Guest Andrew Crowley from The Runnin' Hoops Podcast with his take on Utes hoops so far this season...

State of the Utes

Crowley: I think a lot of folks thought that getting out of December with 9 or 10 wins, most of those being against the "buy games" and then maybe one win in Fort Myers would be good...But you know, they wallop Arizona, they went on the road and beat Wazzu and so now all of a sudden you've got three non-conference games left, you have a Pac 12 middle that's getting pretty soft...this is looking like a top half of the league team.

X-Factor Guys

Crowley: One of the guys that really stands out to me is Lazar Stefanovic. Early on in the season, he was kind of struggling to find a role on this team and in the last several games I think he's found that role and that is being a scorer off the bench, an energy guy to rely on to really just keep that momentum going and have no drop from the from the starters. Obviously the Freshman big man Keba Kieta. I think they're going to have to reinforce the rims in Salt Lake with some of the thunder that that guy brings when he slams it.

Do You Like Craig Smith?

Crowley: I think he's doing a really good job. I think the jury was really out after the first season you go 11-20, 4-16 in the PAC 12...which you can write off with "didn't have his own guys" or "a lot of turnover" you know all that stuff. He does things unconventionally, with his recruiting, they're very secretive up there with some of the things that they do...You know, he needed this Arizona win and then followed up with the Washington State win to really sort of show fans that what they are doing is working and you can now see that translating on the court.

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