The Sports View

By Sun Advocate

The fortunes of sports and how teams, franchises and schools evolve is about as interesting as anything in the sports world.
For instance last year everyone thought that the Utah Jazz would be a pretty good team, while the year before everyone thought they would be lousy.
While it wasn’t quite the reverse it came close. A .500 team the year before with basically mediocre talent (by NBA standards anyway) they surprised everyone and almost got into the playoffs the year after legends John Stockton and Karl Malone left the team.
Last year they fell on their face, and so far this year, even though Larry Miller has opened up his wallet considerably the past two summers, they don’t look to be much better.
But enough about pro sports, where guys like Carlos Boozer can be compared to Malone and then spend the next two years languishing on the bench with injuries. He is no Karl Malone.
The interest in these parts is about the Carbon High boys basketball team.
Yes, I said boys basketball team.
In recent years the girls program has dominated the fall and winter sports at the school (at least in terms of wins). But this year it is the boys who are coming on strong with a 4-0 record so far. After talking with a few people, no one, including me can remember them having such a good start in a long time.
It appears head basketball coach Ted Bianco’s patience is finally paying off. Last year the team began pretty strong, but there were some internal problems that kept them from reaching their potential. This year it appears the players really want to win rather than talk to the referees all the time, a tendency that got some players in trouble with officials last season.
After watching them play Uintah last week, I was impressed by their hustle and defense. They also take pretty good care of the ball this year as well.
The girls team is struggling slightly this season with a 1-2 record so far, but that seems to have more to do with gelling as a team than anything else. Coach Bruce Bean is considered one of the best girls coaches in the state and he will figure things out.
I know I look forward to the possibility of getting to cover both the girls and boys teams at state this year.
This community should be very proud of both these teams and support them as they begin the regular season starting in January.