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The University of Utah Athletics
Utah Men's Basketball Announces 2000-01 Schedule
8/11/2000 12:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Aug. 11, 2000
SALT LAKE CITY - A guaranteed nine appearances on national and regional television, match-ups with seven NCAA Tournament teams and three NIT participants from a year ago, and 15 regular season home games highlight the 2000-01 University of Utah men's basketball schedule announced today.
The Utes are scheduled to make two appearances on ABC, three on ESPN, one on ESPN2 and three on ESPN Regional Television. Their nine network television appearances is the most among Mountain West Conference teams. ABC will broadcast Utah's home game with UNLV on Jan. 13 to a regional audience at 1:30 p.m. (MST). The Utes and Rebels tied for the inaugural Mountain West Conference championship last season, both advancing to the NCAA Tournament. Utah's interleague battle with Louisville of Conference USA on Feb. 17 at the Huntsman Center is tentatively set to be televised nationally by ABC at 11:00 a.m. (MST). The Cardinals went 19-10 and earned an NCAA bid in 1999-2000.
Utah will make the first of four appearances on ESPN's "Big Monday" against Wyoming in the conference opener on Jan. 8 at 10:00 p.m. (MST) in Salt Lake City. The Utes will also play Brigham Young in Provo on Jan. 29 and Colorado State in Salt Lake City on Feb. 19 on ESPN. The Cougars, as well as New Mexico, represented the Mountain West Conference in the NIT last season. Utah's fourth appearance on "Big Monday," televised by ESPN2, will come against UNLV on Feb. 12 in Las Vegas.
ESPN Regional Television, which syndicates games over-the-air under the moniker of ESPN+Plus, will show three Utah games on Saturdays at 1:00 p.m. (MST) as part of the Mountain West Conference "Game of the Week" package. The Utes' games at Wyoming on Jan. 20, against Brigham Young in Salt Lake City on Feb. 24 and at New Mexico on March 3 will be televised by ESPN Regional and shown in the Salt Lake market on KJZZ-TV. Eleven additional Ute games, including six conference contests, will also be shown on KJZZ-TV, which has the rights to Utah's local television package for the sixth consecutive season. The tentative KJZZ-TV schedule features the John Wooden Classic against USC (Dec. 2), road games against Pepperdine (Dec. 19), Texas (Dec. 30), Colorado State (Jan. 22), San Diego State (Feb. 10) and Air Force (Mar. 1), and home games against Weber State (Dec. 9), Washington State (Dec. 16), San Diego State (Jan. 15), Air Force (Feb. 3) and New Mexico (Feb. 5). In all, at least 20 Ute games will be televised this season, including all 14 Mountain West Conference games.
In a change from last year, the Mountain West Conference has moved its league schedule to predominantly a Saturday-Monday format. In addition to its ESPN/ESPN2 games, Utah will play three other Monday night games this season, two of which will be at home. When not televised by national or regional television, Utah's home games will tip-off at 7:00 p.m. for the second consecutive season.
A strong line-up of non-conference opposition, including games against five regular-season conference champions from a year ago, has been assembled. After opening the regular season at home against Idaho State on Nov. 17, the Utes will play in the Puerto Rico Shootout over Thanksgiving weekend (Nov. 23-25). In addition to the Utes, the tournament field includes defending Pac-10 Conference champion Stanford, Georgia, Miami (Ohio), defending Missouri Valley Conference title winner Indiana State, Memphis, Old Dominion and American University of Puerto Rico. Select games from the tournament will be televised by ESPN2.
Utah's December schedule includes a match-up with Southern California in the Wooden Classic on Dec. 2 in Anaheim, Calif. The Trojans, with all five starters returning, are expected to contend for the Pac-10 Conference championship in 2001 and have been ranked in the Top 25 preseason. It will be the Utes' second appearance in the Wooden Classic in five years. Utah met Arizona in the event in 1996, losing to the eventual national champions 69-61.
Two tough games against in-state opposition also await the Utes before finals week. Utah State, which won the Big West Conference championship and advanced the NCAA Tournament in 2000, hosts the Utes in Logan on Dec. 6. Weber State, which went 18-9 and broke a five-game losing streak to the Utes last year, visits the Huntsman Center on Dec. 9.
Utah hosts Washington State of the Pac-10 Conference on Dec. 16 before returning to California to face Pepperdine on Dec. 19. The Waves went 22-7 last season and won the West Coast Conference title before defeating Indiana in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The Utes conclude their pre-Christmas schedule on Dec. 22 at home against Southern Utah, which tied for second place in the Mid-Continent Conference last season.
The Utes then play consecutive games against 2000 postseason qualifiers before beginning defense of their Mountain West Conference championship. Utah and Texas will meet for the seventh time since 1992 on Dec. 30 in Austin. The Longhorns went 22-7 last season, placed second in the Big 12 Conference and lost to LSU in the second round of the NCAAs. Utah defeated the Longhorns in the Huntsman Center last season, 79-73. After the New Year, the Utes host Long Beach State in Salt Lake City on Jan. 3. The 49ers are coming off a 23-4 campaign in which they won the West Division of the Big West Conference and were invited to play in the NIT.
"Once again, I think that we will play the best nonconference schedule in the league," says Ute head coach Rick Majerus. "We certainly have a number of postseason tournament teams and marquee names. I think it will be challenging to go into Texas and to play USC in what is tantamount to a home game for them in the Wooden Classic. Our fans are obviously looking forward to seeing Louisville during our nonconference schedule. But, obviously, with the stature of the programs at Pepperdine, Utah State and Long Beach State, those will also provide formidable opposition. And, of course, we all know the result of the Weber State game last season.
"Our league will be very demanding, in and of itself. We tread unchartered waters by playing a nonconference game in the middle of our league schedule for the first time. It is imperative that our players be up to a challenge of this magnitude. We're playing in one of the premiere tournaments in the country, as we will continue to do so for each of the subsequent six years. The Puerto Rico Shootout could not have a finer field, and it is our anticipation that we will play marquee teams in that tournament.
"This is the type of schedule that has afforded us quality seeds in the NCAA Tournament each year. It is important for our fans to realize that playing such a difficult schedule has resulted in us never receiving a seed lower than No. 8, and six seeds of No. 4 or higher during my tenure as coach. Our schedule is, without question, as tough as we've ever had during my tenure at Utah. It's the kind of schedule the players want to take on and our fans will certainly enjoy watching."
The 2001 Mountain West Conference Tournament takes place at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, March 8-10. Utah will play two exhibition games before beginning the regular season, hosting the California All-Stars on Nov. 2 and a foreign team still to be determined on Nov. 8. The annual "Night with the Runnin' Utes" is scheduled for Oct. 26.
The Utes enter the 2000-01 season with the nation's longest active homecourt winning streak of 52 games and haven't lost in the Huntsman Center since a setback to Wake Forest on Dec. 31, 1996. Utah is coming off a 23-9 season in which it advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament and captured a share of the inaugural Mountain West Conference title. Four letterwinners return from last season, including starting senior center Nate Althoff. Coach Majerus will also welcome two return missionaries with one year of playing experience at Utah, three junior transfers and three freshmen when practice begins in October. Utah has already been ranked 17th in preseason polls by FoxSports.com and CBS SportsLine.
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