With Lynne Roberts at the helm, the Utah Utes women’s basketball program has been a consistent performer in the Pac-12 for nearly a decade.
She and the Utes are coming off a two-season run in which they won a combined 50 games, won a Pac-12 regular season title and made two straight NCAA tournament appearances. Overall, Roberts has won 162 games at Utah, taking the program to three NCAA tournaments and three women’s NIT events.
Moving to the Big 12 won’t be a picnic for Utah, but the Utes are prepared. They’ve played at a high level under Roberts for quite some time and they’ll benefit from the return of a key star they lost to injury early last season. Has she been healthy she, along with Alissa Pili, might have led the Utes deeper into the NCAA Tournament.
Here’s a preview of the Utah Utes’ upcoming season.
Odds
Vegas Insider gave Utah +50000 odds to win the national championship. The Big 12 coaches voted the Utes to finish sixth in the preseason poll.
Three Players to Watch
G Gianna Kneepkens: She was averaging 17.8 points, 5.5 rebounds, 3.85 assists and 2.0 steals in nine games before her injury. She’s been a Pac-12 first-team and Pac-12 all-freshman selection. The Big 12 coaches put her on the preseason team. She’s already one of the best guards in the Big 12 and the season hasn’t started yet.
F Jenna Johnson: The 6-2 forward will be relied upon even more with the departure of Pili to the WNBA. But she was named an All-Pac-12 honorable mention selection twice and last year averaged 8.9 points and 5.6 rebounds. The year before she scored more than 11 points. As a freshman she averaged 12 points per game.
F Mayè Tourè: The Rhode Island transfer should have an immediate impact, whether she’s starting or she’s coming off the bench. Last season she averaged 12.5 points and 7.6 rebounds and has 64 collegiate games under her belt, with 41 starts. At 6-3, she is capable of giving Utah length and rebounding inside.
Biggest Strength
Returning scoring. Losing Pili hurts because she was the Utes’ leading scorer last season and averaged more than 20 points. Utah will get Kneepkens back and she’ll be their leading returning scorer even though she only played nine games. The next four scorers behind her are back too. Guard Kennady McQueen averaged 10.7 points. Johnson has been a double-digit scorer twice in her career. Ines Vieira and Matyson Wilke averaged nearly eight points per game a season ago. Even after losing Pili, the Utes are equipped to be successful.
Biggest Weakness
Uncertainty in the frontcourt. Pili was an absolute force inside, both offensively and defensively. She’s one of those players that is just hard to replace. Having Johnson back helps because she’s proven to be a capable rebounder. Kneepkens also averaged five boards last season. But much of this will fall to Tourè, whether she starts or not. She averaged more than seven rebounds last season with Rhode Island and someone has to step in to fill that role. Even if she’s not a double-digit scorer like she was last season, building on last year’s rebounding total is key.
Season Prediction
There will be an adjustment period without Pili, but this roster is loaded with players that can score and that have played together for multiple years. When you look at the best teams in this conference, those teams the ones that have a roster that has been cohesive and has stuck together for a while. Utah falls into that category. Kneepkens is a Big 12 player of the year-level talent and with her healthy for a full season the Utes can make plenty of noise in this conference. This team looks like a 19-to-21 win team before they get to the Big 12 Tournament.
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.
