Utah Basketball: Utes building off of NIT run for 2018-19

After a trip to the NIT championship, can Utah Basketball build upon that and be a factor in the Pac-12 for the 2018-19 season?

NIT runner-up with 23 wins and a 3^rd place finish in the Pac-12 was a pretty good season for Larry Krystowiak and Utah. Despite the success, they will have to reload the roster in order to compete with others in the conference.

The Utes lose three of their top four scorers and nearly 39 points of the 73 the team averaged last season as well as 9 of the team’s 15 assists.

Their top returning player will be senior guard Sedrick Barefield who averaged 12 points last season. The 6-2 California native ended the season on a high note with 22 points in the NIT title game. The other returners of note from last season are junior center Jayce Johnson and sophomore forward Donnie Tillman.

Johnson is a 7-0 center from California who averaged 5.5 points and 5.4 rebounds but was susceptible to foul trouble in limited minutes. He will have to learn how to play without fouling if he wants to see more consistent minutes and maybe crack the starting lineup.

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The 6-7 Tillman added 7.8 points and 4.8 rebounds, but he showed a lot of promise early in the season. He registered double figures in seven of his first nine games, double-doubles in two of them and a career-high 20 points in a loss to Butler. It will be important to Utah’s success for Tillman to find that early-season success on a more consistent basis.

Krystowiak will have plenty of new options to help replace the production they lost. In addition to the freshmen class, the Utes welcome three transfers and a redshirt freshman that will see his first action. Novak Topalovic joins Utah for his final season. He is a 7-0 230lb. big man who averaged 10.7 points and 6.8 rebounds for Idaho State last season.

Charles Jones, Jr. is a 6-2 guard from the College of Southern Idaho. He was a two-time All-American and named the National Junior College Player of the Year last season, averaging 19 points per game. Brandon Morley arrives in Utah by way of Salt Lake Community College where he scored 9.5 points per game and 5.7 rebounds. Guards Vante Hendrix, a 6-5 guard from California. The 6-5 guard averaged 22 points, 8.7 rebounds, 5.6 assists and 2.7 steals as a high school senior.

According to 247sports Krystowiak has brought in the 37^th best-recruiting class in the country. Normally that would be fantastic, and it is, but it is also just the 7^th best class in the Pac-12.

The class consists of three forwards, a guard, and a center. Krystowiak was able to land the top two recruits in the state of Arizona, a pair of small forwards. Both Gach from Chandler is a 6-7 forward who put up a gaudy 24/8/7 line last season. Timmy Allen, a 6-6 wing averaged nearly 20 points, 7.9 rebounds, and 3.3 assists in his only season at Red Mountain High School. Lahat Thioune is a 6-10 power forward who is a defensive presence that can block shots and rebound and runs the floor well for a man his size.

The guard is 6-3 shooting guard Naseem Gaskin who can be an efficient scorer, he shot 55% from the field last season. Riley Battin is a 6-9 forward/center who is ranked 22^nd in the state of California by 247sports. He recorded 28 double-doubles last season while shooting 52% from the field and 87% from the free throw line.

The Utes will need some significant impact from their newcomers to battle the top teams in the Pac-12 in 2018-19, but the pieces are there for an NCAA Tournament bid next season and to be a team to keep an eye on over the next few years.