Larry Krystkowiak’s Comments On BYU Shouldn’t Bother Anyone

By the time you are reading this story, Utah head basketball coach Larry Krystkowiak’s comments about BYU’s “elite-ness” will be old news. I’m assuming nearly every BYU fan has heard what he had to say at this point.

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Here is the quote that has found its way on social media and message boards over and over again:

“I said going into this stretch of five tough games, playing five elite teams, I think, well, four and a half if you count BYU, I guess.”

What a low-life, right? After a big win against the eighth ranked team in the country in Wichita State Coach Krystko (I know some call him Coach K, but come on, we’re not going to give him a nickname like that on this site) goes out of his way to take a shot at BYU. What a jerk.

Okay, but let’s finish the quote:

“Strike that. No, that’s going to be locker room fodder for them, too, because we play them in a week. Dang it.”

Wait, that sort of sounds like a light-hearted joke, doesn’t it? Listen to the comments for yourself and hear for yourself. (h/t to KSL’s Josh Furlong for the video)

I’ve seen people, media and fans of both teams, try to make this quote into bulletin board material for BYU. I’ve seen people say things like, “Utah should learn when to talk after losing 13 of 14 games” and I’ve seen people genuinely upset at these comments.

To these people, I want to refer you to Aaron Rodger’s comments from earlier this year, “R-E-L-A-X.”

There is not a single reason to be mad at what Krystkowiak said. He wasn’t singling players out and he wasn’t saying that BYU is a bad team. He wasn’t talking about how great the Utes are and how he’s going to embarrass BYU in Provo the same way he embarrassed them in Salt Lake City last year. And, frankly, he wasn’t serious.

Had Krystkowiak had said “We play four elite teams, well, four and a half if you count BYU” maybe BYU fans could be upset. Had he not said what he said with a smile on his face then maybe BYU fans could get upset. But he didn’t. He acknowledged that BYU is as elite as teams like San Diego State, Wichita State, Kansas and UNLV and then made a joke.

I love what he said. I think it is fun rivalry banter. It’s the kind of jokes that Ron McBride or LaVell Edwards would have said. It wasn’t malicious and it wasn’t mean-spirited, it was just a casual joke that nobody in the room took seriously. It wasn’t something like team logos in the locker room urinals or refusing to say the opposing team’s name at all. It also wasn’t discrediting the opponent as “just another game” and moving over them like it wasn’t an important game.

As much as BYU fans don’t like to admit it, Utah is a really good basketball team again. The only thing that I think we can read into this comment is that it is Utah’s way of saying, “BYU, we’re coming for you again. Bring you’re A game.”

Wednesday can’t come soon enough. Thank you, Coach Krystko, for doing something that football couldn’t do for me this year; get me excited for a rivalry game.