
UVU junior Blaze Nield directs his crew all through the WAC game from Cal Baptist at the UCCU Centre in Orem on Saturday, Feb, 26, 2022. (Jared Lloyd, Day-to-day Herald)

Utah Valley senior guard Blaze Nield thinks the expression “offseason” is a misnomer.
“We’ve been chaotic, for sure,” the former Lehi High standout reported. “There hasn’t been considerably of an offseason for us. At the finish of the period we straight away began exercise out with bodyweight training and on the court.”
There’s a ton of operate to do for the Wolverines, which concluded 20-12 in 2021-22. The period ended on March 9 with a 2nd-spherical Western Athletic Meeting Tournament reduction to Abilene Christian.
The most important work forward for UVU is replacing 6-foot-11 center Fardaws Aimaq. At the conclude of April, Aimaq made a decision to just take his talents (18.9 details, 13.6 rebounds for each recreation) to Texas Tech.
Summer season workouts for NCAA teams involve eight weeks of 8 hrs for each week, with four hrs in the pounds place and 4 several hours on the courtroom. Ideal now, UVU is changing to getting rid of their massive guy in the middle.
“It’s the just the way we operate things,” Nield said. “I really feel like we’re likely to spread the floor much more and that will give us unique means of attacking the defense. It will make us a minimal far more unpredictable on offense. It is been great for us to operate on figuring out a way to get by devoid of Fardaws. It’s heading to give us a diverse dynamic and we can perform to some unique strengths.”
Nield commenced all 32 game titles at stage guard very last season, foremost the team with 124 assists and 26 steals whilst averaging 6.9 details for every recreation.
“At 1st, I was genuinely working on my body this summer months,” Nield stated. “I needed to get healthful recovering from the extended period. Now I’m concentrating on playmaking and distinctive reads on the select and roll. I’m functioning on my offensive match: Shooting, scoring, ball managing. Its the similar aged talent work but I’m hoping to take it to an additional stage.”
It is Nield’s previous season of eligibility but he programs on graduating this summer time with a diploma in Intercontinental Business enterprise with a small in Spanish.
Second main scorer Justin Harmon (10.9 factors per activity), who missed 11 game titles due to damage, will return. Guard Trey Woodbury, who averaged 15.6 factors for every game two seasons in the past, performed in just two games last year due to a knee harm but he’s rounding into condition this summer.
“Trey has been again and operating out,” UVU mentor Mark Madsen mentioned. “He may well not be at 100 p.c nevertheless but he’s virtually there. He need to be all set by the time the season starts off.”
Madsen also mentioned junior guard Le’Tre Darthard, who made 36% of his 3-pointers final season, is back again and “shooting the leather-based off the ball” in summer months workout routines.
Madsen was most not long ago recruiting at the NBA World wide Games in Atlanta. He’s now introduced some vital transfers to Orem, together with 7-foot Akron centre Aziz Bandaogo, John A. Logan University swingman Cam Alford and Tarleton guard Tahj Compact.
“Aziz is a fantastic defensive player with a powerful offensive activity,” Madsen claimed. “He can also extend out to the mid-array with a great jump hook. He plays hard. Cam experienced a 30-level match as a freshman in junior college. He’s an explosive scorer who can definitely assist us.”
1 of the summertime crew-constructing functions was a home run hitting contest. Nield admitted the Wolverines struggled against the a person of the school’s softball pitchers.
“After she left we strike a couple of,” Nield explained. “The coaching staff hit extra residence runs than the gamers did. But we’re spending extra time with each other and getting made use of to just about every other to target on our feeling of unity. We want to share the ball and perform for every other. I imagine the coaches be expecting me to be a chief and make positive we’re all headed in the identical course.
“Our expectations are high,” Nield ongoing. “This is my previous season and I want to go out there and give it my all. We’re hunting to compete for a conference championship, get the conference match and make it to March Madness. We’re operating tough to appear together though introducing the new items. We’re game preparing on how to assault other teams. We just need to listen to our coaches and execute the video game plan.”




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