Catching up on Ute basketball

After being on vacation for much of the month, it’s time for me to catch you up on Ute basketball.
Coach Jim Boylen is heading out on what he calls the “Summer Ute Tour” with meetings with boosters in Las Vegas and St. George the next couple of days along with a little golf. In June he’ll start his first “Jimmy Ball” basketball camps at the Huntsman Center.
Boylen said the 2008-09 non-league schedule is very close to being completed. The Utes have added another big-time game with the addition of LSU to the home schedule in early January. That, added to home games against Oregon, Cal and Gonzaga, give the Utes their most formidable home schedule in years.
The Utes will play road games at Oklahoma and Missouri State and also play Mississippi in a three-game tournament in Florida in late November.
“We’ve got a great schedule with two games against SEC teams, two games against Pac-10 teams, one against the Big 12 and a game against Gonzaga,” Boylen said.
Boylen can’t talk about it, but the Utes have received a big commitment for the 2009-10 season from Jeremy Olsen, a 6-foot-10 player from the Atlanta area. Olsen lived in Utah as a child and as an LDS church member, might serve a mission after his freshman season. He chose Utah over Xavier and was recruited by a few other top schools.
Most of the current Ute players will stay in Utah this summer, but at least three players, Luka Drca, Tyler Kepkay and Kim Tillie, will leave to play for their national teams in Serbia, Canada and France, respectively.