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The starting lineup for Utah basketball is just the way Larry Krystkowiak likes it:

A bit murky.

Utah's coach explained after the team's 98-38 exhibition win over Pacific (Ore.) that he's going to be a bit enigmatic about starters this year.

Last week, the Utes started Jakob Poeltl, Chris Reyes and Kenneth Ogbe along with Delon Wright and Jordan Loveridge, but that might change.

Even toward the end of Monday's practice, as Poeltl, Reyes and Brandon Taylor appeared to be running together with Wright and Loveridge, Krystkowiak cautioned reading into it.

"It's flexible," Krystkowiak said. "I haven't decided who is going to start yet."

It's perhaps a tough meritocracy to leave the starting lineup open week by week, but it's a system the coaching staff is comfortable with when it comes to the team's depth. Krystkowiak compared to dangling a carrot out as a reward for strong weeks in practice.

Senior Dallin Bachynski said the players can respect that.

"Nothing's set in stone," he said. "I think one thing that could be set in stone is Delon starting, just because of the player that he is. But coach is gonna put the best player on the floor, whoever that might be."

One of the most flexible positions appears to be at the five-spot, where Poeltl, a freshman, is making a strong case to start with his length and fluid offensive skill set. The upperclassmen, Bachynski and Jeremy Olsen, can throw their weight around and bang in the post more.

Even between Bachynski and Olsen, there are stylistic differences that make them believe that everybody has a role to play this season. Poeltl may start some games even to get an advantage with jump balls — the margin is pretty thin.

Besides, Bachynski said, "Jakob's a good player, I'm excited to see what he can do," he said

"The more minutes he can play against those teams, the better. He's got to get used to the college game."

Focus on Ball State

You won't hear much talk about Ball State's five wins last year, or how the Cardinals are expected to start several true freshmen.

Nope. Ball State's a good team, Krystkowiak said, and they're being taken seriously.

"They've got some good players," he said.

The two-for-one series was scheduled originally, Krystkowiak said, out of respect for Rick Majerus' history as a head coach there. It was seen as a way to connect to that past.

But current coach James Whitford has ties to another Pac-12 school: Arizona. He was a long time disciple of Sean Miller for the Wildcats and Xavier, and he's familiar with staring down high-level competition.

Utah has its own goals from its exhibition: rebound better and stick to its defensive principles, Bachynski said. On offense, they want to get a little more accustomed to executing plays correctly.

"There was a lot of times when the plays broke down that it ended up becoming, 'let's just beat my guy one-on-one,'" Bachynski said. "We have to do better with that." —

Ball State at Utah

O Friday, 8 p.m.

TV • Pac-12 Network