A lot of it has to do with Utah really struggling to get the best local talent. Back when Utah was consistently competitive with BYU in basketball, or better than BYU was when they would sign the Britton Johnsens and Alex Jensens. Those players all to go BYU now and on the local level Utah gets the marginally talented guys BYU isn't interested in or only the players who don't feel like they fit the BYU lifestyle.