Utah’s Alissa Pili (35) fights for management of the basketball with LSU’s LaDazhia Williams (0) within the first half of a Candy 16 faculty basketball sport of the NCAA Match in Greenville, S.C., Friday, March 24, 2023. Mic Smith, Related Press
It didn’t take coach Lynne Roberts or any of her gamers lengthy to start out speaking about subsequent yr after the Utah ladies’s basketball group fell 66-63 to LSU in a Candy 16 sport Friday afternoon in South Carolina.
And for good motive.
The silver lining within the No. 2 seeded Utes’ heartbreaking and season-ending loss to the Tigers is that Utah must be even higher subsequent yr, as a result of there aren't any seniors on Roberts’ roster.
“It isn't a gaggle of people. It's the sum of the elements. So that's thrilling, and we are going to add some (gamers). Now we have some nice freshmen signed and we will likely be higher. I can assure you that. We will likely be higher subsequent yr.” — Utah ladies’s basketball coach Lynne Roberts.
In fact, no group in faculty sports activities is secure from attrition, what with the switch portal seemingly so interesting to many gamers, so there's at all times the possibility that some key items from the group that received a Pac-12 co-championship with Stanford and was ranked as excessive as No. 3 within the nation will transfer on.
However in her postgame remarks at Bon Secours Wellness Enviornment, Roberts spoke as if she expects each participant of significance to return, calling the Utes “tight,” “bought-in” and hungry to enhance.
“I'm extremely happy with my group, the season that we had. I simply advised them there isn't any different locker room I might reasonably be in, the best way they compete, the best way they struggle, but additionally, possibly essentially the most, the best way they conduct themselves,” Roberts mentioned.
“That is simply an unbelievable group that represents the College of Utah so nicely. It's an honor to be their coach. … We had an incredible season.”
Roberts mentioned what set this group aside, and what made them so profitable, is that there was no selfishness or gamers enjoying for their very own particular person glory.
Positive, they'd a celebrity in Pac-12 Participant of the 12 months Alissa Pili and a blossoming celebrity in All-Pac-12 performer Gianna Kneepkens, however these Utes weren’t a one-trick pony, she mentioned.
They shouldn’t be a one-year marvel, both. The bar has been set. Something lower than a Closing 4 look subsequent yr may very well be seen as a disappointment.
That’s a testomony to how a lot expertise Roberts has recruited.
“It isn't a gaggle of people. It's the sum of the elements. So that's thrilling, and we are going to add some (gamers),” Roberts mentioned. “Now we have some nice freshmen signed and we will likely be higher. I can assure you that. We will likely be higher subsequent yr.”
Talking of which, the Utes, who completed with a 27-5 file, received’t be capable to sneak up on anyone subsequent yr, and fairly doubtless will likely be picked to win the Pac-12 in preseason polls, after being picked to complete fifth this previous yr.
“Yeah, it's exhausting to consider it proper now, however that's one thing we will stay up for, is being with one another in the summertime and getting higher,” Kneepkens mentioned. “It's positively thrilling (to consider) the longer term and we are going to get some new women as nicely.”
Kneepkens, beginning ahead Jenna Johnson, beginning guard Kennady McQueen, backup put up participant Kelsey Rees and backup level guard Ines Vieira are all sophomores, that means the Utes must be good for not less than two extra years.
Pili has mentioned she plans to return for a fifth yr subsequent yr, making the most of the additional yr introduced on by COVID-19 altering the 2020-21 season. Backup ahead Peyton McFarland, ahead Dasia Younger and place to begin guard Issy Palmer — the unsung hero of this group, in a manner — will all be seniors.
Freshmen Teya Sidberry and Lani White had been spectacular once they bought their alternatives to play on a stacked roster.
Final November, the Utes signed the No. 1 ranked participant in South Dakota, 6-foot ahead Reese Ross, and Daniela Hernandez, a 6-2 ahead.
“We will’t wait to get them right here,” Roberts mentioned final November.
As for the rise of Kneepkens, who nearly single-handedly introduced Utah again Friday after LSU had taken an eight-point lead with lower than 4 minutes remaining, Roberts mentioned the native of Duluth, Minnesota, is simply going to get higher and higher.
The Pac-12 Freshman of the 12 months in 2022, Kneepkens improved her taking pictures percentages, scoring and rebounding in making the All-Pac-12 First Group together with Pili.
“Every little thing was improved,” Roberts mentioned. “And he or she’s only a sophomore, and some of the pushed, aggressive gamers I've ever coached or been round. She’s simply scratching the floor (of her potential).”
Whereas the Utes’ season is over, some members of the group are nonetheless within the working for some prestigious nationwide awards.
Pili is a finalist for the Wood Award and Ann Drysdale Meyers Award as the highest participant within the nation, together with the Katrina McClain Award as the highest energy ahead.
Kneepkens is considered one of 5 finalists for the Cheryl Miller Award because the nation’s prime small ahead, and Roberts is a finalist for Nationwide Coach of the 12 months honors.
Wanting again, the Utes’ 27 wins ties for the second-most in a season in program historical past. In 2000-01 they went 28-4.
After a spectacular common season, they had been upset by eventual champion Washington State within the Pac-12 match, however recovered properly by scoring a tournament-high (up to now) 103 factors in opposition to Gardner-Webb in a first-round sport.
Friday’s razor-close loss to LSU meant the Utes completed 6-4 in opposition to ranked groups this season.