Breitmann Tuning » best event is the balance beam, a 45-second test

SALT LAKE CITY -- Utah continued its early-season onslaught Friday with its third consecutive 40-plus point win.Lorenzo Bonam scored 19 points as the Utes rolled over a weary Coppin State team 94-51. Utah has now won its first three games by a combined 130 points.Its a tough stretch for those guys and they didnt have a whole lot in the way of legs, Utah coach Larry Krystkowiak said. Were just trying to learn how to respect the game regardless of who it is were playing. And the price of pokers going to go up.The energy and effort, that type of thing has been there for us. Now weve got to combine that with quite a bit more complicated scouting report, be able to engage the brain and body and everything at the same time. Thatll be a challenge for us.The Utes opened the game with a 19-3 run and never looked back as their 3-point shooters had their best stretch of the season. Utah shot 64.3 percent from behind the arc in the first half, including three triples apiece from Parker Van Dyke and Jake Connor. Van Dyke matched his career high with 15 points.On the flip side, Coppin State seemed gassed from the beginning as it played its third game in three nights. The Eagles shot just 26.9 percent from the field in the first half, making it impossible to keep up with the dead-eye Utes.Utah transfer JoJo Zamora scored a season-high 22. The Utes connected on a season-high 12 3-pointers.Coppin State has played five games in eight days, all in different cities. The Eagles also wrapped up their third consecutive game in three nights -- Coastal Carolina, BYU and Utah. All three games were 30-plus point losses.Tre Thomas, Dejuan Clayton and Keith Shivers scored a team-high 10 apiece for Coppin State.These are going to be life experiences for these guys, Coppin State coach Michael Grant said. You have to prepare yourself mentally every single day. Every time you step out here on the floor, you have to be ready to play. We havent been getting that.We have to look in the mirror. They have to assess where they are and find a way to grind this thing out because the road is not going anywhere. The schedule is not going anywhere. This is the hand were dealt.BIG PICTURECoppin State: The Eagles are in the money-making portion of their season, traveling the country for paydays against more talented programs. The conference season is what matters for Coppin State and it doesnt start MEAC play until January.Utah: The Utes continue to use the early part of the season to grow a roster with just two significant contributors from last season. The first half was their best 20 minutes of the season, but the level of competition didnt allow for a good feel of Utahs progress.NEW STARTERUtah forward Tyler Rawson started the first game of his Utes career after transferring from Salt Lake Community College. Rawson has been the second-leading scorer through the first two games and had six points, a game-high 12 rebounds and six assists Friday. Jayce Johnson moved to the bench and Krystkowiak said it wasnt a punishment, but Johnson has had some mental breakdowns in games.Im going to be mixing some stuff up, probably, throughout the course of the year, Krystkowiak said. Tylers had some good practice, thats been another factor. Starting doesnt mean much to me.UP NEXTCoppin State: The Eagles travel to play Ball State on Monday as part of 11 of 12 games on the road to start the season.Utah: The Utes continue their early, soft nonconference schedule when they host UC Riverside on FridayCustom Colorado Rockies Nike Jerseys .J. Jefferson has been charged with assaulting his girlfriend. Custom Chicago White Sox Nike Jerseys . Robredo, ranked No. 16, bounced back from an upset loss to Leonardo Mayer in the second round of the Royal Guard Open in Chile last week to down Carreno Busta in 1 hour, 25 minutes. On a day filled mostly with qualifying matches, fifth-seeded Marcel Granollers of Spain also entered the second with a 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 win over Aljaz Bedene of Slovenia, while Guido Pella of Argentina defeated Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain 7-6 (6), 6-4 to advance. https://www.custombaseballnikejerseys.com/?tag=custom-pittsburgh-pirates-nike-jerseys . The Court of Arbitration for Sport ruling "puts an end to my dreams of being a top player," the 27-year-old Troicki said in a statement. "I worked my entire life for it, and it has been taken away from me in one afternoon by a doctor I didnt know," said Troicki, whose ranking peaked at No. Custom Cleveland Indians Nike Jerseys . Westbrook has missed 27 games since having a procedure on Dec. 27 to deal with swelling in his injured right knee — the third operation on the knee in nine months. Custom Nike Baseball Jerseys 2020 . First off, the fans ripped the Cubbies introduction of a fuzzy new kid-friendly mascot named "Clark".SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Simone Biles wouldnt let herself believe it. Not until she heard from national team coordinator Martha Karolyi, even if the Olympic dream she had been chasing for most of her life was locked down long ago.So the three-time world champion waited for Karolyi to call her name