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Show WEDNESDAY PACE 630 7 Daily Utah Chronicle Tough nonconference schedule Joe Beatty Sports Writer Utes unnin' pforR Datt Turn Uartbn Salt Lake City November Utah fans now know a bit more of what to expect next basketball season as the Utes announced their nonconference schedule on Monday. "It's a pretty competitive schedule," U men's basketball coach Ray Giacoletti said. Utah brings two big-nateams into the Huntsman Center, with Colorado visiting Dec. 30, followed by LSU coming to town Jan. 3. "Your RPI can get you into the NCAA tournament," said Giacoletti, referring to the computer ratings system that rewards playing higher-ranke- d opponents. The Utes' RPI should get a nice boost when they head down to Tucson, Ariz., for a battle with perennial national power Arizona on Dec il The Wildcats will return the favor with a visit to Salt Lake City in 2005. Utah opens the season with two exhibition games, both in the Huntsman Center. Carroll College and Western State College, two NAIA schools, will give the Utes a tune-u-p before they get to the games that count Due to a new NCAA rule, teams cannot play exhibition games against professional teams, such as the EA Sports or Athletes in Action, which Utah fans are used to seeing. "This is actually a good thing," Giacoletti said. "These are real schools who are coached and have practices together. They will be a better test" The Utes start playing for real on Nov. 19 as Stony Brook comes to town. The next week, Utah heads up to Anchorage, Alaska, for All-Sta- rs 6 Sat Carroa College (Eib.) 13 Sat Western State College (Exb.) Salt Lake City 19 Fri. Stony Brook Salt Lake City 24 - 27 CarrsSafeway Sat) (Wed Great Alaska Shootout ; Anchorage, Alaska " ... Alaska Anchorage, Furman, High Point Minnesota, Oklahoma, Washington Salt Lake City Southern Utah 30(Tue) "A December 4 Sat at Utah State Logan, Utah 8 Wed. Western Montana Salt Lake City Sat at Arizona Tuscon, Arizona Fri Northern Colorado Salt Lake City Coppin State Salt Lake City 22 Wei atCal poly San Luis Obispo, Calif. 28Tue. Weber State Salt Lake City 30Thu. Colorado Salt Lake City 11 17 20 Mon. r January LSU Salt Lake City Whitworth Salt Lake City Mon 3 5 Wed I the Great Alaska Shootout The tournament field has national contenders such as Alabama and Washington. "That will be a good field," said Giacoletti "Alabama has everyone back and Washington, with Nate Robinson back, will be tough." Keen eyes will also notice that the schedule includes some smaller schools that were the hallmark of former coach Rick Majerus. Western Montana, Coppin State and Northern Colorado all make December visits to Salt Lake City. Giacoletti pointed out that since schedules are made at least a year in advance, In previous years, one of The Chronicle's sports writers would usually come up with an NBA Mock Draft in order to project who would be taken and when. However, this year it wasn't done for one reason: It's a waste of time. With the influx of European and high school players, projecting a draft is as useful as reading a Tye Smith column. Just kidding, Tye. Instead of doing the preview, it's time we do a review of what every team did and give them a grade. By the way, the review will be split in two parts the first half this week and the other half of the teams next " week, due to space considerations. Atlanta Hawks What the hell are the Atlanta Hawks doing? Josh Childress may become a very good player in the league, but the rest of the picks don't make sense. I know thatlhe team is trying to get athletic, but picking three guys that play the same position isn't exactly a smart rebuilding practice. Besides Childress, the Hawks selected Josh Smith and Donta Smith. All three of them could be solid NBA players, but not all three of them can coexist on the same team. Childress brings a lot to the table in terms of an game and should give an immediate impact to a team destined to suck forever. Grade: C the Final Boston Celtics Delonte West could be the steal of the draft if he learns how to play the point guard position, which is a very big if. He had Jameer Nelson passing the ball to him in college and now he has to spread the ball out though he has a sweet stroke on his jumper. Many people love Al Jefferson, but the man could only bench 185 pounds three times, which shows a lack of strength. Hell I can bench 185 pounds three times. It will take a while for him to ded velop. The Celtics' other pick was Tony Allen, who just seems like a good college player but not someone who will fit in well in the NBA because of his size. Four. earth-shatterin- g. 2 Charlotte (from LAC) Dwight Howard Emeka Okafor 3 Chicago Ben Gordon 4 LA. Clippers (from CHA) Shaun Livingston Devin Harris Josh Childress Washington Atlanta Phoenix go-SE- DRAFT PAGE 8 From Luol Deng Atlanta Christian Academy (Ga.) Connecticut Connecticut Peoria Central HS (ML) Rights traded to DAL