Scott Gleeson

USA TODAY Sports

THE FIRST WORD: All signs point to a breakthrough season in Salt Lake City.

Utah brings back the primary starter at every position from a blossoming squad that went .500 in a deep Pac-12. This includes the return of one of the most underrated guards in the country in Delon Wright and up-and-coming swing forward Jordan Loveridge. Factor in a stellar freshman class, and a tradition-rich fanbase hungry for a return to the national spotlight has much to look forward to.

"It's all on paper," Utah fourth-year coach Larry Krystkowiak said. "I'm optimistic about what we can do. We've got a nice nucleus of guys coming back. But obviously, we've gotta take care of business."

The Utes have experience, size, depth, a likely All-American leader — all key ingredients for a breakthrough season — but Utah's coach wants the excitement level to be tempered. For now.

"Every year you have some teams that don't live up to expectations and then you have teams exceed expectations. We want to keep exceeding expectations," said Krystkowiak, who's attempting to bring the program stability for the first time since the Rick Majerus era.

The Utes were woefully inconsistent last season, highlighted by a 67-63 overtime loss to Arizona on Feb. 19 that preceded a 71-39 blowout loss in the Pac-12 tournament. If the Utes want to overcome the highly-touted Wildcats and other league contenders like Colorado (which split with the Utes last season) and Stanford (which beat the Utes by one last season), they'll have to grow up and find ways to close out games, particularly on the road where they went 2-9.

2013-14 IN REVIEW: 21-12 overall, 9-9 in Pac-12 (tied for 8th place).

PATH TO THE DANCE: Pac-12 at-large bid.

PROJECTED TOURNEY SEED: No. 8 seed.

NON-CONFERENCE SCHEDULE GRADE: A-. See full schedule here.

The Utes had an ugly non-conference schedule rating of 341 last season, which didn't give them a chance of being in the NCAA tourney conversation. It's a much different look this season with tests at San Diego State, BYU, Kansas and UNLV. Plus a home clash with Wichita State. A night-and-day improvement.

TEAM BREAKDOWN: See full roster here.

STAR WATCH: Wright (15.5 ppg, 6.8 rpg, 4.8 apg) is a legitimate Pac-12 Player of the Year candidate after putting the NBA draft on hold. He's highly versatile on offense, scoring with athletic moves and a strong pull-up jumper. But it's his defense that gets overlooked. Wright led the Pac-12 in steals (2.5 spg) last season.

Loveridge (14.7 ppg, 7.0 rpg) had a fantastic junior season, but there were games where he wasn't a factor. He had seven games with 20 points or more and six games in single digits, including a 2-point performance in Utah's Pac-12 Tournament loss to Arizona. Consistency will be key for 2014-15.

X-FACTOR: Brandon Taylor (10.6 ppg, 3.1 apg). The combo guard gets overshadowed by Wright and Loveridge but he's a highly-accurate three-point shooter (40%) who can also create for teammates. At 5-10, he makes up for his size with speed and energy, while complementing Wright so well.

KEY NEWCOMER: Brekkott Chapman. He was the top prospect out of the state of Utah (ranked top 50 nationally via ESPN), turning down offers from Arizona and Gonzaga to stay in-state. The 6-8 power forward should make an immediate impact.

TEAM STRENGTH/WEAKNESS: This will be the most experienced squad in the Pac-12. Lots of depth and size will give Utah a serious advantage, but the Utes need to be more aggressive rebounding. The way Krystkowiak sees it, this team shouldn't lose a rebounding battle all season.

Whereas the Utes were often playing undersized last season (3s playing 4s or 4s playing 5s), that shouldn't be the case in 2014-15. Kyle Kuzma, a 6-9 power forward who sat out last year, and Jakon Poeltl, a 7-foot freshman from Australia, add depth to an already massive frontcourt — 7-foot center Dallin Bachynski (6.8 ppg 4.9 rpg) and 6-10 big man Jeremy Olsen (5.2 ppg) shared minutes in the middle last season. Chris Reyes, a 6-7 transfer from Saint Mary's, also adds depth in the frontcourt.

Role players will be a huge factor in this team's success. Dakarai Tucker (6.8 ppg, 39% three) is expected to take on an increased role in the backcourt and is one of the main reasons the Utes could lead the Pac-12 in field-goal percentage after ranking 14th nationally last season at 49%.

FUN FACT: Utah is one of two schools to have the No. 1 NFL and NBA draft picks (Oklahoma being the other) and the only school to have them in the same year (Andrew Bogut and Alex Smith in 2005).

BASICS: The University of Utah is located in Salt Lake City, Utah and the Utes play their home games in the Jon M. Huntsman Center, which opened in 1969 and seats 15,000.

About this post: Every week day for the next three months, one of the 68 teams in USA TODAY Sports' projected field will be dissected. In November, the final bracket will be revealed.