Two straight wins for Utes; big games from Washburn

The Utah Runnin' Utes (3-8) are coming off of two wins in a row, which is quite refreshing following a string of eight straight losses.

Jason Washburn, in particular, has caught my eye the past couple of games. Washburn, a junior, has put up high numbers of points on offense, but also grabbed a lot of rebounds. In the game Monday against Portland (3-9), Washburn had a pair of huge blocks down the stretch of a tight game.

Perhaps most of all, I have noticed that Washburn is a much better free throw shooter this year. It shows that he has been working really hard at that facet of his game. I'm hoping this improvement from Washburn continues and he keeps putting up games like he did against Idaho State (2-8) and Portland. This kind of production is more of what I expected from Washburn when he came in a couple of years ago. I've always liked Washburn, but felt he could be more consistent. These last two games have really upped my hopes.

I realize the competition hasn't been the stiffest in the last two games, but it is really good for this group of Utes to get a couple of wins in a row. Utah goes on the road to face in-state rival Weber State (7-3) tomorrow night at 7 p.m. MT. The game can be seen on Altitude TV (channel 681 DirecTV, channel 61 Comcast in Salt Lake City). I'll be on the scene and will tweet out updates from Ogden. Go Utes! (P.S., here is an interesting link about recruit Jordan Loveridge).