Michelle becomes a Ute

Michelle Harrison graduated from Stanford and enrolled in the Masters program at the University of Utah. She’ll be playing for the Utah Utes this season while she gets her Masters degree in Education, Culture and Society.
Utah will be playing its last season in the Mountain West Conference and with Colorado will be joining the Pac 12 for next season.

Last year Utah was 23-12, and 10-6 in the conference. They advanced to the Finals of the Mountain West tournament and played two games, losing their second to Cal in the WNIT. The Utes played three Pac 10 teams, losing to Cal and Stanford and beating Oregon.

LOSSES:

Kalee Whipple averaged 16 points and 7 rebounds while playing 37 minutes per game. She made 64 three’s more than the next two players combined, although at only 31%.

Halie Sawyer averaged 7 points and 8 rebounds and 32 minutes per game. She led the team in blocks, twice as many as the next player.

ADDITIONS:

Michelle Harrison, and we all know her.

Ciera Dunbar has missed most of her past two seasons, her Jr and Sr year in High School, so hard to count on her, but she does have promise.

Allison Gida is a 5-11 frosh guard who was all state in Oregon averaging 18 points, 9rebounds, 6 steals and 4 assists per game.

Brittany Knighton was all state in Oregon as a Soph, but then had a knee injury as a Jr, and recovered as a Sr. Still averaged 13 points and 6 rebounds as a Sr while playing for the fabled Oregon City program.

Amy Krommenhoek is a 3 time all state player in Utah, hitting 2 threes per game last season. Her sister was an All American at Utah in the 90’s.

6-4 Michelle Plouffe is a Canadian who average 14 points and 9 rebounds this past year on the Canadian U18 National team. Her twin plays at Marquette and you may remember her sister, Andrea at Washington.

A good recruiting class, plus Michelle.

Anthony Levrets moves from Assistant to Interim Head Coach for this season as long time Head Coach Elaine Elliot takes a leave of absence.


NON CONFERENCE SCHEDULE:

I would guess that San Diego State is the toughest team in their Conference, so when Utah joins the Pac 12 they will be moving up. The Utes play Stanford, Penn State, Arkansas and Mississippi State in the pre-season.

BY POSITION:

POSTS:

Utah doesn’t list a Center on the roster but Coach Levrets calls 6-3 Soph Taryn Wicijowski “a beast around the basket”. Last season Taryn averaged 15 points and 6 rebounds a game shooting a great 58% from the floor. She was the Mountain West Frosh of the Year. Also she was the team Capitan for the Canadian 19U National team after her Sr year in High School. You may remember her last season at Stanford when she scored 15 points.

Frosh Andrea Plouffe at 6-4 gives the Utes two Canadian post players.

POWER FORWARDS:

Well we would all think Michelle starts here, so we’ll pencil her in as a 4. Still she needs to roam some and hit threes. It’ll be interesting to see how she is positioned.

Diana Rolniak is a 6-4 Soph who very athletic and was second on the team in blocks. As a Frosh last season she averaged 2 points and 2 rebounds in 10 minutes a game. Was the # 83 player in the country out of High School

WINGS:

Rachel Messer is a 5-9 Soph who averaged 3.5 points in 20 minutes per game. She also had an assist to turnover ratio of almost 2:1. Messer was 2nd on the team in threes, shooting 36%.

Iwalani Rodriques is a 5-9 3rd year Soph who averaged 3.5 points in 18 minutes per game as a Frosh. Big things are expect of her from three and on drives to the rim.

Allison Gida a 5-11 Frosh should step up and get minutes. As should 6-0 Frosh Brittany Knighton.

Rita Sitvi is a 5-9 Soph who didn’t get much time last year but will be in the mix for playing time this season.
POINT GUARDS:

Janita Badon is a 5-7 Jr who started every game last season at the Point. Badon averaged 9 points and 5.5 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game with a positive assist to turnover ratio. She led the team in steals with 79 and was 3rd in threes but at a good 37%. Loved the Oregon game where she scored 29 points.

Hennasea Tokumura is a 5-4 5th year player. She played only 2 games the past two seasons, but if healthy she could be a valuable back up as she was her Frosh and Soph seasons.

FORECAST:

Utah is picked for 4th in the pre season Mountain West poll. A young team with 2 Srs and a Jr in their top 10. They should do fine in their league but struggle with some their pre season games, still they could win 20 if all are healthy.