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Show 6 SPORTS Friday March 9, 2012 TODAY'S SKI REPORT 24° / 9 a.m. 40° / 3 p.m. Alta www.dailyutahchronicle.com conditions & weather from utahskiweather.com Packed powder on trail, bumps and crust off trail Brighton UPCOMING SPORTS EVENTS 24° / 9 a.m. 40° / 3 p.m. Canyons 29° / 9 a.m. 46° / 3 p.m. Deer Valley 29° 460 13 I 3 a.m. p.m. Snowbird 24° / 9 a.m. 40° / 3 p.m. 25° / 9 a.m. 41° / 3 p.m. Solitude MEN'S BASKETBALL TODAY: Baseball Utah vs. Lehigh 1 p.m. Santa Clara, Calif Softball Utah vs. Georgetown 3:45 p.m. Ft. Meyers, Fla. Men's Tennis Utah @ Denver 12 p.m. Denver, Colo. Women's Tennis Utah vs. Stanford 1:30 p.m. Eccles Tennis Center Gymnastics Utah vs. Nebraska 7 p.m. Huntsman Center (rack & Field Utah @ NCAA Championships TBA Boise, Idaho. Swimming & Diving Utah @ NCAA Zone Diving Championships All Day USAFA, Colo. AP RANKINGS GYMNASTICS Rank Team Record 1 2 3 4 5 6 Florida Oklahoma UCLA Alabama Georgia Nebraska 196.997 196.88 196.758 196.816 196.844 196.459 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Arkansas Oregon State LSU Stanford Penn State Ohio State Missouri Boise State Auburn Arizona Minnesota Illinois-Champaign Michigan NC State Denver Arizona State Washington Kentucky 196.463 196.347 195.794 195.878 195.875 195.98 195.194 195.356 195.4 195.192 194.903 194.997 195.05 195.139 194.922 194.478 194.686 194.419 CHAD ZAVALA/The Daily Utah Chronicle Chris Hines goes for a jump shot over a Colorado defender at the Pac-12 tournament in the Staples Center on Wednesday. Head coach Larry Krystkowiak hopes that this year's difficult season taught his team the value of hard work. Moral victories take precedent Jory Carroll STAFF WRITER It was hard to spot him in the locker room after the game. Sitting down, Jason Washburn's big, 6-foot io-inch frame was hunched with his head in his hands. Looking completely deflated after Wednesday's loss to Colorado in the Pac-12 tournament. His demeanor said it all. "I wasn't ready for it to end," Washburn said. The Utah center, who led the team in scoring and rebounding this season, recorded II points, six rebounds and five blocks against the Buffaloes. Washburn was the only Ute who reached double figures. Those stats are a good com- parison to the way the Utes have played this season: Decent, but not good enough to win on a regular basis. To combat their lack of talent and experience, especially after the dismissal of Josh "Jiggy" Watkins, the Utes relied on being a resilient team. But after a quick look at Utah's final record (6-25, 3-15 Pac12), it becomes apparent that even being resilient does not translate into wins. After many of the losses this season, Utah head coach Larry Krystkowiak labeled close losses as moral victories. The Utes defeated Arizona State on Jan. 21, and then went more than a month without a victory, as they lost eight straight games. Even though the number in the loss column continued to grow, Krystkowiak would not give up on his team, and they did the same for him. "It wasn't always pretty. We didn't make all of our shots, we had a heck of a time scoring points, but I think a lot of guys maximized their efforts," Krystkowiak said. "I don't know if we know it now, but ... whatever they do, is that same kind of work ethic will take you a long ways." That work ethic showed up again against Colorado. Wednesday's game was the first for the Utes since being crushed by the Oregon Ducks, 94-48. It was the largest margin of defeat in Utah history. After such a devastating loss, the Utes were presumed dead before they even arrived at the Staples Center to take on the Buffaloes. The Utes had already lost to Colorado twice this season, including a 40-point blowout on New Year's Eve. However, the Utes did just the opposite. Utah came out swinging against the Buffs, taking an early lead, and remained competitive until the final minutes. "We just didn't give up," Washburn said. "Basketball is a game of runs, and this team understands that. We made a run of our own, brought [the game] within reach, and we just weren't able to hang to it." See WORK ETHIC Page 7 WOMEN'S BASKETBALL GYMNASTICS Parker Lee for a final ride Back to the drawing board Seniors prepare Seniors say good-bye, the rest regroup STAFF WRITER When a basketball season comes to an end, there is only one team standing on the ladder cutting down the nets. For every other school, the season ends in a disappointing loss. The level of disappointment is different for each team, but it is still there. That disappointment begs the eternal question — what could have been? The overachievers wonder how much further they could have gone while the underachievers go back to the drawing board to figure out where they went wrong. There is another category, though. There are a handful of teams that don't have as much control of their fate as they would like to think. Things happen to a few teams every year that cannot be controlled and cannot be overcome. Some teams suffer tragedy, while others suffer dramatic injury. Utah was one of those teams. The Utes had injury after injury, and those misfortunes proved to be too much to overcome. "We were decimated by injury," Utah head coach Anthony Levrets said. "Four of our top eight players that we started the season with went out for the year with injuries." Sophomores Ciera Dunbar and Brittany Knighton both played in at least 28 games as freshmen but the duo was See MISFORTUNE Page 8 Ryan McDonald ASST. SPORTS EDITOR FILE PHOTO/The Daily Utah Chronicle Janita Badon dives for the ball as she collides with two UCLA players. Badon's season ending injury was the fourth in a string that ultimately became too much for the Utes to overcome. - Senior Cortni Beers has described her career at Utah as a roller coaster ride. It's an apt description for the Red Rocks, as Utah's campaign has had towering highs followed by some disappointing lows. Coming off a tough meet last week against Oregon State, the roller coaster effect would seem to indicate a high time is on its way. That would come right in time, as Beers and fellow seniors Stephanie McAllister and Kyndal Robarts will be celebrated tonight at Senior Night prior to the No. 7 Red Rocks' big matchup against No. 6 Nebraska, a contest that has the makings of a dandy. As excited as the three seniors are to celebrate the culmination of their careers, they each realize the importance of tonight's meet as they work toward their final postseason as Red Rocks. "We talked so much after last week about what we want to do at this meet. As a team, that's more important than only worrying about Senior Night. It'll be fun and it'll be exciting and it'll be emotional, but at the same time we have to work on things before postseason before we get there," McAllister said. After last week's performance against Oregon State, gymnasts and coaches were frustrated with the seeming inability to put an entire meet together. Like a roller coaster, the majority of Utah's night was good, but a few bad routines left a lot to be desired. "I think frustration comes from the fact that we know we haven't met our full potential the last few meets," McAllister said. "We know we're capable of more than we've been showing the last couple of meets. It almost seems like we need to get past this little plateau we've been on." Nebraska would be a good team against which to break out of the current funk. Although the Cornhuskers are No. 6, like Utah, they once held the No. i spot in the country. They are led by Jessie DeZiel and Emily Wong, who are No. 3 and No. 4 nationally in allaround, while Janelle Giblin is No. 3 on bars. Utah's highest-ranked gymnasts are Kailah Delaney, who is No. Io in the nation on vault, and Corrie Lothrop, who is No. II in the all-around. Many of the Utes' miscues have been pressure-induced, so preparation for tonight's meet has been slightly different. While gymnasts typically work in groups during practice, training this week has been a simulated meet, with each gymnast performing her routine while the team watches. See SENIOR NIGHT Page 7 |