Utes surprisingly upbeat at Thursday practice

Ever since Wednesday night’s abysmal performance by the Utah basketball team, people I’ve talked to called it the worst performance by a Utah team they’d ever seen. Perhaps it didn’t top the 30-point drubbing by Arizona four years earlier, but it was right up there.
I went to basketball practice and surprisingly, the team was upbeat and practiced well for more than an hour. Coach Jim Boylen kept the team in the film room for longer than expected and then came out and told the team it would be an offensive practice, which made sense after the lack of offense the night before.
You might have expected Boylen to be in a punishing mood with his team, but he was positive with his players and very calm as the team ran a variety of of running and shooting drills. Afterward the players seemed happy and relaxed as they shot around after the official end of practice.
Boylen stressed that the Utes were very disappointed in the loss, but had put it behind them as they look forward to Saturday’s regular-season finale at Colorado State followed by the Mountain West Conference tournament next week.
Center David Foster was sitting in street clothes with a sprained left ankle suffered the night before when Boylen said he was likely out for the season. However, trainer Trevor Jameson said Foster looked better Thursday than expected and that, while he’ll definitely miss Saturday’s game, he might be ready by the tournament after being re-evaluated early next week.