Larry Krystkowiak stood at the scorer’s table as his players warmed up for an early morning practice inside the Huntsman Center, and with one tournament victory already under their belts, he focused them for their matchup with the LSU Tigers.
Even a win in Monday’s game, though, will carry an element of disappointment for plenty of Utah basketball fans. The Runnin’ Utes are back in the National Invitational Tournament and, like every Division I college basketball team, they’d rather be playing in a different March tournament.
“The goals for our program are, at the end of the season, to be in the hunt for at least an at-large bid [for the NCAA tournament] and then do some damage when we get there,” Utah athletics director Chris Hill said this week.