Men's College Basketball 2021-2022 Season Preview: Utah Utes

The Pac-12 doesn’t get a whole lot of respect in college basketball lately, but that’s the conference’s own fault, as it’s been a fairly pathetic conference over the last couple of seasons. Many of the teams took advantage of the largest transfer portal ever, and we will see a lot of new faces this season. There will be plenty of hype surrounding the UCLA Bruins after their unlikely final four run last year while teams like Oregon, Arizona and USC try to gain relevance once more. There is plenty of excitement surrounding the WSU Cougars and their juicy roster, but the amount of projected bottom feeders could lead to another disappointing season for the Pac-12.

Nevertheless, there will be firepower on each of these rosters and Pac-12 Thursday DFS slates tend to be some of the most chaotic of the week. Let’s break down each team and identify the players to watch for this upcoming season.

In this one, Utah.

(Check out our full college basketball season preview!)

Utah Utes 2021-2022 Season Preview

2020-2021 record: 12-13 (8-11 Pac-12), eighth in Pac-12
Postseason: None

Key Departures | Utah Utes

Timmy Allen (transferred to Texas)
Alfonso Plummer (transferred to Illinois)
Pelle Larsson (transferred to Arizona)
Mikael Jantunen (playing overseas)
Ian Martinez (transferred to Maryland)
Rylan Jones (transferred to Utah State)

Key Additions | Utah Utes

Rollie Worster (transferred from Utah State)
Marco Anthony (transferred from Utah State)
Both Gach (transferred from Minnesota)
David Jenkins Jr. (transferred from UNLV)
Dusan Mahorcic (transferred from Illinois State)
Gabe Madsen (transferred from Cincy)
Bostyn Holt (JUCO transfer)

Returners | Utah Utes

Branden Carlson (9.4 PPG/4.6 RPG/1.7 BPG)
Riley Battin (6.6 PPG/3.4 RPG)

Utah Utes Outlook for 2021-2022

Utah State coach Craig Smith will be taking over at Utah after Larry Krystkowiak was let go after 10 seasons with the Utes. Smith brings with him a couple of his players from Utah State and hit the portal hard in his first year. The entire roster has been turned over and they return only two relevant players from 2020.

Branden Carlson was first in the conference in block rate and has been known to punish bigger defenders with his shooting. Riley Battin is at his best as a stretch 4 and can be a bit of a streaky shooter.

Worster and Anthony know Craig Smith’s system and will help get the rest of the roster acclimated to the offense. Both are better known as tough defenders than they are offensive juggernauts. David Jenkins averaged almost 15 PPG last year at UNLV and has a chance to be a high-usage weapon off the bench. Most of the other pieces on this roster are unappealing from a fantasy standpoint on paper.

(Check out our rankings of the top 100 teams and top 100 players for men’s college basketball in 2021-2022.)

Summary

Craig Smith will likely have a tough year in his first season with the Utes but I suspect he will have this group at least semi competitive rather quickly. He built a tournament team with Utah State and shouldn’t have much trouble getting his new players to buy in.