Brown, three others leave Runnin' Utes

Four underclassmen have elected to transfer from the University of Utah basketball program in the last week or so: Carlon Brown, Chris Hines, Matt Read and Jordan Cyphers. I have figured for a while that Cyphers would transfer since he didn't play at all the last 12 games or so of the season, even in blowouts. I liked his shot and felt he could have contributed if given more of a chance, but there must have been some sort of rift with the coaching staff that prevented him from playing. Read isn't too big of a surprise either, he didn't log very many minutes. I'm a little disappointed about Hines since he was starting to show promise toward the end of the year. I'm quite surprised that Brown, our leading scorer and best player has decided to transfer. It's a tough blow. He did seem unhappy with Coach Jim Boylen at times this year, and at times seemed to try to do too much so maybe him leaving will help improve team chemistry. I feel like I'm stretching a bit on that one, though. I didn't like that Boylen didn't have him starting much the second half of the season. It just seemed silly to me. I thought he was our best player. You should start the game with your best players on the floor. I don't know if this factored in, but it certainly didn't help persuade Brown to stick around for another year. Brown said "I appreciate the chance to be a Ute, but I think my playing style and skill set may fit better in another situation." I'll miss him around here, he was the one guy I trusted with the ball down the stretch in games, I remember a couple of huge clutch shots to tie games in the waning moments the last two years: a leaning bank shot last year at Utah State and a three this year at home vs. New Mexico. It'll be interesting to see how Coach Boylen does in recruiting. I think that will have a big impact on how the team does next year as well as how long Boylen himself sticks around. The final home game of the season against BYU was just embarassing, it was the worst performance I've ever witnessed from a Utah basketball team. Much more of that and a change will have to be made. But I sure hope next year will be a better one and I'm trying to be optimistic. We'll see what happens.