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Show 6 SPORTS Wednesday, March 11,2009 www.dailyutahchronidexorh Ski Thursda Men's Basketball Baseball Utah v.Memphis 5/10K Freestyle Utah@TCU BYU @ Utah 5 P.M. HTHonolulu, Hawaii AH Day, Rumford, Maine 7 P.M. MTLas Vegas 3 P.M. MT Franklin Covey Field Wednesday Softball Track NCAA Championships TBA College Station, Texas WOMEN'S BASKETBALL MEN'S BASKETBALL Runnin' Utes earn MWC honors 3 seniors conference awards QuinnWilcox STAFF WRITER the Year honors. "It's great, you know, but you don't get those awards unless you win and unless you When a team has a season like Utah's, rak- have a great team," Nevill said. The 7-foot-2 inch, 265-lb. center from ing in a slew of awards shouldn't come as a Perth, Australia averaged 16.7 points per surprise. Senior center Luke Nevill swept the "big" game in conference play and was the league's Mountain West Conference season awards in leading rebounder and shot blocker, averag2009 after having his best season in a Utah ing 9.7 boards and 3.1 blocks per game. He uniform by winning Mountain West Confer- recorded 50 blocks during conference play, ence Player of the Year and with Defensive which ranks as the third-highest total for a single season. Player of the Year. With these two awards, Nevill was a lock Nevill is the first player in MWC history for first-team All-MWC honors and the into win both awards in the same season. He was also named the U.S. Basketball augural All-MWC Defensive team. Nevill hasn't been the only Ute associated Writers Association District VIII Player of with winning awards this season. the Year. Nevill beat out Wyoming's Brandon Ewing and BYU's Lee Cummard for MWC Player of See MWC Page 7 Marco Villano STAFF WRITER Utah's 2008-2009 MWC Awards Senior Luke Nevill •/'•'•* f ••• •••-; ;v , •Mountain West Conference Player of the Year • Another year gone by, another Mountain West Conference Player of the Year for the Utes. After a terrific senior season in which she helped lead the Utes to a second straight conference title, Morgan Warburton. received the honor Monday. This marks the second year in a row Utah has had a player win Conference Player of the Year, as Leilani Mitchell was presented the award last year. Kalee Whipple and Katie King also received conference honors. Whipple was named to the All-MWC First Team for her efforts, while King was selected for the Second Team. "Morgan, Kalee, and Katie have all done great things ERIKDAENITZ/fl* Daily UtahOuopJdt. this season and certainly deserve recognition," said head Morgan Warburton won the MWC Player of the Year award for her . • coach Elaine Elliott. performance during her seniorseason. Warburton has also laid dam to a, The MWC's top honors number of school records this season. wouldn't be Warburton's only award. game at 18.7 and breaking ing outputs with 63 straight' Apart from leading the the MWC record for conconference in points per secutive double-digit scor- See WARBURTON Page -7 •Mountain West Conference Defensive Player of the Year " ,-- -'..'. :;<•''?* *:ivv.-;-j£:•First-Team Alt-Mountain West Conference selection. •Mountain West Conference All-Defensive Team ....-.•. ^ : :, Senior Lawrence Borha •Third-Team All-Mountain West Conference selection • , •Mountain West Conference All-Defensive Team GYMNASTICS Once-weak beam now a strength Bryan Chouinard STAFF WRITER Senior Shaun Green •Mountain West Conference Sixth Man of t h e Y e a r /.•:'•, .-';••'.' • ••••..'••'.,'• ''•.•:'•:'''•• •• Senior Tyler Kepkay ' / :;s , Sophomore Carlon Brown " • Junior Luka Drca •Honorable Mention All-Mountain West Conference GREG HARIOW/IhtDoilfUIohChmiide Utah center Luke Nevill was named both the MWC Defensive Player of the Year and MWC Player of the Year. Nevill is the first player to win both honors in one year. You would be hard-pressed to say the Utah gymnastics team has had a single bad meet up to this point in the season. The Red Rocks have dipped below the 196.500 mark only once, and that was in their first meet against UCLA, when Utah finished with a 196.175, its lowest score of the season. In that meet, Utah scored a 49.025 on the balance beam, which wasn't bad for the first meet of the season. But in the following weeks, the Red Rocks, by their standards, struggled on the apparatus and failed to break the 49.000 mark for two straight weeks. "The team knows that's been a weakness of ours, just by looking at scores meet to meet," said associate head coach and beam specialist Megan Marsden. "We coaches noticed there had been some tentativeness onbeam so we've been working on it." What was a weakness for the Red Rocks early in the year has turned into a valuable' strength as they close out the regular season and prepare for the national championships. The Red Rocks have a total of three scores in the 48.000 range on the beam, none of which have come since Feb. 6. Utah's prob-' See GYMNASTICS Page 7 ~~~' 1— THE GREAT DEBATE —| Which Ute will have a more successful NFL career? Kruger's versatility makes him valuable oing into the Sugar Bowl, all the talk leading up to the big game centered on the size difference between Alabama's offensive line and Utah's defensive line. It was expected that Alabama head coach Nick Saban would run the ball relentlessly with junior running back Glen Coffee behind an offensive line fit for the pros and the "smaller, weaker" defensive line of Utah would eventually give in. That's what was supposed to happen. When it was all said and done, and the Utes were crowned the 2009 Sugar Bowl champions, Coffee's final stat line read as follows: 13 attempts, 36 yards, 2.8 yards per carry and no rushing touchdowns. Utah's defensive line played inspired football, not only in the Sugar Bowl, but all season long, and the Utes did so behind Paul Kruger. Although Kruger was only a