Runnin' Utes visit Bradley on Saturday night

The Utah Runnin' Utes (4-2) visit Bradley (4-3) on Saturday night at 6 p.m. MT. The game will not be televised in Utah, but there is a live video stream of the game available on bradleybraves.com. Unfortunately the stream costs money, but hey it's worth watching the game to me. The Utes beat Fresno State (1-4) on Tuesday in Salt Lake City, but I thought it was a rather underwhelming victory against a horrible team.

Now I don't consider Bradley to be a great team, but they are definitely better than Fresno State and the game will be more of a challenge as it is on the road. My hope is that the Utes will win and give me some encouragement as to the potential of this team, but in all honesty I consider the game a toss up. I'll be back on here with my thoughts and analysis at some point following the game.

In other news this week, junior guard and captain Jace Tavita has left the program. Tavita didn't play at all Tuesday night against Fresno State despite being healthy and has seen his playing time diminished of late. The word is that Tavita is looking to transfer to a program in which he can get more playing time. Tavita was a good team guy and a good defender, but he was a serious liability on the offensive end of the floor. I won't miss him on the offensive end of the court and I don't think his absence will hurt the team too much. However, he was a likable guy that I always rooted for and I hope he lands on his feet and is successful somewhere.

For sports fans in the state of Utah it is also worth noting that Utah State (5-1) is at #16 Georgetown (7-0) at 10 a.m. MT on ESPNU. I think it's a game well worth checking out. I've thought the Aggies' basketball schedule has been far too weak in recent years and that scheduling a game like this is a step in the right direction regardless of the outcome.

Utah tops Fresno State

Utah (4-2) defeated Fresno State (1-4) last night by a score of 76-63. Utah led by as many as 24 in the second half. A lot of guys got into the act including Chris Kupets, Josh Watkins, Will Clyburn and Jason Washburn. I liked the balanced scoring from the Runnin' Utes last night. I didn't like how slow of a start they got off to, but they really started the second half strong and took control of the game.

Fresno State looks like a really bad team. They missed many open shots, often by wide margins. I thought Utah's defense was okay, but they still gave up a lot of open looks that the Bulldogs just weren't able to knock down. Hopefully they can ratchet up the defense a little bit more in the future. Utah next plays at Bradley (4-3) on Saturday night at 6 p.m. MT.

Runnin' Utes back in action tonight

After a disappointing home loss to Oral Roberts (2-3), the Utah basketball team (3-2) gets back in action tonight at 7 p.m. MT against Fresno State (1-3). Fresno State is another team the Runnin' Utes should beat, but I said the same thing about Oral Roberts. I think the Utes will take out their frustrations on them and win by at least ten. The game is not on TV but can be heard via kall700sports.com and on AM 700 in the Salt Lake City area. I'll be at the game and you can follow me on Twitter at twitter.com/dpaysports for updates. Go Utes!