In case you missed this year's Examination Week Special Thursday night in the Huntsman Center - and judging from all those empty seats, you did - here's what you missed (or didn't miss, take your pick).
This year's straight man was Cardinal Stritch College, a private NAIA-division Catholic school flown in from Milwaukee to give the University of Utah a light workout. The final score was Utah 83, Cardinal Stritch 45. That's a 38-point rout, if you're counting, and the Utes did it while playing four walk-ons, sometimes three at a time.Freshman Jimmy Carroll, with a stern lecture from coach Rick Majerus still ringing in his ears, scored a game-high 18 points. He had the Utes well on their way to a school record for three-point shots in the first half. By halftime they had made seven of them, three by Carroll. But at halftime, Majerus told the Utes to forget the trey and to work on their motion offense. When Ma Jian attempted a trey early in the second half, he got the hook.
Meanwhile, freshman star Keith Van Horn had a so-so night. He had 10 points and 9 rebounds and lasted just 18 minutes before he fouled out. "He plays up to the competition," said Majerus. Maybe that was Tony Block's problem. Having recently been praised by coaches for his good turnovers-to-assist ratio, he promptly went out and committed eight turnovers and no assists, offsetting an otherwise good night (13 points, 7 rebounds).
Guard Mark Rydalch also had a bad night at the office, but, then, he hadn't practiced since Monday. Since then he had been studying for exams from 9:30 to 7 p.m. daily, which might explain his 3-for-8, 7-point shooting night.
Or maybe not. "I felt fine," he said.
Well, nobody was taking this game too seriously anyway. "I'm just glad to get it over with," was the way Majerus put it. Each year he schedules a stiff to play the Utes at the end of final examination week, thus allowing his players to skip practice and devote the week to studying. The only reason they play a game at all is to pay the bills.
"We sold tickets," said Majerus.
About 12,353 of them officially, but only about half that many fans actually turned out to watch the game. How bad was it? The 7-4 Crusaders, undersized and undermanned, shot 30 percent from the field and made just 2 of 25 three-point shots, which is to be expected from a team that can make no better than 5 of 16 free throws.
Crusader coach Dennis Fox was apologetic after the game. "We didn't do our part. I didn't think we could compete with them, but we can do better than we did. We didn't do our part to make this a good game for their kids. I don't think we made it worthwhile for them."
It didn't help the Crusaders any that they had begun their day at 4 a.m. to make the trip to Salt Lake City, or that they, too, had been taking finals this week.
The Utes, 4-2, never trailed. Terry Preston, a Milwaukee native, and Carroll buried back-to-back three-point shots to start the game and the rout. At one point the Utes led 40-16. By halftime it was 48-25.
Carroll played the best game of his young collegiate career. Earlier in the day, while taking the team shootaround less than seriously, Carroll was scolded by Majerus to strive to reach his potential and to make every moment count.
"It stuck in my mind tonight," said Carroll, who made 6 of 9 field goal attempts, including 5 of 7 from three-point range. For the record, Carroll, whom Majerus calls one of the best pure shooters he has ever recruited, has made 15 of 27 shots this season from three-point range.
With a comfortable lead, Majerus played all of his able-bodied players on Thursday, with one notable exception. Guard Darroll Wright, the team's best player, was still serving a suspension that officially ended on Friday. He sat on the bench dressed in a uniform, as usual, but all he did was watch. Wright will make his first appearance of the season Saturday against Cal State-Fullerton.
Speaking of Fullerton, Majerus returned to his hotel room after Thursday's game to watch film of the Titans. "I don't know much about them right now," he said. But this much is certain: They're better than Cardinal Stritch.