Archives For BYU

Kiki Vandeweghe’s Utah ties run deep

Spencer Hall —  September 11, 2012 — 3 Comments

Hutchins

With the Summer of Enes in full swing, a lot of attention is on Kiki Vandeweghe, the former NBA forward and front office fixture who is teaching Kanter his bag of tricks. In the rush of excitement about Kanter’s development, don’t overlook the most important detail: Kiki Vandeweghe is the son of former Miss Utah and Miss America Colleen Hutchins and the nephew of BYU basketball star and early NBA pioneer Mel Hutchins.

mel-hutchins-topps-card

All five starters on that BYU 1951 NIT Championship team were drafted into the NBA. Hutchins was the number two pick overall and went on to be a four-time All-Star. The 1951 team is the focus of a great book called “Forgotten Champions” by Rocky Steele, that you should probably pick up if you haven’t already.

1951-BYU-basketball-in-Brazil

The 1951 BYU basketball team on a barnstorming tour of Brazil. Click the image to see it full size.

While Mel was playing for the Knicks, his sister Colleen met and married his teammate Ernie Vandeweghe. Read this great write-up about her remarkable life. Colleen Vandeweghe passed away in 2010 at the age of 83. Ernie Vandeweghe studied medicine while playing in the NBA and later served as a physician in the US Air Force.

I’m hoping all this means young Enes Kanter is in good hands.

As a side note, I grew up around the corner from one of the other players on that 1951 team, Boyd Jarman. (He’s the second player from the right in the photo of the team in Brazil, wearing those awesome “Mormons” warmups). He’s one of the most important mentors in my life and probably the main reason basketball is a central part of my life. It’s an absolute tragedy that the memory of that team isn’t better preserved. I’m so happy Rocky Steele was able to finish his book while there was still time.

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Jazz Games of the Year

K.Malphurs —  April 12, 2011 — 1 Comment

The fact that this year has been a bad year for Jazz fans should be undisputed. The team came into the year with an All-Star point guard, a Hall of Fame coach and postseason aspirations (this writer predicted 50 wins). The year is going to end with more questions (Millsap or Favors? Is Corbin a good coach? Can Gordon Hayward be a productive NBA player?) than answers. This season has been a huge disappointment.

Before we completely move on from the year and focus on the draft, I wanted to look back on those few games that brought some level of joy and satisfaction to this Jazz fan. Below are the top 5 games from the 2010-2011 season:

5. January 14th: Jazz 121 – Cavs 99

  • At the time: This game looked like a really good team beating up on a really bad team. It was a fun game with many highlight worthy plays and left the Jazz 14 games above .500 and tied with the Thunder for 1st place in the Northwest division. The description at the beginning of the AP recap sums up the state of the Jazz after that game:

The Utah Jazz have had bigger wins this season. They’ve had more lopsided ones, too. But maybe none were more fun than Friday night’s 121-99 victory over the hapless Cleveland Cavaliers.

  • In retrospect: This game was the pinnacle of the Jazz season as the Jazz never again were 14 games above .500. Since the game the Jazz have won close to 1 out of every 4th game. It turned out to be the beginning of the end.

4. February 25th: Jazz 95 – Pacers 84

  • At the time: This was the first game for the Jazz with Devin Harris and Derrick Favors, and also the first win since Jerry Sloan retired. Harris and Favors did enough in the game to provide Jazz fans hope that the trade wasn’t going to be a bust. At five games over .500 the Jazz still were in playoff contention and the thought was that the team still had enough talent to sneak into the postseason.
  • In retrospect: This game was just a minor break in the losing streak as the Jazz lost the next 3 games and continued on with their downward decent. The Jazz didn’t become a playoff team and Favors/Harris have only had average production for the team.

3.  April 5th: Jazz 86 – Lakers 85

  • At the time: The Jazz broke a 16 straight game losing streak to the Lakers at the Staples Center, and Hayward gave us something to believe in. The game didn’t matter for the Jazz in terms of making the playoffs, but for a meaningless game (for the Jazz at least) it was very satisfying.
  • In retrospect: Nothing has changed from the above considering the game only happened a week ago.

2. February 4th: Jazz 113 – Nuggets 106

  • At the time: Here is the my fellow Salt City Hoops writer Jeff Lind after the Nuggets win: “Wow. I almost forgot what it felt like to go into a good team’s house and win. Turns out it feels pretty amazing.” Lind has some other good points from the game that left the Jazz a half game ahead of the Nuggets in the standings.
  • In retrospect: This was the last good win of the Deron Williams/Jerry Sloan era and ended up being one of the last games of the Carmelo Anthony era in Denver. In less than a week after the game, Jerry Sloan retired and the season as we had known it completely changed. What looked like a statement game (Jazz > Nuggets) ended up not meaning anything for either team. The Jazz went 8-22 after the game, and the Nuggets went 21-10.

1. November 9th: Jazz 116 – Heat 114

  • In retrospect: The game was the definition of an outlier. The Jazz won a game that they shouldn’t have and the Heat lost a game they should have won. It was an amazing game on its own, and one that I will watch again if it ever is replayed on ESPN Classic or NBA TV, but over the course of an 82 game season it wasn’t a representative sample of anything. The Jazz weren’t better than the Heat. Millsap didn’t become a 3 point shooter. The game was a fun win that Jazz fans should remember because of its absurdity.
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Game 12: Jazz 98 – Nets 88:

Spencer Hall —  November 18, 2010 — 2 Comments

A long NBA season is punctuated by important nights that fans recall for years and show the identity of the team. And in between those important nights, the teams play the Nets.