late Sunday night at the end of an emotionally draining Olympic Gymnastics Trials.It didnt matter that Biles spot was already secure after capturing the all-around, extending a long streak that shows no signs of abating. Biles needed to hear Karolyi say the words.Its very unreal, Biles said. Im sure it will hit me.The 19-year-old pegged as the next It Girl when the Rio Games begin next month has about three weeks to deal. It shouldnt be a problem. Modesty aside, she has been preparing for this moment since she turned her first back handspring.Besides, after what she and the rest of the five-woman team endured over the weekend, what awaits in Rio doesnt seem so tough.A lot of athletes say the Olympic trials is the hardest part and once you get to the Olympics its autopilot, Biles said. You turn on a switch and you go.Thats something Karolyi is counting on. She relied on equal parts experience and potential while putting together a squad expected to come home with copious amounts of hardware.Biles will be joined by defending Olympic champion Gabby Douglas, three-time Olympic medalist Aly Raisman and newcomers Madison Kocian and Laurie Hernandez to form a team that will arrive in Brazil as the gymnastics equivalent of the Dream Team that Michael Jordan led to basketball gold 24 years ago, long before any members of this Team USA were born.Ashton Locklear, Ragan Smith and MyKayla Skinner will be the alternates after getting through what Karolyi called one of the most difficult selection processes of her remarkable career.Karolyi jotted down a list when the process began months ago, the same one she presented Sunday night. While there was temptation to change it -- particularly as Douglas struggled to regain the form that made her a champion in London -- she never did.When you really put everything, you put down what lineup you have for the team and what will be [in the finals], we still felt, all of us on the selection committee, that this is the best combination, Karolyi said.A combination that includes Douglas, who hopped off the beam during both rounds at trials and has openly talked about her sagging confidence. The 20-year-old adjusted her coaching staff between last months national championships and the trials, a move Karolyi said caused confusion in Douglas training.There will be no confusion when Douglas arrives to work out with the national team in Texas later this week. Karolyi will be in charge, and she will expect Douglas to respond as she did last fall, when she shook off sluggish preparations to ccapture silver at the 2015 world championships behind Biles.ddddddddddddIf we put Gabby in regimented training with daily planning and daily assignments and training plans, shell see improvement just like we did last year, Karolyi said. Thats why she made the team even with the mistakes she had in the competition.Ultimately it was the event that helped Douglas first catch Karolyis eye years ago -- the uneven bars -- that made her the first Olympic champion to return for the next Games since Romanias Nadia Comaneci in 1980. Douglas was seventh in the all-around, but her two-day total of 30.350 on bars was third-best at the trials behind Kocian and Locklear and her ability on other events gives Karolyi flexibility.Its heady territory to be sure, though it didnt always feel like it for Douglas. She took a moment to compose herself at the end of a nomadic quadrennium that saw her become a star and bounce across the country from Iowa to Los Angeles, back to Iowa and then Ohio in search of a gym.It was close, definitely, and thats always going to be in the back of my mind, Douglas said. I feel like thats really going to motivate me to push in the gym and really work hard, and no matter what Im not giving up.The Americans havent lost a major international competition in six years, the gap between themselves and the rest of the world hardening along the way. Anything less than sending Karolyi into retirement with gold would be a Miracle On Ice-level upset.The only real drama heading into the final night of trials centered on who would join Biles. The precocious 16-year-old Hernandez, who admits shes too naive to know any better, continued her rapid ascension to perhaps the best threat to Biles long run at the top. Her best event is the balance beam, a 45-second test of nerves that she treats like a workout on the beach. Her score of 15.7 is gold-medal worthy if she can repeat it in Rio.Raismans spot ended a remarkable resurgence in recent months. She had a forgettable performance at the world championships last fall -- failing to make an individual event final -- and seemed to be in the middle of the pack as recently as March.Not anymore. The 22-year-old -- nicknamed Grandma as the oldest member of the team -- stormed her way through two run-up events to trials and kept it going Sunday night.Kocian, a world champion on uneven bars, rode the strength of a 15.9 on Sunday night to give herself just enough breathing room over Locklear.There were tears in the aftermath as the team celebrated in a sea of confetti. They did their best to enjoy the moment, but they are aware the real test awaits.I think we can all get better, Biles said. I know I can get better. Im saving it for Rio. ' ' '