Pac 12 Preview: Utah

Pac 12 Preview: UTAH

Last Season:
18-14 overall and 8-10 in Pac 12 play finishing with a three game improvement over the previous season in conference play.

The Coaches:
Lynne Roberts is in her 4th year after moving from the University of Pacific, UOP. Roberts was Head Coach at UOP for 9 seasons, being named Conference Coach of the Year twice in the last three years. Before UOP Roberts was Head Coach at Chico State for 4 seasons. Utah improved quite a bit last season.

Gavin Peterson is in his 4th year after 2 seasons with Roberts at UOP. Peterson has been an assistant in the West since 2002 and an Associate Head Coach for 6 of those seasons.

Danyelle Snelgro is in her 4th year after a season at TCU and 2 seasons at Fresno State. She played at Utah State.
Joanna Reitz is in her 2nd season as a coach at Utah. Reitz has coached for 7 years mostly D2.


Losses:
Emily Potter graduated after averaging 12 points and 7 rebounds.
Tanaeya Boclair graduated after averaging 7 points and 4 rebounds.
Tori Williams averaged 9 points and hit 64 threes at 34% as a Frosh but transferred to Colorado State.
Megan Jacobs also transferred to Colorado State. She averaged 4 points.

Actually there are three others who were on last year’s roster but didn’t play and are gone.



Additions:
Jordan Cruz is a 5-11 Redshirt Frosh Guard from Sacramento who had to sit out last season with injuries. She made 13 threes in one of her HS games and averaged 20 points as a Sr. Jordan was ranked # 111.

Dru Gylten is a 5-11 Redshirt Frosh Guard from South Dakota who sat out last season. Dru led her team to 4 straight State Championships and was All State her last 2 seasons.

Niyah Becker is a 6-2 Frosh Wing from Canada. She has played on Canadian Youth National teams. She is ranked # 10 International Recruit.

Lola Pendande is a 6-3 Frosh Post from Spain. Lola played at an LA HS school last season averaging 12 points and 9 rebounds. Ranked as the # 16 International recruit.

Andrea Torres is a 6-2 Frosh Forward from Canada. Torres has played on Canada’s youth national teams.

Sarah Porter is a 5-10 Grad student Guard who graduated from UCSB. Last season she 9 points a game and the year before 10 points per game.
Dre’Una Edwards is a 6-2 Frosh Wing from Las Vegas. Ranked # 56.

Julie Brosseau is a 5-9 Jr Guard who will sit out this season after transferring from Maine. Julie averaged 11 points last season with 7 threes and 29 points vs Ohio State. She is Canadian.

Ola Makurat is a 6-3 Jr Forward who transferred from Liberty and will sit out this season. At Liberty last season she averaged 7 points and 4 rebounds.

Seven new players, plus two will sit out.


The Schedule:
They play Alabama and BYU at home and Florida on the road. The Utes play Stanford and Cal once each at home and they also play the Oregon schools once each, however on the road.


The Team:
There are only five returning players.

Megan Huff is a 6-3 5th year Sr Forward who transferred from Hawaii two years ago. In her first year at Utah she averaged 15 points and 8 rebounds, leading the team in both.

Erika Bean is a 5-8 Sr Guard. Bean is from the Sacramento area and averaged 5 points and 5 assists

Daneesha Provo is a 6-0 5th year Sr Guard. Provo transferred from Clemson two years ago and is playing on the Canadian National Team. In her first year at Utah she averaged 12 points and made 44 threes at 40%.

Kiana Moore is a 5-7 Jr Guard from Vacaville who averaged 7 minutes per game.
Maurane Corbin is a 6-5 Soph Post from Quebec, who averaged 2 points and 2 rebounds in 9 minutes.


Predictions:
The Utes return only three players who played much and two solid transfers in have to sit out. It will be all up to the foreign players who are now at Utah and some good HS recruits who will be frosh. Hard to see much above 10th place for this year but like Arizona the future looks bright.


2019 Recruiting:
Kemery Martin, 5-11 Guard from Utah ranked # 33.
Brynna Maxwell 6-0 Guard from Washington ranked # 79