BY DARREN WILCOX
It’s time to set the record straight.
For those who read The Daily Universe and nothing else, who don’t have a television and who don’t talk to people, the University of Utah is in the NCAA men’s basketball Final Four.
Forgive me if I don’t cheer.
I admit, I was rooting for Arizona Saturday, and not just because they were playing Utah. They were my pick to win it all, and I had some serious pride set on them running the table. To be honest, I didn’t expect Utah to get past Arkansas in the second round. Arkansas’ press should have wrecked havoc on the Ute offense, but Andre Miller was up to the task and has played brilliantly in the tournament.
I was wrong. I’m big enough to admit that. But there are some bigger issues to tackle with the Utes heading for the “promised land” of college hoops.
First, let’s clear something up. Utah being in the Final Four does NOTHING for BYU. Pause for a moment and let that sink in.
Yes, it does bring exposure to Utah, the university. Yes it does show there is at least one WAC team that can compete with the rest of the nation. But how many times have you heard announcers, when talking about the Utes success, mention BYU?
Have you heard Dick Vitale pause in the middle of his rambling about Miller and Rick Majerus to drop in a comment about the amazing BYU turnaround this season? Has Dean Smith used Utah’s success as a springboard to comment on BYU’s offseason recruiting?
No. Utah being in the Final Four does wonders for the Utes’ program, but does little for the WAC and nothing for BYU.
The WAC had a great opportunity to make a statement this season when it placed four teams in the NCAA tournament. However, TCU lived up to its overrating, UNLV ran into an Ivy wall and New Mexico survived one scare only to get ambushed by Syracuse. That left only Utah to represent a conference with the reputation for mediocrity.
With 16 teams, the WAC should be more competitive nationally. But the fact of the matter is one team in the Final Four will not boost the reputation of the conference.
Will Utah’s berth in the Final Four put the WAC among the elite conferences, like the ACC, SEC and Big 12? Not a chance.
It takes more than one good team to boost a conference. The WAC will not gain respect until it can place two or three teams into the Sweet 16 and beyond.
As for coverage of the Utes in The Daily Universe, I was disappointed by the negative reaction we received because we failed to jump on the Ute bandwagon.
The purpose of The Daily Universe is to cover BYU and BYU sports first. Not the Jazz, not Weber State, Utah State or Utah. It’s a campus newspaper, our campus newspaper, and the sports section exists to cover BYU sports first. It’s ridiculous to expect us to give coverage to another university over our own sports.
Sure we cover national events that merit coverage, but unfortunately Monday’s paper didn’t allow space because of a busy weekend in BYU sports.
For those of you who would like to follow the Utes and their sports teams, I suggest you get on the web and point your browser to www.utahutes.com for all the latest updates. Or transfer. As for our paper, it will remain just that: our paper, with our sports first.
Go Tar Heels.
