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Show SPORTS THURSDAY 1/13 PAGE 7 "Daily Utah Chronicle Lady Utes open conference play Hoops face Colorado State tonight in first home tilt points and eight rebounds are both good enough to rank her in the top five in the conference. Thomas' average of 8.9 rebounds makes her the No. 4 rebounder in the MWC, while her scoring average of 13 points lands her in the top 10 in the conference. Shutting down the talented duo will be a key for the Utes, according to U head coach Elaine Elliott. "Their two big kids have been playing really well," Elliott said. "We have to neutralize them if we want to be successful." Elliott said stopping Dennett and Thomas during transitions would make a huge difference. "We have to keep them from scoring," Elliott said. "They have a few things they do to get to the basket early, and we have to stop that." Under the leadership of Dennett and Thomas, the Rams have emerged as not only the second-ranked scoring team in the MWC, but also one of the premier rebounding teams. The Rams currently lead the conference in rebounding margin with a +9.9 ratio, meaning the Tye Smith Asst. Sports Editor The U women's basketball team opens conference play this Thursday night in the Huntsman Center with a 7 p.m. battle against Colorado State. The Utes (11-4) will face a team that has followed a similar path to this point in the season. Like the Utes, the Rams (9-4) have played a difficult non-conference schedule and have had trouble against teams ranked in the top 25. Both teams lost four games during their non-conference slates, and both teams have their eyes set on the conference championship. Perhaps where the two teams differ most is in the strength and maturity of their post presence. The Rams have seen success this season due mostly to the efforts of one of the best frontcourts in the conference, while the Utes have been forced to use freshmen and sophomores at the center position all season long. CSU juniors Melissa Dennett and Lindsay Thomas are two of the most dominant post players in the MWC and they have the stats to prove it. Dennett's averages of 14.6 Utah's Lana Sitterud works to block out Northern Colorado's Kendra Lambrecht Saturday at the Huntsman Center. Colorado State Starters #32 #31 #45 " G #05 G #20 ^r SEE B A S K E T B A L L PAGE 10 Melissa Denett Kylee O'Dwyer Lindsay Thomas Vanessa Esplnoza Molly Nohr !•' Utah Starters Utah vs. Colorado St. Thursday, Jan. 13 7 p.m. at the Huntsman Center Utah's Shona Thorburn takes a shot over Northern Colorado's Bailey Dilon Saturday at the Huntsman Center. TV None Rado i Hot Ticket 7 0 0 AM F #4 #45 c #24 #10 G #32 '^W... Kim Smith Jessica Perry Camie Allen Shona Thorburn Lana Sitterud - Jr. So. Jr. Jr. So. . - . , ; • ; ; : : • . • • 6'2 61 6'3 5'3 f 5 11 14.46 ppg 4.5 ppg 13.0 ppg 13.8 PPQ 4.4 ppg * ' • : • ; • • , ' • ' • • ; 8.0 rpg 2.8 rpg 8.9 rpg 3.3 apg 2.7 rpg •-< . Jr. Fr. So. Jr. Sr. 61 6'3 6'1 5'10 17.0 4.9 3.4 12.2 510 9.8 ppg ppg ppg ppg ppg 9.3 rpg 3.1 rpg 2.7 rpg 6.9 rpg 3.1 apg THE GREAT DEBATE What is the future of Ute football? Hero to zero: It's only downhill from here Goodbye, success. It was sweet while it lasted, but it looks like the U football program could soon be back to the days of 6-5 seasons and mediocre fans who would rather be at a Jazz game. The end has come, and we should be realistic when assessing the impending doom of the future of U football. I know that winning can make fans think funny things, but some of the stuff I have heard in the last few days border on insanity. I have heard people saying the Utes will be awesome next year, and that the Utes could even make a run for the national championship. We all know how ridicu- Tye Smith Columnist lous those claims are, but several normally rational people think the Utes have a good chance of winning the conference next year. This seems to be a consensus opinion among U students. How wonderful blissful ignorance must be. Quarterback Alex Smith gets taken down by New Mexico last Oct. 1. It Is up to speculation how the Utes' football team will do next year without Smith and other lead players. WOMEN'S HOOPS COLORADO STATE AT (9-4) UTAH (11-4) Jan. 13,2005 7 p.m. @ Huntsman Center I know that next