things are going in the standings. He?s too busy trying to figure out what the Utes are doing and who they?re playing next.
California (14-6, 4-3) is one of the six teams tied with Utah one game behind front-running Oregon and Washington. The Bears, who are just 1-6 away from Haas Pavilion this season, are coming off of home wins over Arizona State and Arizona. On Jan. 3, they handed the Utes a 71-58 setback in Berkeley.
Making adjustments, Krystkowiak continued, is what round two is all about.
California is playing without leading scorer Tyrone Wallace (15.4 ppg) who is sidelined for several weeks with a broken bone in his right hand.
Utah, meanwhile, is coming off a strong showing by its scoring leader. Jakob Poeltl finished with 29 points and 10 rebounds in the win at Washington. He had 19 points and was 6 of 14 from the field in the first meeting with Cal.
Poeltl said the Utes have found a ?little bit of a rhythm? since their last home game ? the win over Oregon State.
?We?re more confident on offense and we?re back to what we used to do ? like getting stops,? he explained. ?It?s going a lot better now.?
EXTRA STUFF:
. . Cal leads the nation in two-point field goal defense. Opponents are shooting just 39.2 percent from inside the arc.
--desnews.com
