Women’s Basketball
Utah Places Three on Preseason Pac-12 Team Ute women picked to win the Pac-12 Conference for the first time as a league member
Utah is led by head coach Lynne Roberts who is entering her ninth season. She was named the 2023 Pac-12 Coach of the Year. She led the Utes to its first ever regular season title and followed that up with its third Sweet 16 appearance in school history. She was named a Naismith Coach of the Year top four finalist. Utah placed three on the Pac-12 Preseason All-Conference Team with Pili and Kneepkens earning unanimous preseason all-conference honors and Jenna Johnson earning an honorable mention. Pili, a senior from Anchorage, Alaska, was named Pac-12 Player of the Year, becoming the first player in program history to earn this honor. She earned Pac-12 All-Conference honors last year. Pili is the first player in Utah history to earn WBCA All-American honors as well as USBWA and AP Second Team All-America honors.
The Utah women’s basketball team was picked first in both the Pac-12 Coaches and Media Polls. This is the first time in the Pac-12 Era Utah has been picked first. Utah earned seven first-place votes and 116 total points in the coaches poll, and 12 first-place votes and 298 points in the media poll. The Utes are coming off a historic 2022-23 season including a Pac-12 regular season title and an NCAA Sweet 16 appearance. The Utes posted an undefeated 16-0 record in the Huntsman Center during 2022-23. Utah finished 2022-23 with a record of 27-5, tying for the second-most wins in a season in program history (28-4 in 2000-01; 27-5 in
2007-08; 27-7 in 2005-06). Utah is returning all of last year’s starting five including, All- American and Pac-12 Player of the Year, Alissa Pili as well as All- American Gianna Kneepkens. Utah welcomes three transfers (Matyson Wilke, Alyssa Blanck and Samantha Crispe) and two true freshmen (Daniela Falcon Hernandez and Reese Ross) to this year’s squad. Utah ended the season the nation’s No. 4 scoring team and ranked in the top 10 nationally in five major statistical categories. Utah was ranked for 13 consecutive weeks in the AP Top 10 during 2022-23 and was ranked in the AP Poll 19 consecutive weeks
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CRIMSON CLUB MAGAZINE OCTOBER 2023
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