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SALT LAKE CITY — No, it's not time for a viral TikTok dance; it's time for a different type of dancing.
For the first time in the Pac-12 era, the Utah women's basketball program was included in the 68-team NCAA Tournament bracket that was announced Sunday evening on ESPN. The Utes are going to the Big Dance and it's time to dust off those dancing shoes sneakers.
Coming off a historic season for the program where Utah made its first-ever appearance in the Pac-12 Championship game against reigning national champion Stanford, the Utes enter the upcoming NCAA Tournament as a No. 7 seed in the Spokane region, and will matchup with No. 10 seeded Arkansas in Austin, Texas, on Friday.
"We're very pleased with our seeding and chance to play Arkansas — very good team," Utah head coach Lynne Roberts said following a watch party Sunday night. "We knew we were in, we just didn't know where we'd be. So of course, it had to be in the third regional; we had to wait a half hour.
"We're excited. I'm so proud of our team, they've done an amazing job. So we're ready to get on a plane and go to Austin."
If the Utes win, they'll likely matchup with No. 2 Texas in Austin, giving the Longhorns a distinct home advantage in the Round of 32 on March 20. Times for the games have yet to be released.
Coming into Sunday, ESPN's Charlie Creme projected the Utes as a No. 8 seed against No. 9 Arkansas in Waco, Texas. As part of projections ahead of the Pac-12 Championship game, ESPN said Utah needed a win over Stanford to claim a No. 7 seed.
After Utah's loss to Stanford in the conference title game, Roberts said she thought her team deserved to be in the "upper half" of the rankings based on the competition level in the Pac-12. The Utes finished the season ranked 27th in the NCAA NET rankings.
"To compete in this conference, to have 20 wins — and I don't like to toot our own horn, as they say, but I think we should be at least a 7 seed; I really do. Who we have competed against, game in, game out, I think we've earned that, for sure," she said. "Just in terms of our NET ranking, as well."
Utah was forced to compete in the semifinal round and championship game of the conference tournament without sophomore forward Peyton McFarland, who suffered a season-ending injury, Roberts confirmed Sunday. Roberts credited Utah's seeding in the tournament to beating Oregon in the semifinals without McFarland.
"I think it was a good step — just kind of a validating step of beating somebody in the top 20 in the country," Roberts said.
Utah's NCAA berth this season is the first time in Roberts' tenure with the program and the first time since the 2010-11 season that the Utes have qualified for the postseason tournament. Utah last won a tournament game in 2009, but have not advanced to the Sweet 16 round since 2006.
The turnaround for the Utes, who won only five games last season, has been drastic and somewhat surprising to outside observers. Utah finished the season with 20 wins — only the second time in Roberts' tenure at Utah — and led the Pac-12 in scoring this season with 76.0 points per game.
Roberts gave a hard look at her program and stripped everything back in the offseason after a difficult 2020-21 season. With a revamped offense, Roberts' team bought in and hit the ground running. Led by freshmen Gianna Kneepkens, the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year, and Jenna Johnson as the team's leading scorers, Utah made waves in a difficult conference that qualified six teams in the NCAA Tournament.
Kneepkens, a native from Duluth, Minnesota, averaged 12.0 points per game, and Johnson, who had a strong performance in the Pac-12 Tournament, wasn't far behind at 11.9 points per game this season.
"Everything is a process and we preach that process over results," Roberts said. "And this has been a process, and I think to do it the right way it takes time and everything — I really firmly believe everything in life comes down to people, and we have the right people in our program."
Stanford earned a No. 1 seed in the Spokane region as the highest-seeded team from the Pac-12, with No. 4 Arizona in the Greensboro region against No. 13 UNLV. The Wildcats could potentially meet up with No. 1 overall seed South Carolina in the Sweet 16. The remaining teams from the Pac-12 to qualify include No. 5 Oregon (Wichita region), No. 7 Colorado (Greensboro region) and No. 8 Washington State (Bridgeport region).
