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SALT LAKE CITY — Inside the women's basketball practice gym at the Huntsman Basketball Facility, there is a reminder of where the University of Utah has been.
High on the wall behind one baseline sits a long, rectangular banner denoting each of the program's 19 NCAA Tournament appearances.
Below that banner sits another series of banners. One listing each of the program's All-Americans, another with each of the Utes' eight conference tournament winners. Conference regular-season champions take up the next banner, followed by teams that reached the Elite Eight and finally, one last banner with teams that reached the Sweet 16.
The Elite Eight banner lists the 2006 squad, which lost in overtime to eventual national champion Maryland in a regional final. Below that, there is an oval with blank space in the middle.
Count Utes head coach Lynne Roberts as a believer in subconscious motivational tactics.
"That (the NCAA Tournament) is not something I'm going to talk about," Roberts told KSL.com last week. "We're not talking about March until we get to March, but I want them to be reminded every day of what their potential is. It's kind of a pressure thing, not pressure in a bad way. Just expectations, that's a reminder of how hard we have to work in here."
When the fifth-ranked Utes open their season late Monday afternoon against Mississippi Valley State at the Huntsman Center, it will mark the beginning of the most-anticipated season in program history. Such a notion is the byproduct of Roberts and her program breaking through to places they'd never been.
Unranked to begin last season, Utah ripped off 14 wins before finally losing its first game on Jan. 6. The Utes entered the top 10 of the Associated Press Top 25 on Jan. 2 and never left. They earned a share of the program's first Pac-12 regular-season championship. Utah's first Sweet 16 trip since 2006 came a year after it returned to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 11 years.
For what it's worth, that empty oval currently residing as part of the Elite Eight banner? It was a part of the Sweet 16 banner last season. Utah filled that empty space, winning first- and second-round games at the Huntsman Center before losing a crusher to LSU in a regional semifinal. The Tigers went on to win the national championship in Hall of Fame head coach Kim Mulkey's second season at the helm.
As Roberts has made the media rounds over the last couple of months in the middle of the ramp up to another season, she has pretty liberally said that the Final Four should be viewed as an attainable goal for these Utes, and why not?
Most every player of consequence from last season's 27-win outfit returns, headlined by reigning Pac-12 Player of the Year Alissa Pili. Everyone is back off a season where they were two free throws and a small handful of plays away from eliminating the eventual title winner.
In an age of growing parity at the top of women's college basketball, Roberts believes there are 15, maybe 20, teams capable of making a Final Four. Of course, she believes her team is one of the 15 or 20, but such an accomplishment can't happen in a vacuum.
"Whoever those four teams are, it's going to be really hard, and we talk about that," Roberts said. "'If you guys throw that out there, then you better back it up with the toughness, and the work ethic, and the camaraderie that it takes.' I don't put any limits on anything, but I do know how hard it is, I'm not naive. You say something like that, you don't say it lightly."
Added All-Pac-12 guard Gianna Kneepkens: "I definitely think the Final Four is a reasonable goal for us. We can't focus on last year, but losing by three to the national champs, we know how much effort it takes, what kind of players we need to be, how we need to play our roles to get to that point. Just focusing each day on getting at least 1% better, so by the time it gets to March, we can be the best team we can be."
Roberts not putting limits on anything, and Kneepkens wanting Utah to be the best team it can be in March, means maybe the blank spot in the oval on the Elite Eight banner gets filled. If that were the case, that wall beyond the baseline in the practice gym would need to make room for a Final Four banner.
Roberts would gladly welcome such a dilemma.
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Josh Newman
