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Show DAILY UTAH CHRONICLE 8 CHRIS AYERS/The Daily Utah Chronicle Jasmine Matkovic dives at the Ute Natatorium against ASU. BASKETBALL Continued from page 6 allowed Washington State back into the game. "We need our young team to grow up pretty quick, get matured, get tough," Krystkowiak said. "We had an opportunity against Washington State to step on them a little bit and get them to quit, but when we are up nine, ro points, we were just going through the motions." Utah only has one senior, but Krystkowiak isn't preaching patience in finding an alpha dog who will lead his team to victories. He is searching for someone on the team to step up, and he hopes to find him soon. "I would like to know who that guy is on our team that's in the huddle going 'come on guys, this is important,'" Krystkowiak said. "That's a skill to have, and I am looking for someone that's not making it up. I am trying to find out who those guys are. It can't always come from the coaches. We don't have time for our sophomores to turn into seniors. Somebody has got to get after it a little bit, and we need to get a little more of that maturity and tough-mindedness before it's too late." r.miller@chronicle.utah.edu Sign up now b r Deals for food, entertainment and everything else for students, faculty and staff at the University of Utah Go to www.UtahCampusDeals.corn and sign up today to get $10 in Deal Bucks! *Tell us where you want deals from - email ads@utah.edu Tuesday, January 14, 2014 SWIMMING GYMNASTICS Continued from page 7 Continued from page 6 finish in the 200-yard individual medley as well as a second-place finish in the zoo-yard breaststroke. Kylie Boyce nabbed a third-place finish in the 200yard breaststroke. On the diving side, the Utes placed two divers, as Kersten Merry and Haley Blount finished in second and third place respectively in the I-meter dive. The next day, Utah returned to the water to take on UCLA but saw much of the same result. The Utes were once again only able to win four events. Colleou won both the ioo-yard breaststroke (1:04.18) and zoo-yard breaststroke (2:16.67) while Barrett captured a win in the 400-yard individual medley, making that her second individual win of the weekend. "We have a young team," Dykstra said. "It's my job to help build up their confidence. We've got to get them to believe in themselves. We have to make sure they have the confidence to race with [USC and UCLA]." Dykstra also sees the meets against the Trojans and Bruins as good ways to measure up against the finest competition the Pac-I2 has to offer. If Utah would have pulled out a win over the weekend, Dykstra believes it would have been an upset as well as a look into the future for his team. He is pushing the Utes to compete on the same level as those schools but also recognizes there is still work to be done. "Both of those programs are somewhere we aspire to get with the girls' team," Dykstra said. "Our girls are experiencing a heavy level of fatigue. We need to be fatigued. We went against two outstanding teams. I thought we competed well, especially at UCLA." Utah has this weekend off before traveling to BYU on Jan. 24 to take on its rival. While beating the Cougars is important, Dykstra is putting more emphasis on the big picture — the Pac-12 Championships. "I mean, it's always more important because it is our rival here in state," Dykstra said. "But that being said, we won't do anything to disrupt our bigger goal." i.smith@chronicle.utah.edu Thrown into the fire With Lopez's injury, opportunity arose for three gymnasts to take her place in the three events she was scheduled to compete in. One of those was the Red Rocks' lone freshman, Baely Rowe. Although the newcorner was expecting to compete in exhibition Saturday, she was thrown into the lineup on the beam — the event the team has put emphasis on during the offseason. MCDONALD Continued from page 6 No. 15 and Duke is ranked No. 23. Yet there I am in front of my TV every week watching these squads. In contrast, teams such as Syracuse, Wisconsin and Michigan State are among the nation's top five teams, yet I don't find myself caring enough to watch them since they don't have players who appear to be the future stars of the NBA. I'm not alone. Even though the Orange, the Badgers and the Spartans are better teams than the Wildcats, Jayhawks and Blue Devils, far more media attention has been given this season to the teams of Parker, Wiggins and Randle simply because they are "the next best thing." ESPN has even dedicated a segment on its channel called the "Freshman Focus," highlighting the plays made by the aforementioned players despite the result of the game. On one hand, the NCAA should be happy that Parker, Wiggins and Randle are in college in the first place. Up until just a few years ago, players could skip college altogether "I was really sad for Kass, but this gave me the opportunity to show my coaches that I was ready to do this and ready to compete," Rowe said. "I just had to go out there and do what I do in practice. I had a couple of mistakes, but being my first time out there, I thought I did pretty well." Moving forward, Rowe is hoping she will stay in the lineup and help her team in whatever ways she can. "Hopefully I can stay in, but it's a week-in, week-out type of thing," she said. "You compete for your spot." g.adams@chronicle.utah.edu and go straight to the NBA out of high school. That caused the college game to suffer greatly, as the best high school players were bypassing campus life for the pro game. This tremendous trio certainly would have done that before the NBA changed its rule and would currently be in The Association. On the other hand, it's somewhat unfortunate that many of the best teams in the nation aren't receiving as much media attention just because they don't have star power. Syracuse, the No. 2 team in the country, is a very good squad but will continue to fly under the radar no matter how well they play throughout the rest of the season. This is an interesting change to the college game. Sure, fans and the media have always been interested in following the nation's best players, but they've also been sure to watch the country's best teams, too. This concept may well change next season and beyond when there isn't a particularly strong freshman class. For now, though, college basketball has become much more about the individual than the team. I'm watching. r.mcdonald@chronicle.utah.edu |