Utes non-league schedule completed, due out soon

Utah’s non-conference basketball schedule should be released later this week or next week. There won’t be any surprises on it — home games against Oklahoma, Michigan and Illinois State have already been announced, along with a road game at LSU and tournament games in Las Vegas against two of the following three teams — Oklahoma State, Illinois or Bradley. The last hole on the schedule will be filled with a game at Pepperdine, not a great team by any means, but a nice place to go in just before Christmas. Pepperdine, remember is the school where former Ute assistant, Marty Wilson, is the head coach.
An interesting article in Monday’s Las Vegas-Review Journal quotes Ute coach Jim Boylen about how his team’s tough non-league schedule this year helped get his team into the NCAA Tournament, even before the Mountain West Conference tournament began. Boylen also sort of chides his fellow MWC coaches, saying, “So many guys are scheduling to win 20 games. It doesn’t matter. It’s who you play. What are your quality wins?”
Boylen also said, “We set the standard for the league, how you get into the NCAA Tournament, who you have to play and how you should run your program.”
The complete schedule, including MWC games, won’t be released until later in the summer.