Coach still on the recruiting trail

I was going to meet with coach Boylen for an end-of-the-year story early this week, but it’s been put off because he’s spending the week at the National JC Tournament in Kansas. So why would he be back there looking for new players when the Utes have seemingly finished their recruiting for next season? Probably because more than one underclassman won’t be returning next year.
The Utes have already signed three scholarship players and recently received a commitment from a JC transfer from Wyoming. With just three players leaving — seniors Luka Drca and Kim Tillie — along with LDS mission-bound Jeremy Olsen, that means at least one Ute underclassman won’t be coming back. It’s been obvious for some time that the player would be sophomore guard Jordan Cyphers, who was the only player on the team who didn’t leave the bench for the last 12 games.
However, there might be three or four others who could be leaving for a variety of reasons, including wanting to play closer to home or unhappiness with their role on the team.
That would be nothing new for the Ute program, which saw more than 40 players leave the program during Rick Majerus’s tenure, an average of three per year. After Ray Giacoletti’s first year, five players left the program, two on their own, two that were jettisoned and one that went to the NBA. Also during Boylen’s first year, three players — Daniel Deane, Stephen Weigh and Curtis Eatmon — left or were asked to leave the program. That’s college basketball.
So if three or four underclassmen leave, it may not be a big deal unless it’s certain players the Utes are really counting on for next season. Then the team could be in a bit of trouble, unless Boylen finds comparable or better JC talent this week in Kansas.