year's schedule is pretty easy, but exactly who is going to lead the Utes to a conference championship? Let's face it—we have had too many departures to regroup in one offseason. The Utes probably could have survived the dramatic departure of the Urban legend if some of the key players had stayed. The Utes probably would have been alright if some of the key players left for the NFL while Meyer stuck around to run the spread option. The Utes might have even been OK if Mike Sanford had stayed in Utah to run Meyer's offense while everyone else left, but none of those things happened. Instead, we witnessed the biggest exodus in the history of U football. Meyer left and took with him several assistant coaches and the all-important aura of invincibility. Alex Smith is going pro (how selfish!) along with Steve Savoy and a whole slew of seniors like Paris Warren and Morgan Scalley. Mike Sanford left for a head coaching spot, along with more assistants. What we're left in no way resembles a championship team. The new head coach has no head-coaching experience and little background with offensive game planning. The Utes have a 17-year-old taking the place of our Heisman finalist quarterback, and the team's two best receivers are gone. The backfield consists of Quinton Ganther and Mike Liti, and if you think that sounds impressive, you have been drinking too much Ute juice. The Utes have lots of young receivers, but they are all un- SKIING UTAH AT ANCHORAGE INVITATIONAL Jan. 13-14,2005 all day @ Jackson, Wyo. SEE SMITH PAGE 8 The Utes will be just fine What's a collapse? Is the U in his understanding of the football team going to go unoffense and also just an indefeated? Probably not, but crease in his talents from his considering the amount of freshman to sophomore year. talent still left on the team, Good thing he is surrounded coupled with the mediocre by solid players. teams in the conference, winQuinton Ganther is back at ning another title is not farrunning back and he is quick fetched. and strong and will excel as Alex Smith, Paris Warren, the feature back in the ofAsad Kudlya Steve Savoy, Sione Pouha, fense. Mike Liti will also be Columnist Marty Johnson, Morgan Scalback, and if Darryl Poston ley, Chris Kemoeatu and Cocan recover from his knee inrey Dodds are gone. I am though I don't think Johnson jury, who knows how good he probably missing a few names will ever be as good as Smith, could be. here, but needless to say, the I think he can be a very good Two years ago, Meyer came Utes are losing lots of talent. quarterback at the U. He is to the U and said that the Did I forget Urban Meyer? mobile and he played well, es- group of receivers he had So how are they going to pecially when Meyer let him were not Division I quality. make up for it? It's obvious play with good receivers such Look how they turned out they are going to take a step as John Madsen. back. There should be a huge leap SEE K U D I Y A PAGE 8 Kyle Whittingham is now the coach and he hired Andy Ludwig as offensive coordinator. Whittingham claims the Utes will keep the same offense with a few tweaks. If he lives up to that claim, the Utes should have a solid gameplans on offense and Ludwig has coached both good quarterbacks and good offenses before. The Utes will not be too conservative on offense as they were before Meyer. It would be bad publicity and a stupid move. With the departure of Meyer, Whittingham wants to keep the same energy moving through the program. Changing the offensive pace will be counterproductive. The players won't be as bad as many people think. Thank god the Utes blew out just about every team they faced so Brian Johnson could get a good chunk of playing time. Johnson didn't look even close to as good as Smith was this year, but who expected him to? Marty Johnson, Morgan Scalley and the rest of the Utah football team In his first year, Smith was hold the gold plated football that sits atop the Tostltos Fiesta Bowl terrible in limited time and al- Trophy Jan. 1 in Tempe, Ariz. SWIMMING/DIVING UTAH AT COLORADO STATE Jan. 13,2005 all day @ Fort Collins, Colo. GYMNASTICS UTAH AT (1-0) UTAH STATE (0-0) Jan. 14,2005 6:45 p.m. ' ' @ Logan, Utah MEN'S HOOPS UTAH AT WYOMING (13-3) (8-6) Jan. 15,2005 4 p.m. @Laramie,.Wyo. |
