With every announcement of a fifth seed during the Women’s NCAA Tournament Selection Show on Sunday, the Utah Utes women’s basketball team grew more anxious.
Coach Lynne Roberts did her own bracketology calculations in her mind. Players seated in the front row — Alissa Pili, Gianna Kneepkens and Jenna Johnson among them — clapped or rubbed their hands, laughed, and whispered among themselves inside Rice-Eccles Stadium.
“I was super anxious,” Pili said. “I don’t think my legs stopped shaking.”
It wasn’t until the show announced the final region that the Utes found out who they were playing and where.
Utah will face South Dakota State in Spokane, Washington at a date and time to be determined. The Utes nabbed a No. 5 seed, while South Dakota State is a No. 12.
Utah has now qualified for the NCAA Tournament for the third consecutive year. The last time the women’s basketball program did that was in a stretch that ran from 1989-91.
“I think it means that we’ve established ourselves as a nationally recognized program, and that’s what I came here to do,” Roberts said of making the tournament three years in a row. “We’ve done it, and I have no expectation or plans to go backward.”
South Dakota State finished with a record of 27-5 and is currently on a 21-game winning streak. It won the Summit League Tournament.
“South Dakota State, I have a ton of respect for,” Roberts said. “They’re good. They’re really good. ... They’re always the Summit League champs and always a really hard out. So we’ve got our hands full.”
Utah had high hopes for 2023-24 after the way last season ended. They lost to the eventual national champions in LSU, but reached the Sweet 16 and had a very good opportunity to upset the Tigers in doing so.
Utah had its entire core coming back, and Roberts vowed her team would be better. And despite losing Gianna Kneepkens to a season-ending injury and Issy Palmer missing 10 weeks with an injury, the Utes still managed to win 22 games and ended up No. 11 in the NCAA NET.
Johnson said the Utes feel “really confident” going into the tournament.
“The Pac-12, this year especially, has been so competitive,” she said. “I feel like each weekend, we’ve been preparing for games like these. So I know we’re really excited and ready and just prepared for it.”
Roberts anticipates that her team will be ready to go physically once the tournament starts.
“We’re not at 100%,” Roberts said. “But we have a week. Hopefully we can get there.”
