Craig Smith, Utah Basketball Excited To Join The Best Men’s Basketball Conference

Oct 23, 2024, 2:02 PM

Utah Insider

SALT LAKE CITY – As the 2024-25 NCAA basketball season draws near, Craig Smith, Gabe Madsen, and Lawson Lovering traveled to Kansas City for Big 12 Media Day.

Smith and his Runnin’ Utes men’s basketball program are preparing for a challenging, yet exciting move to the Big 12 Conference.

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Featuring a revamped roster, Smith has brought in a mix of talented newcomers, including a strong class of transfers, to complement a solid returning core. These new faces will be leaned on heavily to keep Utah competitive in the new Big 12.

Craig Smith, Utah excited about the opportunity in the Big 12

With the transition to the new league for Utah this year, the Runnin’ Utes join the top conference in men’s basketball. For Smith and his players, they’re looking forward to the challenges ahead.

“We’re excited to be a part of the Big 12 Conference,” Craig Smith opened. “Can’t tell you how excited personally I am and our players are super excited to be part of the best men’s basketball conference in the country. We’ve always had the mindset as a program of ‘bring on the competition, so, we’re really excited to be a part of this thing.”

After being picked last in the Big 12 preseason polls, Smith knows they have to earn it in this new league. There is a tremendous increase in the level of competition. Coming off of a year that sent a record-high eight teams to the NCAA Tournament, the Big 12 has six members in the preseason top 25, five of which land in the top 10, ahead of the 2024-25 season.

Each program presents a competitive challenge and the quality of talent is much higher. All of that suggests the Runnin’ Utes have their work cut out for them.

“We’ve got to go earn respect, that’s the bottom line is you’ve got to earn respect and make that happen,” he said. “There’s a lot of work to be done but we’re excited about where we’re going.”

Craig Smith on the newness in the Utah basketball program

After a run to the final four of last year’s NIT, the Utes seemed to have generated serious momentum going into the offseason. However, that changed dramatically over time and ultimately, Utah experienced a massive overhaul as a program.

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Smith has an entirely new coaching staff around him, while he’s also coaching a near-entirely new roster as well. Understandably, Utah was picked last in the preseason polls.

“Obviously, we’re not picked where you want to be picked but there’s nowhere to go but up,” he stated. “We only return 31% of our scoring, and 30% of our minutes played last season, so there’s a lot of newness to our program. We have six new staff members and nine new players in our program, so this is a work in progress but this is an exciting group to be around.”

“I know this is an exciting group to be around, I love coming to the office every day and seeing our coaching staff and our players,” he shared. “I can’t wait to get to practice on a day-to-day basis, because this group is a really highly competitive group. We have a lot of versatility. It’s the deepest team that we’ve had since we’ve been here, and so there’s a lot of things to look forward to.”

Rundown of the transfers Smith, Utah brought in this offseason

Utah added a lot of potential to the roster through the portal. Smith will need to develop and get the most out of his players to earn the sort of respect they desire this season. Here is a rundown of those transfer additions:

Ezra Ausar, is a 6-foot-8, 242-pound forward from East Carolina, averaged 11.4 points and 4.7 rebounds while shooting 51.4% from the field.

Miro Little, a 6-foot-3 and 190-pound, didn’t play much in a crowded Baylor backcourt but will counted on to play a significant role in Utah’s backcourt.

Keanu Dawes, a 6-foot-9, 215-pound forward from Rice, averaged 6.6 points and 4.1 rebounds as a true freshman.

Mike Sharavjamts, a 6-foot-8, 190-pound guard adds unique ability at his size and will contribute a lot at the point guard position for Utah.

Mason Madsen, a 6-foot-4, 193-pound twin brother of star Gabe Madsen, will give Utah another shooter at nearly 38% from 3-point range last season.

Caleb Lohner, a 6-foot-8, 250 pound currently a tight end for the football program, Lohner is expected to join the basketball program after the season.

Utah’s outlook for the 2024-25 season

Entering his fourth year as head coach, Craig Smith has had quite the offseason. Essentially turning over almost the entire program- there are 10 new players, three new assistants, a new general manager, and two other auxiliary staff members, Smith starts anew in 2024-25.

Smith has done well to develop players and maximize their potential. There are a few guys on this roster- Little, Sharavjamts, and Dawes, to name a few, that seem capable of producing more than they have in their careers to this point. That will be another significant factor in Utah’s potential this season.

As the program transitions to the toughest conference in the country, it will be up to Smith and his staff to get the absolute most out of the roster to be competitive in this new league. Taking care of the non-conference slate of the schedule is an absolute must. From there, Utah has to fight for each and every win in conference play.

Utah Basketball’s full 2024-25 schedule

the schedule was recently finalized by the Big 12. That included tip-off and network designations as well. To watch Utah basketball broadcasts this season, they will mostly be found on ESPN+. However, there are seven games that will be broadcast on linear television.