Dec. 19, 2000

By PRESTON TRUMAN
Standard-Examiner staff

SALT LAKE CITY - Going into the season, the Utes knew someone -- anyone -- would have to step up and take a leadership/go-to guy roll. Usually, that's an easy process for a team, as returning seniors step in and act like they own everything from the arena to their younger teammates' shoe strings.

But it hasn't worked out that way for the University of Utah. They do have one returning senior, gentle-giant Nate Althoff, but one of the Utes' cheerleaders is more likely to demand the ball in a late-game situation than the 6-foot-11 center.

During the exhibition season, coach Rick Majerus was hoping Althoff would become more vocal with teammates in nearly every aspect, from teaching them the offense to where the eating hot-spots are on the road. But he hasn't, and acting coach Dick Hunsaker pulled him from the starting lineup after the Utes' Dec. 9 loss to Weber State.

"Nate's a nice guy, he really is, but he's not leader material," Majerus said of Althoff, who's averaging nine points and just 2.9 rebounds a game, before leaving the team to lose weight and rehab his knee in Las Vegas.

"We rely on Nate's leadership and, frankly, we haven't seen enough of that," Hunsaker said.

So the search began. Many looked to junior guard/forward Jeff Johnsen (9.4 ppg), or his younger brother, sophomore forward Britton Johnsen (6.3 ppg, 4.4 rpg).

Jeff's play, however, has been sporadic and he, along with Althoff, was pulled from the starting lineup for the first time this season after the Weber State loss. Britton is looking better all the time, but he, too, plays inconsistent and is still looking like a guy who just got off his mission.

Duke transfer Chris Burgess (7.4 ppg, 5.8 rpg), who plays some forward and started at center last game against Washington State, could be a good candidate, but his gut and his lack of rebounding have held him back. So has the fact that Majerus has picked him to be 2000's version of Ute Whipping Boy.

Then you have junior college transfer point guard Kevin Bradley, but the fact that he likes to shoot like a shooting guard hasn't sat well with his coaches or teammates. He says he doesn't know the Utes' motion offense well enough to pass, but no one is buying that.

That leaves the quiet, confident, unselfish Phil Cullen, who talks to the media after each game like he really likes it, and that also helps his chances. The lanky 6-9, 215-pound junior forward from Chelan, Wash., is averaging 11.8 points and 4.7 rebounds per game. That's nice, but so is the fact he takes his shots within the offense and his teammates like playing with him.

The coaches dig him, too, and are even starting to call him their leader.

"He's playing fearless. He's a guy who knows how to get shots in the motion and in the flow," Hunsaker said of Cullen, who started last game against the Cougars and scored a career-high 21 points after coming off the bench the three previous games. "There's no question he's turned into a team leader."

Riding the Waves (hopefully)

The Utes (5-4) next game is at 8 tonight (KJZZ-TV) against the Pepperdine Waves (6-3) in lovely Southern California.

The two teams haven't played since the Waves defeated the Utes 92-88 in the 1979 NCAA Tournament. The series record is tied 1-1. The Waves return two starters and seven letterwinners from last year's squad that went 25-9 overall and won the West Coast Conference title with a 12-2 record.

Pepperdine, which is averaging seven more turnovers per game then its opponents this season, is coming off a 55-53 win over Northwestern at home on Saturday, where they are 4-0 this season. Three players are scoring at least 10 points a game for the Waves, led by 6-4 junior guard Brandon Armstrong at 16.9 points per game.

Hunsaker, for one, likes playing on the road, but who could blame him? It's Southern California in December.

"We've played well on the road," he said. "We play with a lot of cohesiveness -- a lot of spit and fire and vinegar on the road, frankly more than we have at home. If we play that way at Pepperdine, it should help energize us."

While Rick is away ...

It's the same drill for members of the media after every Utah game: A member of the sports information office asks which players we want to speak to after the game.

Usually we laugh, because, well, while there are 14 players on the Ute roster, there are only about four players who are allowed by Majerus to speak to the media: returning players Jeff Johnsen, Althoff, Mike Puzey and Cullen.

So even if newcomers Travis Spivey or Bradley or Burgess have a good game, they can't talk about it. It would normally take a Supreme Court-order to get Majerus to lift the no-talk rule.

But ever since the Utes' weekend in Puerto Rico -- their first games without Majerus -- pretty much every member of the team has been made available to the media. Good for us -- good for them. But what does Majerus think? Who knows.

Mike Lageschulte, Utah's sports information director, said Majerus gave him some "basic guidelines" for who he could and couldn't let speak to the media while the big man was away in Vegas bettering his knee.

So either Majerus all of a sudden didn't care when he went away, or Lageschulte is taking those "basic guidelines" and stretching them a little bit.

Anyway, enjoy the quotes from the fresh-faced ones while you can. Who knows how long it will last.

One and counting

The Utes may have had their nation-leading 54-home game winning streak snapped by in-state rival Weber State Dec. 9, but neither that nor the holiday blues were eating at sophomore Britton Johnsen after Utah's 87-63 win over Washington State Saturday night.

"We're up to one," he said rather emphatically for a one-game streak. "Hopefully, by my senior year, we can break that record. We probably won't because we won't play that many games ... unless I redshirt or something."

After the trouble he's had getting back in basketball shape after missing two years to serve an LDS mission, you'd think the last thing Johnsen would want to do was sit out another year. Plus, the chances of the Utes winning the rest of their games at home this season are about as good Majerus getting out of Las Vegas any lighter then when he entered it.