Of course I'd rather have good players go to a school we play multiple times. I'd rather they go to ANY school in our conference than play for a rival up the street.
And Utah is far from "Passing up," BYU in basketball. 2015 was the first time in 10 years that Utah had a better post-season result than BYU. And we have great recruits coming in. Both programs are looking solid right now, but BYU has a better track-record over the last decade.
By your logic, Georgia State passed Indiana up Florida, Syracuse, and UConn in 2015.
BYU is awesome. It's great academically, amazing in most of the small sports, and despite rigorous self-imposed standards that keep most athletes from even being an option, it stays competitive in football and basketball.