Provo • The message left on Dave Rose’s voicemail in mid-December, 2015, from University of Utah basketball coach Larry Krystkowiak was so stunning that the BYU basketball coach at first thought it was a prank.
But it wasn’t. Calls to the Utah basketball offices, which were returned by people other than Krystkowiak, later confirmed it. Utah wasn’t coming to Provo in 2016, as had been agreed.
“This doesn’t make any sense to me at all,” Rose said back on Jan. 6, 2016, about a month after freshman guard Nick Emery had punched Utah senior guard Brandon Taylor in the final seconds of the Cougars’ 83-75 loss to the Utes at the Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City.