No offense to the rest of the Mountain West, but Tyler Kepkay is going to be very hard to impress on the court this season.

That's because Kepkay, Utah's senior point guard and a native of Vancouver, played for the Canadian National Team in an exhibition game against NBA superstars Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade, Jason Kidd, LeBron James and the rest of the U.S. Olympic Team in Las Vegas this summer.

"The reason he came to Utah is that he wanted to play at a high level," Utes head coach Jim Boylen told the Salt Lake Tribune. "I told him to just embrace the opportunity, don't be fearful of it."

Two other Utah players were also in action in their home countries this summer. Junior guard Luka Drca played for Serbia and junior forward Kim Tillie played for France in the U-20 European Championships this August in Latvia. Tillie averaged 7.8 points and 5.8 rebounds in six games. He had 13 points against Russia and 10 boards against Latvia.

Boylen hopes that competition will pay dividends with a non-conference schedule that includes Oregon, Cal, Gonzaga, LSU and Oklahoma.

All five starters return from last season's 18-win squad, led by 7-2 senior center Luke Nevill. Boylen signed a five-man recruiting class that is accustomed to success, with their teams compiling a combined 116-19 record with two state titles last season.

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