It’s just going to be another season and we’ve got to figure out how to put our guys in positions where they can be successful and try to win as many darn games as we can. – Larry Krystkowiak
SALT LAKE CITY — There are changes, a lot of them, to the Utah Utes basketball roster.
Even so, Utah coach Larry Krystkowiak insists everyone is looking forward to getting more familiar with one another and blending together.
“It’s just going to be another season and we’ve got to figure out how to put our guys in positions where they can be successful and try to win as many darn games as we can,” he said. “That’s what it’s all about.”
After back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances, the Utes will enter Krystkowiak’s sixth campaign at the helm with a lot of new faces.
Jakob Poeltl’s early departure to the NBA and the graduation losses of Jordan Loveridge, Brandon Taylor and Dakarai Tucker headline the changes. Offseason transfers by senior forward Chris Reyes (Pepperdine) and junior guard Isaiah Wright (San Diego) and now junior forward Brekkott Chapman add to it.
Chapman was granted a release from his scholarship after expressing a desire to be closer to home in Roy.
Krystkowiak accommodated the request and even made an exception to the usual parameters of not allowing transfers permission to play at other Pac-12 schools or instate programs. Chapman was given permission to play for Weber State in Ogden.
“He stated to me that his baby was top priority — that they had this year — and that his mom and his high school friends were all really important to him and he wasn’t having much fun playing basketball anymore,” Krystkowiak said. “So he wanted to go back and be a part of that and so that made perfectly good sense to release him to Weber State. I wasn’t going to fight that based on the circumstances.”
Chapman, a former Roy High School star who played in all 71 games for Utah over the past two seasons, averaged 4.4 points and 2.8 rebounds as a sophomore and 5.7 points and 2.3 rebounds as a freshman.
Utah’s top returnees for 2016-17 are junior forward Kyle Kuzma (10.8 ppg) and senior guard Lorenzo Bonham (10.2 ppg). Newcomers include center Jayce Johnson (Santa Monica High School, California), forward Tyler Rawson (Salt Lke Community College), guard Devon Daniels (Prolific Prep, California), guard Jojo Zamora (Yuba College, California), guard Tim Coleman (Lee College, Texas), guard Sedrick Barefield (SMU) and forward David Collette (Utah State).
In addition, sophomore guard Parker Van Dyke is back in the program after serving an LDS Church mission in Alabama.
EXTRA STUFF: Walk-on forward Austin Montgomery has transferred to Dixie State. … Beau Rydalch, whose father Craig was a captain under Rick Majerus, is back from a mission and is walking on this season. … Poeltl is one of 70 players participating in this week’s NBA Scouting Combine in Chicago. … Former Utah standout Pace Mannion is being inducted into the Crimson Club Hall of Fame on Oct. 7.
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