University of Utah Student Newspapers | 2010-02-02 | Page 7

DAILY UTAH CHRONICLE Tuesday, February 2, 2010 7 Brown's absence key factor of loss to BYU I f someone condensed the entire Runnin' Utes' season into one game, it would look a lot like Saturday's game against BYU. Last week, I compared the Utes' season to Lindsay Lohan in that they both have moments of greatness— redheaded Lindsay—and moments of "what just happened?"—rehab Lindsay. In most games this season, the Utes either showed up to a game or didn't, but against BYU, they kept phasing in and out of consciousness. They started out slow, mounted a huge comeback late in the second half, but soon faded back into ineptitude, ultimately losing by 13. Sure, BYU is the best team they've faced all season, and sure, when the Utes pulled to within four points, Jimmer Fredette apparently decided that he was not losing this game, but the JAKE HIBBARD Junior, Mass Communication Utes played terribly for most of the game and still had an actual chance to win. Three things stuck out to me the most about the Utes. The first was when Marshall Henderson flicked Jackson Emery on the nose— followed by a flop by Emery that would've brought a room full of Vlade Divac clones to tears amid a standing ovation. The second was Jay Watkins' second-half explosion that spurred the short-lived comeback. And the third—where the hell was Carlon Brown? I wasn't surprised that the Cougars beat the Utes, and I wasn't surprised that Emery turned out to be a whining flopper, but I am still shocked that during the most crucial moment of the game, Brown had a courtside view from the bench. In a close game, I am right on board with head coach Jim Boylen for 8o percent of the lineup he ran with. Marshall Henderson, Luka Drca, Jay Watkins and David Foster are obvious choices, but the fifth player seems just as obvious—Carlon Brown. Instead, Boylen opted to play defensive specialist Jace Tavita, sticking him on Fredette. This Tavita-over-Brown decision inspired a friend I was watching the game with to say that Boylen isn't a good coach. And how'd that decision work out for you, Jim? Watkins cooled off, the Pro Bowl should be about fans, not funds T he NFL made a lot of changes to the 2010 Pro Bowl, but after Sunday night's sorry excuse of a football game, it's clear they weren't enough. In the high-scoring contest, the AFC allstars came out on top 41-34 in a game in which a combined nine touchdowns were scored to go along with more than 84o yards of total passing between the two teams. Despite the gaudy stats and high-flying offenses, one thing was clear Sunday night—it's all about dollar signs. This year's Pro Bowl wasn't a Pro Bowl at all. Of the 86 original selections, 34 missed the game because of participation in the Super Bowl, injuries and personal reasons. With 4o percent of the league's all-stars not participating, the likes of Matt Schaub, David Garrard and Vince Young quarterbacked the AFC side, with Peyton Manning, Philip Rivers and Tom Brady not suiting up for the contest. Not only did the all-stars not show up for the all-star game, but thanks to the NFL's modified rules for the Pro Bowl, it also was barely a game at all. Rule adjustments for the glorified scrimmage are: no blitzing, no audibles, no nickle or dime packages, no four and five receiver sets, no players in motion and no intentional grounding penalties. AFC coach Nory Turner even wanted to run a "wild cat" formation with the Cleveland Brown's Joshua Cribbs, but as soon as the league offices caught wind of the idea, they quickly put an end to it. But with all that aside, the Pro Bowl is supposed to be fun, right? Something for the fans, right? Wrong. Leading up to Sunday's festivities, the AFC's Chad Ocho-Cinco had been practicing punts, kick-offs and field goals all week in hopes that Turner would let the receiver partake in the kicking duties as he did in a preseason game against the Patriots earlier this year. OchoCinco expressed his desire to kick but said he BRYAN CHOUINARD Junior, Parks, Recreation Tourism and would only want to do it early on in the game and not in the second half, when the game would be on the line. But Ocho-Cinco, one of the league's premier entertainers, was denied the opportunity. The chance of seeing him in the kicking game was the only lure that got me to tune in for the first half. I had had about as much as I could handle of the dog-and-pony show when ESPN paraded Super Bowl quarterbacks Peyton Manning and Drew Brees into the halftime show. With the Super Bowl a week away, I don't want to listen to the opposing quarterbacks exchange pleasantries at halftime of a game they don't want to be at in the first place. I want them to be with their teams, getting ready to rip the heads off their opponents in the biggest game of their lives. Despite the lackluster action on the field, don't expect too many changes to the Pro Bowl format in the future. Sunday's game marked the second-highest attendance in Pro Bowl history with 70,697 fans on hand— which means more revenue for the NFL. Although the NFL says the game is for the fans, it's really for the money. If the game is for the fans, players don't want to go all out for the win, and it's not all about revenue for the league, then why not do some good and give the proceeds to charity? Do that, and the NFL might even get its allstars to show up. Utes' offense turned stagnant, and Fredette became unstoppable, scoring 12 straight points. Good thing we had the "defensive specialist" on the court, right? I'm normally a Boylen supporter—and I still think his recruiting ability is solid—but I'm almost starting to wonder if he's hurting the team's ability to win. After the game, Boylen admitted that no one was stopping Fredette, and I agree that Tavita did a good job. But he never should've been on the court. You know you're overanalyzing basketball when you make a decision to sit your most dynamic player for a mistake-prone specialist. If late-199os Chicago Bulls were down by three with two seconds to play, does Phil Jackson pull Michael Jordan for Steve Kerr because Kerr has a better shooting percentage from beyond the arc? Watkins spurred the comeback by driving and breaking down the Cougars' defense. When his scoring spurt ended, so did any chance of victory, because everyone else on the team was just standing around, waiting for their chance to miss a 3-pointer. Add Brown to the mix, and I can't say the Utes would have won for sure, but he would have added another scoring option—not to mention the best big-play potential in the Mountain West Conference. At the end of the game, the best players win the game by doing whatever is needed. Maybe no one was stopping Fredette, but with the biggest game thus far in the season, I'm taking Brown against him every time over the role-player "specialist." Forget the stats—as Herm Edwards once said, "You play to win the game." j.hibbard@ chronicle.utah.edu HOCKEY continued from Page 6 veteran, even though the BYU game was only his third appearance of the season. The final two penalty kills, when coupled with the secondperiod scoring barrage, are evidence that the Skatin' Utes are more resilient than they were just a few weeks ago. A key component of this change has been Bertagnolli. In just a few weeks with the team, Bertagnolli is already establishing himself as the heart and soul of the Utah squad. He anchors an offense that was once unsteady and is a scorer who has a flair for the dramatic. "Bo can get in the mood where he can just score a goal out of nowhere when we're down, and he just lifts our whole team," Reed said. "The whole team rallies around him," said head coach Jon Bertagnolli. "The last couple games, he's just not allowed us to lose." Amid all the action, it was easy to forget that Utah appeared to be out of the game in the first period. BYU scored two goals in the first 11 minutes of play, with the last resulting from a controversial call by the referee. "We knew we could come back," German said. "It was just a matter of finding it in us." Utah will take the weekend off, as it doesn't play again until Feb. 12 and Feb. 13 at Metro State and Northern Colorado, respectively. Contact c.blake@ chronicle.utah.edu apply to become on today. j.bullinger@ chronicle.utah.edu [e-mail] Puzzle genius? Become a page designer for the Chronicle! 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