redshirt sophomore, he was looked at as one of the leaders of the Utah defense, a testament to not only his play, but also his maturity. Kruger was older than most sophomores in collegiate sports, largely because of his twoyear mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints after his redshirt year in 2004, in which he was originally recruited as a quarterback. Maturity served Kruger well, as hefinishedthe 2008 season as afirst-teamAU-Mountain West Conference selection with 61 tackles, 16.5 tackles for a loss, 7.5 sacks and seven pass breakups. , Kruger is exactly the kind of defensive player more and more NFL scouts are looking for out of college as the 3-4 defensive scheme becomes more and more prevalent in today's game. The key to the "3-4" is having interchangeable pieces, mostly between the linebacker and down-linemen positions. One of the most successful displays of such a defense is the Baltimore Ravens. In the Ravens' case, a player they like to move around a lot is the sixth-year terror out of Arizona State, Terrell Suggs. Suggs, who is listed as 6-foot-3-inch, 260 lbs., is a nightmare for offensive coordinators because he can line up in a Smith will do well in the NFL S G BRYAN CHOUINARD number of different spots and do a number of different things. He can line up as defensive end, blitz from the outside linebacker position or even drop back into coverage. It's this versatility that makes him such a crucial part of the Ravens' defense—and versatility is written all over Kruger's frame. Although after the NFL combine, many scouts thought Kruger still needed to put on more weight, the 23-year-old from Orem can be this kind of player at the next level. Kruger terrorized teams off the end all season long and made opposing MWC offensive coordinators quake in their boots. But at the next level, where linemen are not only stronger, but also faster, look for Kruger to do his damage from both the defensive end and outside linebacker positions. Listed as 6-foot-5,265-lbs., Kruger is the perfect size to become a Suggs-like force, whose versatility and combination of strength and speed will make him a valuable asset to any "3-4" system. It's been argued that because Kruger has only two years of collegiate football under his belt, his age made the choice to jump to the NFL an easy one. Considering Kruger came back from two years away from the game to accumulate 119 tackles, 10.5 sacks and two interceptions in a position he wasn't even recruited for, he has the intelligence and the drive to become a force to be reckoned with at the next level for years to come. ean Smith has enough charisma for his own talk show. After the Sugar Bowl, I didn't believe Smith would declare for the NFL. At that moment, I thought he'd do a better job replacing Jay Leno than he would shadowing NFL receivers. I told my friend, Assistant Sports Editor Chris Kamrani, that Smith wouldn't be drafted before the third round. We even went so far as to make a bet. Something involving enough money to buy a decent lunch and some degrading jab to one's manhood. My reasoning was that Smith was too raw. He's only been doing this for two years. He still has a lot to learn to play cornerback at the next level. Unbegrudgingly, I'm not too proud to admit I was wrong. Not about the raw part, but I underestimated Smith. I guess part of me wanted him to stay another year at Utah, so I was trying to justify why I thought he'd stay. In actuality, he's got everything to gain by leaving. His stock won't get higher next season. He might shave a few hundredths off his 40-yard dash, or figure out a way to rep 225 lbs. a few more times. Even if Utah returns to the Sugar Bowl, Smith is hitting his peak draft potential at the right time. He's also in a cornerback class that has been disappointing this year. There was no roadrunner who wowed people with his speed at the combine. Smith's 447 in the 40 is impressive. Given his size, he has NFL potential written all over him. I started thinking about what had made me so blind to Smith's potential. He's got the athleticism. He's got the attitude. He's even got the skill set to convert to a free safety if corner ends up not being his bag. If Barack Obama can be president after a term in the Senate, why can't Smith vs. b.chouinard@chronicle.utah.edu TONY PIZZA be a lockdown corner after two years of cornerback experience at the collegiate. . *. • level? Hell, if I need any reason to believe, I can just look at everyone who doubted the Utes in the Sugar Bowl. Smith could have that same shocking effect at the next. ." level. Only now I won't be the one doing • a double take. Of all the people m a k i n g ' , ' . ' ; themselves eligible for the draft from ' • Utah, Smith will have the most success. .; V ; He's got the abilities to help a team1 right now. I said before, he's got a ton to ! ; learn. From what scouts and experts say,. . . he opens up his hips well, and he's got ' ' ' great ball instincts. He also has great closing speed, which he displayed in the Sugar" Bowl. He is not a great open field tackier^ '. " especially given his high center of gravity; but that can either be taught or mitigated^'. * If for some reason his skills don't trans- * late into a starting cornerback position and multi-million dollar contracts down • • • the road, he's got the potential to be a . ": dangerous free safety as well. * Utah has become famous for recruiting'. athletes and plugging them where they fit. . once spring ball rolls around. This spring," "; a Ute will be drafted into the NFL on the • , : i same premise. . I might be $10 poorer and have my man-. •... hood and Utah fanhood questioned, but Smith is going to be in the same company . . as Steve Smith (no relation), Jordan Gross, • the Dyson brothers and Luther Ellis. : ' ; " ! : t.pizza@. • chronicle.utak.edu |