Runnin' Utes drop MWC opener

Air Force (10-4, 1-0 MWC) defeated Utah (7-8, 0-1 MWC) tonight 77-69 in Colorado Springs. A big story tonight was the ineptitude of the Mtn. in failing to get me the game to watch. The channel was black the entire night, including for the preceding San Diego State-TCU game. I called my friends on a different cable system and it was blacked out for them as well. It's a good thing that this is the last season for the Runnin' Utes being on the Mtn.

From what I was able to glean from listening to the game, it was the same old story for the Utes. They had some good spurts, including going up by 9 in the first half. They once again fell behind in the 2nd half, but were able to take the lead with under 3 minutes left. However, Utah was significantly outplayed by the Falcons down the stretch and picked up another loss they probably shouldn't have. It seems like the Utes have hit the panic button late in games recently and not really played composed, putting up difficult shots and turning it over (again as well as I can tell from listening on the radio). I don't think Coach Jim Boylen is completely off the hook for this loss as it was still his players, system and assistant coaches at the game. I thought Chris Kupets played a really good game; he seems to be coming along and developing into a really nice player. However, it was the same old inconsistency for the Utes who have lost 5 straight. It looks very likely that the streak will extend to 7 as they have home games against #6 San Diego State (16-0, 1-0 MWC) Saturday and #15 BYU (15-1, 1-0 MWC) next Tuesday.