After Offseason Of Significant Change, Craig Smith Is Excited For Utah Basketball

SALT LAKE CITY – Utah Basketball held its first official practice of the 2024-25 season earlier this week.

On Thursday, the Big 12 Conference the finalized conference schedule for its members. At Utah, the media were invited to practice to speak with Craig Smith and get a first look at this season’s squad.

RELATED: Utah Basketball 2024-25 Schedule Complete With Big 12 Dates

Lots of change for Craig Smith and Utah Basketball

“A lot of changes is an understatement, but it’s been awesome, it’s been fantastic,” Craig Smith stated. You know, change can be hard, and you go through a lot of different phases through that. I mean, there was a stretch there that was really interesting,”

All in all, there are 10 new players on the roster, three new assistant coaches, a new general manager, and a couple of new auxiliary members on staff. That’s a significant amount of change from the cohesiveness of the previous couple of years.

“I could have written a book, and I could have written multiple chapters every day,’ he shared. “That’s part of it, you know, change can be hard, but it can be a real blessing as well.”

Utah Men’s 🏀 Head Coach Craig Smith talked about filling out the roster and what the 13 scholarship players means to him… #GoUtes pic.twitter.com/IdwSBd0CMu

— KSL Sports (@kslsports) September 26, 2024

Preparing for the Big 12 Conference

Utah will go through its inaugural season in the Big 12 this year. Even though the Pac-12 was always competitive, the Big 12 has always been viewed as the top conference in the country.

Every conference game is going to be a significant test. Given his coaching experience, Smith knows that a lot is required of him to get this team where it needs to be.

“Every game that we play, I’ve got to coach that game with everything I’ve got,” he stated. “You’ve got to pour everything you’ve got into your players, you pour everything you’ve got into your staff, you pour everything you’ve got into your athletic department, you pour everything you’ve got into your fan base.”

That’s played a big role in the improvements of individuals and the program overall under his watch. There are a number of players that will be counted on to play bigger roles for Utah than maybe they’ve had at previous stops.

“It’s really been invigorating, you know, in a lot of ways,” he said. “It’s been an exciting group to be around, and just a bunch of go-getters, hardworking, great mentality guys, and I’m super excited with where we’re at.”

With 13 scholarship players, Craig Smith likes the depth, versatility of the roster

Stocked with 13 scholarship players and another scholarship-quality player- Caleb Lohner- currently playing football, the roster looks promising.

“I like our depth. I think this is the deepest team we’ve had,” Smith stated. “We had some real depth last year, but we had a series of three different things happen in a short amount of time, and then our depth became, instead of a strength, that became a real weakness.”

With all of the new additions, there are new skills and dynamics to mesh together. Smith likes the potential of the group and the different things they’ll be able to do.

Utah 🏀 has a pretty unique roster with real “tall ball” potential… #GoUtes pic.twitter.com/MibqeISk7M

— KSL Sports (@kslsports) September 26, 2024

“No question this is the most versatile team we’ve had in our time here,” he said. “We can play a lot, a lot of different ways. Going to look a little bit different in what we do, but we adapt and adjust, and there’s so many ways to play the game.”

Throughout his career, Coach Smith has always valued size and length. With the stature of guys up and down the roster, it could lead to an intriguing version of “tall ball” Utah basketball.

“Everywhere we’ve been, we’ve been big,” he said. “Just the way we scheme, the way we do things, more so defensively, when you have size and length it can really impact what you can do. We’re really excited about this group as we head into the Big 12.”

First Impressions of Utah Basketball

After watching practice this afternoon, the size of the roster is a significant dynamic. It is a noticeably impactful dynamic on the defensive side of the floor, which appears will be the calling card of the team this season.

Now, Utah’s big transfer additions like Ezra Ausar, Miro Little, and Mike Sharavjamnts also provide a significant amount of skill on the offensive end. All three are capable of handling the ball and creating offense for others. Those three provide Utah with some unique versatility at their size.

Keanu Dawes is going to be a fascinating player this season. Tremendous combination of size, length, and athleticism which allow him to defend the perimeter effectively, as well as be a force on the glass.

Steve Bartle is the Utah insider for KSL Sports. He hosts The Utah Blockcast (SUBSCRIBE) and appears on KSL Sports Zone to break down the Utes. You can follow him on X for the latest Utah updates and game analysis.

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