Moribund Fascination: The Utah Runnin’ Utes

The Utah Utes basketball program currently ranks 12th in the country in all-time wins. They were in the 1998 championship and actually led Kentucky at the half. They play in an arena that hosted arguably the most famous game ever played. But this season, their basketball team is bad. Not bad in the way that DePaul basketball is bad, but bad in a way that could be truly historic for a program of such prominence. While I’d still put it in the “extremely unlikely” category, the Utes have an outside shot at rolling through 30 games against Division-I teams without a victory. Larry Krystkowiak is in his first season as head coach, and his arrival in Salt Lake City didn’t go so well. In the spring, Krystko lost the services of Will Clyburn (Iowa State), Shawn Glover (Oral Roberts), and J.J. O’Brien (San Diego State), who all decided to transfer after the coaching change. In addition, shot-blocker extraordinaire David Foster broke his foot in the Utes exhibition loss to Adams State and...