Post by roxycontin on Oct 24, 2016 10:19:16 GMT -5
So Utah had its real intra-squad scrimmage recorded and shown on Pac-12 Networks (with Don MacLean doing color commentary) last week. (FWIW, USC's real intrasquad scrimmage was not recorded for broadcast.)
On pure visual inspection, Utah does not look like as good of a team. Kuzma and Bonam played on the same team, and were trounced. Neither looked comfortable taking a lead scoring role.
The winning team had newcomers Sedrick Barefield (SMU transfer originally from Centennial), Devon Daniels (Utah's top high school recruit for 2016), Parker Van Dyke (one time Utah h.s. p.o.y., who took a two-year Mission) and David Collette (Utah St. transfer). Barefield and Collette, who come eligible in December, were the top scorers.
Utah has a lot of well-built front court size in Kuzma, Collette. Tyler Rawson (juco originally played at Southern Utah), Jayce Johnson (Jonah's h.s. teammate at Santa Monica) and Jakub Jokl (the latest Czech import). On the one hand, it's now clear why guys like Brekkott Chapman and Chris Reyes transferred out of the program: they would have been buried in a very deep front court rotation; on the other hand, outside of Kuzma and Rawson, there's not a lot of athleticism on that front line.
How well Utah does this season may come down to whether Sedrick Barefield can take a leadership role and hit big shots in conference play.