Coach of the week: Lynne Roberts, Utah Utes
At the start of this season, no one thought Stanford would have to share the Pac-12 regular-season title. But it does. Thanks to the Utes’ victory over the Cardinal on Saturday, both teams finished 15-3 in conference play. It was Utah’s second win in 33 games against Stanford, and it came in front of 9,611 fans in Salt Lake City, the team’s top crowd since 1993.
This is also the first Pac-12 championship for Utah, which joined the league in 2011. Roberts took over the Utes in 2015 after spending nine years as coach at Pacific. Her team struggled in the 2020-21 season, which was impacted heavily by COVID-19, going 5-16. Then, it improved to 21-12 in 2021-22 but lost in the NCAA tournament’s second round. In Thursday’s NCAA top-16-seeds reveal, the Utes were projected as a No. 1 seed. Their best NCAA seed to date is No. 5. This has been a landmark season for Roberts, who’s likely to garner some national coach of the year votes.
5. Utah Utes (24-3)
Previous ranking: 11
This week: No. 2 seed at Pac-12 tournament in Las Vegas
The Utes had an enormous week with victories over California and Stanford, which gave them a share of the Pac-12 title. After falling on the road at Arizona the previous week, it was an especially sweet way for the Utes to finish the regular season. Sophomore guard Gianna Kneepkens had a season-high 28 points against Stanford, and junior forward Alissa Pili had a combined 40 points in the two victories.
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