The Old Oquirrh Bucket (named after the

Oquirrh Mountains The Oquirrh Mountains ( ) is a mountain range that runs north–south for approximately 30 miles (50 km) to form the west side of Utah's Salt Lake Valley, separating it from Tooele Valley. The range runs from northwestern Utah County– ...

to the west of

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...

, as well as the famous Old Oaken Bucket) is the symbol of in-state

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

supremacy in Utah, United States. Every year from 1974 to 2010, the trophy was awarded to the in-state college team (

University of Utah The University of Utah (the U, U of U, or simply Utah) is a public university, public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret (Book of Mormon), Deseret by the General A ...

(U of U),

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU) is a Private education, private research university in Provo, Utah, United States. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is the flagship university of the Church Educational System sponsore ...

(BYU),

Utah State University Utah State University (USU or Utah State) is a public university, public land grant colleges, land-grant research university with its main campus in Logan, Utah, United States. Founded in 1888 under the Morrill Land-Grant Acts as Utah's federal ...

(USU),

Weber State University Weber State University (pronounced ) is a public university in Ogden, Utah, United States. It was founded in 1889 as Weber Stake Academy and earned its current name in 1991. As of fall 2023, the student population reached 30,536 students, cons ...

(WSU),

Utah Valley University Utah Valley University (UVU) is a public university in Orem, Utah, United States. UVU offers master's, bachelor's, associate degrees, and certificates. Previously called Utah Valley State College, the school attained university status in July ...

(UVU), and

Southern Utah University Southern Utah University (SUU) is a public university in Cedar City, Utah, United States. Founded in 1897 as a normal school, Southern Utah University now has over 1,800 graduates each year with baccalaureate and other graduate degrees from its ...

(SUU)) that had the best win–loss record against in-state competition. In 1974, a proposal was presented to create a trophy—a symbol to be awarded annually to Utah's best college basketball team. The concept was accepted and for the first two years the in-state title was awarded to the USU Aggies, although no actual trophy had been determined. In 1977, after Weber State won the title for the first time, an Ogden businessman located a pioneer bucket at a local auction, complete with a history of how it had been found. It became the traveling trophy emblematic of Utah college basketball supremacy.Utah State Basketball Media Guide, 1988 The plaque on the bucket includes a map with the names and locations of the four original schools (BYU, U of U, USU, and WSU or WSC for Weber State College). SUU and UVU did not field Division I basketball programs at the time the trophy was created, but have since become members of the NCAA Division I. The plaque includes the caption "The Oquirrh Bucket Utah State Collegiate Champ Basketball". Utah (U of U) has won the bucket 14 times, followed by Utah State (USU) and Brigham Young (BYU) with nine victories each, and Weber State (WSU) with four. Neither of the other two schools have ever won the award. On November 15, 2010, it was announced that the trophy would be retired, due to the recent changes in conference alignments (Utah leaving the Mountain West for the

Pac-12 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States. It participates at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level for all sports, and its football teams compete in the Football Bowl ...

, BYU leaving the Mountain West for the

West Coast Conference The West Coast Conference (WCC) — known as the California Basketball Association from 1952 to 1956 and then as the West Coast Athletic Conference until 1989 — is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with NCAA Division I consisting o ...

) and changes in scheduling of games among the in-state schools. The Old Oquirrh Bucket was last won by Utah State in both 2008–09 and 2009–10, and will be donated by Utah State University to the Utah Sports Hall of Fame.

Oquirrh Bucket history

References

{{Weber State Wildcats men's basketball navbox College basketball rivalry trophies in the United States Utah Utes men's basketball Utah State Aggies men's basketball BYU Cougars men's basketball Weber State Wildcats men's basketball Utah Valley Wolverines men's basketball Southern Utah Thunderbirds men's basketball