Stanford Rights traded to CHI Rafael Araujo Andre Iguodala Brigham Young Arizona Oregon Bakersfield HS (Calif.) Abraham Lincoln HS (N.Y.) Minnesota Prentiss HS (Miss.) Toronto 10 Cleveland J1 Golden State Luke Jackson Andris Biedrins 12 13 Seattle Portland Robert Swift Sebastian Telfair 14 Utah Kris Humphries 15 Boston Al 16 Utah (from NYKPHO) Kirk 17 Josh Smith 18 Atlanta (from MILDENDET) New Orleans 19 Miami 20 Denver 21 Utah (from HOU) New Jersey Philadelphia If you just look at the players the Bulls selected, you would think that they deserved an A grade, but I am confused as to what they are going to do with their back court now that they have Kirk Hinrich and Ben Gordon. Don't get me wrong, Gordon is E Player ; 8 9 Jefferson Snyder J.R. Smith Dorell Wright Jameer Nelson Pavel Podkolzine Viktor Khyryapa Sergei Monia SW Latvia Nevada Oak Hill Academy (Va.) Benedict's Prep (N.J.) Leuzinger HS (Calif.) Rights traded to ORL Russia (rights traded to Dallas) Rights traded to POR Russia 24 25 26 Portland (from MEM) Boston (from DAL) Boston (from PET) Sacramento 27 L.A. Lakers Sasha Vujacic Solvenia 28 29 San Antonio Beno Udrih Slovenia Indiana David 23 ( Parti Chicago Bulls Orlando 22 (iOif n Charlotte traded Zaza Pachu-li- a (yeah, you heard me) for Bernard Robinson, which is not Basically, nobody cares about their second pick. Charlotte got their franchise player and they are elated. Grade: B Team 7 Atx y 8 J 6 s big-nam- the box. His offensive game is raw, but he proved he has ability to score during - V big-na- Charlotte Bobcats The Bobcats capitalized on Elgin Baylor's stupidity by trading up to the second pick to get Emeka Okafor, who will be a great defender out of 5- Av V A Grade: C Asad Kudiya Sports Editor ; the games with the small schools were set up before he arrived. That doesn't mean that the coach wants a schedule stocked with only Duke 1 and Arizona, either. "We also have to play Andrew Bogut fights for the ball last March in Denver at the Mountain West Tournament. Sophomore Andrew Weber and Utah State every year, so we need some Bogut will lead the U basketball team to face tougher opponents than they did last year. said. "Two years ago, we beat Southern Utah. of these games to give ups. A midseason trip to Cal Giacoletti enjoys playing some balance. You can't play Washington and San Diego Luis Obispo will State. In the nonconference Poly-Saschools, great teams every night in the against Utah a good road test. much it's in since this don't need schedule, always give players any preseason, especially conference." additional motivation to play easier to get up for games like The nonconference schedule that." hard. concludes with a visit from Giacoletti plans on havAs usual, the Utes have Winthrop on Jan. 5. "(Eastern Washington) had ing two home games and two The MWC will release the road games per year against a lot of Seattle kids, so when some rivalry games of their e we played at the University own this year. They visit conference schedule someopponents. He will sit down in August of Washington they would al- Utah State, with home games time in August. to finalize some future match- - ways get excited," Giacoletti against Weber State and jbeattychronicle. utah.edu N COPYI n V eview 2004: first-roun- i (Tournament Held; Utah, Alabama, Delonte West Tony Allen Kevin Martin Harrison St. Joseph's Oklahoma State Mcgrady headed to Houston HOUSTON-Tra- mul-tiplay- er ut Sha-quil- Colorado le ago. Francis, a three-tim- e averaged 16.6 points, All-Sta- r, 5.5 rebounds and 6.2 assists last season to join Oscar Robertson, Magic Johnson and Grant Hill as the only players in league history to average at least 15 points, five rebounds and five assists in each of their first five years. Francis, Mobley and Yao led the Rockets to the playoffs last season for the first time in five years. Houston lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in the first round. But Francis, who flourished in an offense for the past four years, was put on the summer trading block after posting the worst numbers of his career in new coach Jeff Van Gundy's slower-pace- d offensive scheme. The Associated Press up-tem- Western Carolina cy McGrady was traded to the Houston Rockets in a deal that sent Steve Francis to the Orlando Magic on Tuesday. deal The also sent forward Juwan Howard, and guards Tyronn Lue and Reece Gaines to the Rockets. The Magic also got guard Cuttino Mobley and forward Kelvin Cato. The trade, announced by the Rockets, was finalized after Francis' meeting with Magic general manager John Weis-bro- d in Orlando on Tuesday. NBA McGrady, a two-tim- e scoring champion, now joins Yao Ming to form one of basketball's most intriguing tandems. McGrady, tired of carrying a mediocre franchise, vowed to exercise the opt-oclause that was to go into effect at the end of next season. But the Magic did not want him to leave without the team receivlike ing compensation O'Neal did eight years |