A Wednesday is the most appropriately mundane day of the week, and seemed appropriate for a 98-88 win by the Utah Jazz at home against New Jersey. Paul Millsap picked up his fifth double-double with 19 points and 15 rebounds. All five Jazz starters scored in double digits. And both teams missed a million shots near the basket.

The game will be remembered mostly for Gordon Hayward’s first real dunk, a thundering left handed finish that brought the crowd to its feet.

Brook Lopez played well in the first half and scored 17 points but was held scoreless the rest of the game. Anthony Morrow took over in the second half when he scored 16 of his game-high 24. Even with the slow second half, Utah coach Jerry Sloan had high praise for Lopez.

One the Jazz side, the aforementioned starters played well but the bench was nearly non-existant. Earl Watson was honored on the JumboTron as the sub of the game after posting an epic line of 3 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 points. The entire bench combined for an evenly-distributed, but abysmal, 10 points. No bench player scored more than 2 points.

CJ Miles left the game in the second quarter with a strained back and didn’t return. He’s listed as day-to-day, but really, aren’t we all day-to-day?. The disappearance of Kyrylo Fesenko continued as he picked up the DNP-CD after apparently suffering a concussion on Monday against the OKC Thunder. After the game Fesenko changed quickly into street clothes and hurried out but claimed to be fine when asked about his health.

Not to get cute, but it was odd to see so many Nets players who still have strong identities on former teams now playing in new jerseys. Jordan Farmar will seem like a Laker for a long time. Devin Harris still looks like he should be representing Dallas. Anthony Morrow is so Golden State. Travis Outlaw was eponymous for the end of the Jail Blazer era in Portland. And Kris Humphries is still in the league?*

*Kris Humphries is not only still in the league, he is starting. No small feat for a man who was once traded by the Jazz to Toronto for Rafael Araujo.

Sidebar: Doesn’t that 2005 Jazz team with Humphries and Deron Williams seem like it happened 50 years ago? Also, it’s incredible that that team managed to win 41 games.

Up next for the Jazz is a Friday visit by their old nemesis, the  San Antonio Spurs. The Spurs are dealing with the fallout from the announcement that Tony Parker and Eva Longoria are getting a divorce. It will be interesting to see how the media circus that is sure to follow will affect the play of the frenchman. Parker could have avoided this mess entirely had the Jazz taken him in the 2001 draft instead of going with the injury-plagued Raul Lopez.

ESPN AP Recap | Boxscore

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Jazz at Raptors

Spencer Hall —  March 24, 2010 — Leave a comment

I’m still buzzing from that Boston game. The show rolls on, however, and tonight the Jazz are back in action on the road against Toronto. It will be interesting to see if the Jazz can get back to their winning ways on the road, or if the strong play last month was only an aberration.

Here’s a snippet from the ESPN Preview:

In the opener of a three-game road trip, the Jazz look to win their 10th straight against the Raptors on Wednesday night.

Utah (46-25) faces plenty of competition for a chance at home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs, leading Phoenix by one game while San Antonio and Oklahoma City trail by three. Division leaders Dallas and Denver are also within reach for the Jazz, who have won four of five after losing their previous two.

The Raptors have lost five of eight at home overall after winning 14 of their previous 15.

Utah should enter this contest particularly confident, coming off a 110-97 win over Boston on Monday night. The Jazz beat one of the East’s top teams despite missing Andrei Kirilenko (calf) for the fifth time in six games.

Kirilenko’s status is uncertain. The veteran forward had 20 points, seven rebounds, three steals and two blocks in a 104-91 win over Toronto on Nov. 18.

Also, I chipped in at Raptors Republic with a few thoughts. Let me know what you think.

In BYU, NBA, Utah Jazz
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Jimmer Fredette goes for 49 on the road at AZ

Spencer Hall —  December 29, 2009 — Leave a comment

BYU’s Jimmer Fredette put on a clinic Monday night in a 99-69 win against the Arizona Wildcats in Tucson. We focus on pro basketball around here, but when a young man follows up a 33 point night with a merciless line of 49 points, 9 assists, and 7 rebounds, ON THE ROAD… well, he deserves more than a passing mention.

Fredette was absolutely on fire. At one point late in the second half he was being double teamed well beyond the three point line, drove to his right, crossed over and broke the ankles of both defenders, pulled back and hit a three. Nasty stuff all the way around.

PLAYER MIN FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A OREB REB AST STL BLK TO PF PTS
Jimmer Fredette, G 36 16-23 9-13 8-9 1 7 9 2 0 5 2 49

In an interesting twist, the McKale Center scoring record was previously 45 points and was set by Providence’s Eric Murdock on Dec. 23, 1990. Murdock would later be drafted by the Jazz.

These Cougars are fun to watch, and it’s downright jarring to watch them run and gun with reckless abandon after watching the Jazz run each play with the predicability of Sunday Mass. BYU plays a very uptempo game and every player seems to have the green light on any shot they like.

In the spirit of “going green,” I’d like to suggest that the Jazz give every player the green light on nights when they wear their green throwback jerseys. Would it be so wrong to mix things up every once in a while? Why not have one night to turn Kirilenko loose and just run up and down?

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