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SALT LAKE CITY — The moment was everything Lynne Roberts thought it would be.
The Utah Utes were Pac-12 champions — a vision she crafted from the early stages of her tenure at Utah that started in 2015. There were ups and downs — even a five-win season along the way — but Roberts never gave up on her belief that she'd someday bring a championship to Salt Lake City as the program's coach.
"We've been working hard to make this a championship program, and we did," she told the raucous crowd of 9,611 fans that bought a ticket to the Huntsman Center on Saturday to watch Utah defeat Stanford and claim a share of the regular season championship with the Cardinal.
Roberts had brought the championship to Salt Lake City, and did so by beating perennial favorite Stanford along the way.
"I think the reason that it means so much, too, is that we did it beating Stanford," Roberts said on Saturday. "They've been just the elite program, not only in our conference but in the country for years. ... The way they play, the way they compete, and it means more to do this, to beat them."
The win was good enough to lift the program to No. 3 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll — the highest ever ranking in school history — on Monday and Roberts the top honor in the Pac-12, the conference's coach of the year award, which was awarded on Tuesday. There was no doubt she earned it for her lift of the program to a historic best.
But for Roberts, the job isn't finished, regardless of what the conference thinks of her, though the honor provides a nice feather in the cap of sorts to recognize her tireless effort along the way.
Utah now awaits the winner of the Washington State-California game as the No. 2 seed in the Pac-12 Tournament on Thursday before eventually hosting the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament at the Huntsman Center as a projected No. 1 seed.
Though Roberts had a vision, it was the roster she compiled over the last few seasons that really made the difference. And while each player on the roster had a specific role in Roberts' system, none has been more impactful than the addition of USC transfer Alissa Pili, who averaged 20.6 points, 5.5 rebounds and 2.1 assists this season.
Pili's impact on the game transformed a good team led by then-freshman Gianna Kneepkens, last year's Pac-12 freshman of the year, to a great team. It also landed her the top honor in the conference as the Pac-12 Player of the Year.
The award was thought to be between Pili and Stanford's Cameron Brink, but Pili's impact on the game was hard to dispute as she took over most games this season for Utah and helped the team to a 25-3 record. And though Utah needed Pili to get to where it needed to go, Pili needed Utah.
After she had lost her love of the game while at USC, Pili transferred to Utah and found her joy for the game again. The change was noticeable from the very first game of the season and through to the end. Pili was a dominant player that enjoyed the game again and was thriving under Roberts' leadership.
"I think the biggest difference here is just the environment, like the people, the team, just the whole culture of this whole university is just — everybody, like even our extended staff and everything, everybody just wants to see you do great and they'll do anything to help you get there and achieve your goals," Pili told KSL.com in January. "I think that kind of environment just helped me flourish and bring my joy back for the game and love what I do."
Pili becomes the first player from Utah to ever win the Pac-12 player of the year award.
Roberts and Pili were joined in the postseason conference honors by Kneepkens, who was named to the All-Pac-12 team for the second straight year in a row. Pili was also named to the All-Pac-12 team, which is also her second time being named to the honor. Jenna Johnson and Kennady McQueen were named honorable mentions.
Others from the Pac-12 being honored was Stanford's Brink, who set the Cardinal all-time record in blocks this season and was named the defensive player of the year; Oregon State's Raegan Beers, who was named freshman and sixth player of the year; and Arizona's Shaina Pellington and Colorado's Aaronette Vonleh, who were named co-improved players of the year.
