SALT LAKE CITY — At the start of the season if you said the Utah basketball team might be 6-7 at this point of the season, it wouldn't have seemed that far-fetched.

After all, the Utes lost four seniors who accounted for 70 percent of Utah's scoring and 58 percent of its rebounding last year as well as 62 percent of all minutes played.

With such an inexperienced team this year, it wasn't implausible the Utes might lose to Utah State at home, drop a couple of games at the Las Vegas Invitational, lose a road game against defending Big Sky champion Weber State, lose home games to Michigan and Oklahoma and perhaps a home game to Illinois State (now 10-2) or a road game at Pepperdine.

What no one expected is that the Utes would lose home games to Idaho and Seattle and both the Illinois State and Pepperdine games, losses that have overshadowed upset victories over Illinois, Michigan and Utah State.

The Utes play their final non-conference game Saturday night at LSU, an 8-4 team that will be favored to win. But the Utes, besides their bad losses, have shown an ability to play well against the better teams on their schedule, so a win wouldn't be out of the question.

Still, the Utes are an abysmal No. 244 in the latest College RPI standings, which is a long ways from the top-25 RPI ranking the Utes enjoyed much of last season.

Coach Jim Boylen tries not to sound like he's making excuses but is also sensitive to the criticism he receives from his fickle fan base, less than a year after he delivered a regular-season and tournament championship.

"We're basically in our first year, in our third year," he says, referring to the fact that he finally has the majority of players he recruited after using leftovers from the Ray Giacoletti team the past two years.

The Utes use eight players who didn't play a minute last year and five are playing double-digit minutes a game.

While the Utes have looked discombobulated out on the floor at times this year, it's not because of a lack of chemistry on the team, which Boylen says is the closest since he's been at Utah.

"I don't like the way we've shared the ball," he said. "Some of our guys want to do it on their own. That's where we were early, but I don't think we're there now. But now we've got to regain our confidence."

Injuries are a logical factor in why the team has underperformed. While many teams struggle with injuries, the Utes have had more than their share this year.

JC transfer forward Jay Watkins has missed six games, including the two early losses to Idaho and Seattle and the two recent losses to Illinois State and Pepperdine. Foster also missed the Pepperdine game as well as the second half of the Illinois State game. Also, freshman Jason Washburn missed six weeks of preseason practice with a knee injury as well as two games with a concussion.

Then there's Carlon Brown. He didn't play for a couple of months in the summer after breaking several bones in his face. He's also been playing with a foot injury all year and missed practice Thursday and is questionable for Saturday.

The fact is, the Utes are 5-2 this year when everybody's healthy.

On the court, Boylen says, the Utes are playing better defensively than a year ago. But they are allowing too many offensive rebounds and their shooting has been sub-par.

The two players most known for their shooting prowess, freshman Marshall Henderson and sophomore Jordan Cyphers, are shooting 31.4 percent and 22.7 percent, respectively, from 3-point range.

Luka Drca, who was third on the team in 3-point shooting a year ago at 38.8 percent, is shooting just 28.1 percent.

Despite their struggles, the Utes do have some bright spots.

Not many people expected Foster to have such an impact just six months off his LDS mission. The 7-foot-3 center is a fourth in the nation in blocked shots (4.3 bpg) and also shooting 56 percent from the field and averaging 5.1 rebounds a game.

Washburn is shooting 66 percent from the field, true freshman Shawn Glover had the game-winning shot against Illinois and has played solid minutes, while Watkins has been a force inside, averaging 9.7 points and 4.6 rebounds, while shooting 57 percent from the field.

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Boylen said when he took the job he was asked to play defense, graduate his players and win.

"To me we've done all those things already," he said. He just hopes the Ute faithful will be patient the rest of this year.

"It's tough going through this right now, but this is where we're at," Boylen said. "All we can do is work hard and practice hard. My mindset is to make these guys better and we'll reap the benefits."

e-mail: sor@desnews.com

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