Utah Women’s Basketball Earns Two-Seed In NCAA Tournament
Mar 12, 2023, 6:34 PM | Updated: Mar 13, 2023, 1:31 pm
SALT LAKE CITY – Utah women’s basketball is set to host the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament after being named a two-seed Sunday evening.
Despite a disappointing showing at the Pac-12 Tournament a week ago, the Utes have put forth and impressive resume for the 2022-23 season breaking records and making history along the way.
Lynne Roberts and the Utes will now be turning their focus to Gardner-Webb Women’s Basketball as they open March Madness on Friday, March 17 at the Huntsman Center. Tip-off will be determined at a later date.
Utah Women’s Basketball In 2023
Utah women’s basketball finished the regular season ranked No. 8 in the country in the final AP Top 25 Poll. The Utes were ranked as high as No. 3 in the country at one point and finished the year with a 25-4 record.
Utah earned a piece of their first Pac-12 Title after beating No. 3 Stanford and swept the Pac-12 postseason awards with head coach Lynne Roberts earning Coach of the Year, Alissa Pili earning Player of the Year, and Gianna Kneepkens earning first-team All-Pac-12.
Roberts was recently named as a finalist for the Naismith Coach of the Year. Pili earned finalist nods for the Wooden Award and semifinalist for the Naismith Trophy while teammate Ginna Kneepkens made the final five for the Cheryl Miller Award.
Roberts and the Utah women’s basketball team started making progress toward being a force last year after making the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2011. The eight-year coach for Utah recently talked about what it takes to break barriers and push to new heights with DJ & PK.
“I think to do things that have never been done, you have to be a little crazy,” Roberts said. “To do things that people say you can’t do, you’ve got to have a little bit of a chip on your shoulder. This is the third program I’ve taken over and we’ve done things that have never been done at those programs too. It’s just kind of how I am. When you have a vision and a dream, you’ve got to believe in it so strongly because it’s hard.”
Michelle Bodkin is the Utah Utes Insider for sports.ksl.com and host of both the Crimson Corner Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and The Saturday Show (Saturday from 10 a.m.–12 p.m.) on The KSL Sports Zone. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram: @BodkinKSLsports
