By Joseph Simmons
After BYU beat Air Force, I got a warm pleasant feeling of d?ja vu. It was 104 days ago that I was on the field watching John Beck and Cameron Jensen lift the Mountain West Conference championship trophy. It was beautiful.
Tuesday night, as the Cougars walked off the court at Clune Arena, it was familiar. Again, the championship was ours, at least a share, but one thing remained - Utah.
The similarities are abundant. Again, the Cougars will go in as heavy favorites, in part because of underachieving and poor coaching from the Utes. Again it is a season in which BYU completely dominated Utah statistically.
However it''s not just that Utah is stumbling their way into mediocrity, because that would discount the fact that BYU is a legitimately great team.
The Cougars are 28th in the nation in scoring average (77.6), and 21st in field-goal percentage (48.8%). The Utes do have the 2nd best three-point percentage in the nation (42.6%), because they throw so many up towards the end of games trying to catch up. However, the Cougars are right behind, and are 9th in the nation with 40.9%.
The Utes do have the edge on turnovers per game, and are averaging one turnover for every assist they make. To add to everything, the whole team has to deal with the fact that they got their coach, Ray Giacoletti, fired (trust me, it''s coming).
The victory that will occur this Saturday will be more than just one more win though. Something happened a few years ago. The stars realigned, the cosmos gave us our karma back, personnel changed, attribute it to what you will. The point is, something has changed, and since then things have been getting better and better.
Associate Athletics Director Duff Tittle has seen the work of basketball head coach Dave Rose and football head coach Bronco Mendenhall take hold and push the programs.
'Both of these coaches have done a tremendous job of aligning the programs with the mission of the University,' Tittle said. 'When you look at everything it takes to be successful, we have it in place. We have the coaches, the facilities, and a great support staff. All the elements are in place to be dominant not just short term but long term.'
Not to be overlooked, Tittle is quick to acknowledge the work that has been done by Athletic Director Tom Holmoe.
'Tom has unified us with one vision,' Tittle said. 'He brings a real desire for continual improvement.'
Tittle also reminds that while the major programs are getting much of the attention right now, the Cougars have dominated in many other sports for years.
There could not be a better scenario for us to complete our return to dominance. It could not happen against any team other than Utah. For years they were the sum of our frustrations. We knew that we had a better school than them, but we just couldn''t rise to the occasion.
Now, Saturday, we will put them to waste, and remind them who''s the boss. The Ute faithful will surely be there, clad in their dirty red shirts.
After we beat them, remind them how long it''s been since they''ve beaten us in a major sport. As they spew profanities in an attempt to look big, remind them of how small they are.
With this win, the demons are gone, other than the ones who show up at the game wearing red of course. Again, we will put an exclamation point on our season on top of a Ute. We have climbed back from the depths, and now''s the time to enjoy the view from the top.