1977–78 Utah Utes men's basketball team

1977–78 Utah Utes men's basketball
1977–78 Utah Utes men's basketball
NCAA tournament, Sweet Sixteen
Conference	Western Athletic Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 18
AP	No. 14
Record	23–6 (12–2 WAC)
Head coach	Jerry Pimm (4th season);
Home arena	Special Events Center

1977–78 WAC men's basketball standings
	Conf.				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 12 New Mexico	13	–	1	.929	24	–	4	.857
No. 14	12	–	2	.857	23	–	6	.793
Colorado State	8	–	6	.571	18	–	9	.667
Arizona	7	–	8	.467	15	–	11	.577
BYU	6	–	8	.429	12	–	18	.400
Arizona State	6	–	9	.400	13	–	14	.481
Wyoming	3	–	11	.214	12	–	15	.444
UTEP	2	–	12	.143	10	–	16	.385

Rankings from AP Poll^[1]

The 1977–78 Utah Utes men's basketball team represented the University of Utah as a member of the Western Athletic Conference during the 1977–78 college basketball season. The team was led by head coach Jerry Pimm, and played their home games at the Special Events Center in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Roster

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown
F	5	Jeff Judkins	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	235 lb (107 kg)	Sr	Salt Lake City, Utah
F	23	Danny Vranes	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	205 lb (93 kg)	Fr	Salt Lake City, Utah
F/C	42	Tom Chambers	6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)	225 lb (102 kg)	Fr	Ogden, Utah

Head coach

Jerry Pimm (Southern California)

Assistant coach(es)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on

Injured
Current redshirt

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular season
Dec 1, 1977*		Loyola Marymount	W 85–77	1–0	Special Events Center Salt Lake City, Utah
Dec 3, 1977*	No. 20	USC	W 93–67	2–0	Special Events Center Salt Lake City, Utah
Dec 9, 1977*	No. 14	Kent State	W 50–47	3–0	Special Events Center Salt Lake City, Utah
Feb 23, 1978*		No. 5 New Mexico	W 95–92	20–5 (10–2)	Special Events Center Salt Lake City, Utah
Feb 25, 1978		UTEP	W 68–52	21–5 (11–2)	Special Events Center Salt Lake City, Utah
Mar 4, 1978	No. 19	BYU	W 81–74	22–5 (12–2)	Special Events Center Salt Lake City, Utah
NCAA tournament
Mar 12, 1978*	No. 14	vs. Missouri First round	W 86–79 ^{2OT^[2]}	23–5	Levitt Arena Wichita, Kansas
Mar 17, 1978*	No. 14	vs. No. 6 Notre Dame Midwest Regional Semifinal – Sweet Sixteen	L 56–69^[3]	23–6	Allen Fieldhouse Lawrence, Kansas
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. MW=Midwest.

^[4]^[5]

Rankings

^[6]

References

^ sports-reference.com 1977-78 Western Athletic Conference Season Summary
^ "DePaul, Utah Win". The New York Times. March 13, 1978. Retrieved August 5, 2023.
^ "Notre Dame and DePaul Reach Final in Midwest". The New York Times. March 18, 1978. Retrieved August 5, 2023.
^ "1977–78 Utah Utes Schedule and Results". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com.
^ "1977-78 Men's Basketball Schedule". University of Utah Athletics. Retrieved August 5, 2023.
^ ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia. Random House. 2009. pp. 846–847. ISBN 978-0-345-51392-2.

[1] sports-reference.com 1977-78 Western Athletic Conference Season Summary

[2] "DePaul, Utah Win". The New York Times. March 13, 1978. Retrieved August 5, 2023.

[3] "Notre Dame and DePaul Reach Final in Midwest". The New York Times. March 18, 1978. Retrieved August 5, 2023.

[4] "1977–78 Utah Utes Schedule and Results". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com.

[5] "1977-78 Men's Basketball Schedule". University of Utah Athletics. Retrieved August 5, 2023.

[ESPN-6] ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia. Random House. 2009. pp. 846–847. ISBN 978-0-345-51392-2.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

Utah Utes men's basketball
Venues	Deseret Gymnasium (19??–1939) Nielsen Fieldhouse (1939–1969) Jon M. Huntsman Center (1969–present)
Rivalries	BYU In-state Utah schools
Culture & lore	Gambling scandal Swoop
People	Head coaches NBA players Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
NCAA national championship in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics