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While football captures much of the attention at the University of Utah, other sports have been performing well this spring and making history — and they deserve recognition.
For starters, the No. 17 Utah men’s tennis team advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament, where it fell to No. 14 North Carolina. The Utes finished the regular season with a share of the Pac-12 regular-season championship and ended with a 24-6 record, their best mark in at least the last 25 years.
On Sunday, the No. 18 Utah lacrosse team defeated Air Force 11-9 to capture the ASUN conference tournament for the first time in the program’s five-year history. The Utes also received their first-ever automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. Utah faces No. 3 Notre Dame in the first round of the NCAA tournament Saturday (12:30 p.m. MDT, ESPNU).
“We really challenged the guys to stay the course and that’s a big philosophy that I’ve always had and that we’ve tried to instill here — regardless of our scenario or what our record is, at any point in time, we’re gonna make sure that we just stay focused on doing what we need to do to become the best team that we can,” said coach Andrew McMinn.
And the No. 15 Utah softball team opens up Pac-12 tournament play Thursday.
In case you missed it
The consensus is that Andy Ludwig is one of the best offensive coordinators in college football.
Of course, that seems pretty obvious to anyone paying attention.
The Deseret News’ Trent Wood compiled commentary from a number of media outlets praising the job Ludwig has done at Utah.
This is what On3 Sports had to say about Ludwig: “Utah was the only team to beat USC twice in 2022, doing so in both the regular season and the Pac-12 championship. The Utes — again led by Cameron Rising — ranked No. 11 in the nation with 38.6 points per game and No. 17 in total offense with 466.9 yards per game in Ludwig’s system.
“He was in strong consideration for the offensive coordinator job at Notre Dame, even attending a hockey game with Marcus Freeman, before his buyout led the Fighting Irish to back off. As a result, he’s back at Utah this year.”
From the archives
Extra points
- Utah college football spring transfer portal tracker (Deseret News)
- Utah football gets commitment from former Florida State, Oregon WR Mycah Pittman (Deseret News)
- LeBron James’ son will play college basketball in the Pac-12 (Deseret News)
- Here’s when Utah NFL rookies get their 1st taste of an NFL practice (Deseret News)
- Former Utah gymnast Lucy Stanhope transferring to Nebraska (Deseret News)
Fanalyst
I have to agree, coach Ludwig runs an entertaining scheme for the fans to watch, and a difficult one for the opponent to defend.
Took a minute for KW to fully trust the offense, before turning things over to Lud to be fully in charge and not have to be so run heavy oriented.
— KimmyP
There is no way Mathews is his listed height of 6-foot. He looks like Covey out there, size wise.
He has great hands, is dynamic and very fast. I like the comp of Covey, but he has a long way to go to match what Covey did.
Here’s to hoping he even comes close.
— ArizonaUte
I would not be surprised if they shorten the game with these approved changes, only to see the game last just as long with even more commercials inserted, all in the name of profits.
This best thing they could do for the game is reduce the number and length of media timeouts. They should do the same for basketball games.
—Wilderpeople
Up next
May 11 | 11 a.m. | Softball | vs. California | @Tucson, Arizona | Pac-12 Tournament Page
May 12 | 6 p.m. | Baseball | vs. Cal Poly | @Salt Lake City | Utah Live Stream
May 13 | 12:30 p.m. | Lacrosse | vs. Notre Dame | @South Bend, Indiana | ESPNU
May 13 | 2 p.m. | Baseball | vs. Cal Poly | @Salt Lake City | Utah Live Stream
May 14 | 1 p.m. | Baseball | vs. Cal Poly | @Salt Lake City | Utah Live Stream
