Dancing again: Utes women secure 5 seed, to play South Dakota State in NCAA Tourney

SALT LAKE CITY — Injuries have taken a toll on the Utah women's basketball team, but that hasn't changed the resolve of the team in their pursuit of an even deeper run in the NCAA Tournament.

And though the season had a few more twists and turns along the way — and a few star players sitting on the sidelines for an extended period of time — the Utes are back in the Big Dance for the third consecutive season.

And everything remains on the table.

The Utes learned their postseason fate Sunday night during a watch party in the Ken Garff Red Zone at Rice-Eccles Stadium. As the teams were announced one-by-one, Utah players grew anxious as three regionals were announced before their name was called — with each player doing the bracketology in their head each region.

But eventually their name came.

Utah earned a No. 5 seed and will play No. 12 South Dakota State in Spokane, Washington, in the Regional 4 bracket. A date and time for the game will be announced at a later time.

"I was super anxious," Alissa Pili admitted. "I don't think my legs stop shaking. But it's just a cool opportunity to get into the NCAA Tournament, because I have been in situations where I didn't have a postseason. So I'm just super grateful that we have the chance to keep playing."

For Utah head coach Lynne Roberts, having her team included the postseason tournament was just a testament to the team's resolve to continue fighting through the adversity the team faced.

"I'm so proud of them, like there's been so much stuff this season that didn't get reported," Roberts said. "But they stuck together, they stayed connected, they stayed motivated, they didn't have ego when we got humbled, and that's what it takes."

With the latest inclusion, the Utes have now made three consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance, with hopes of another Sweet 16 berth — and even further. For the duration of the season, the Utes have circled an empty spot on a board in the practice facility, representing Utah's hopes of an Elite Eight appearance or better.

"I definitely try to just keep a lot of gratitude and just not take it for granted," Utah forward Jenna Johnson said. "I look up at our thing in the practice gym, it says all the years that we've made it to NCAA Tournament; and there's not many times where it's three years in a row, so just taking a moment to really notice what we've done and just be proud of that, and then, obviously, go as far as we possibly can. So it's pretty cool."

Having that past tournament experience — including last season's Sweet 16 — with multiple appearances for many on the roster has a stabling benefit, Roberts said. The experience doesn't make winning "easy," Roberts said, but it "eliminates some of the nerves and kind of the anxiousness."

"There's no better teacher than experience," Roberts said, "and I think what it does is it just eliminates some of the 'what's it going to be like' nerves. ... Having played in it a couple years, I think just the experience gives you a little less nerves, a little less anxiousness where you can just go in and focus on competing."

Though the roster makeup is a little different than what the team thought it would have during its preseason goal-setting, it's a worthy roster that featured the No. 11 ranking in NET after collecting four top-10 wins and taking No. 1 South Carolina down to the wire in a nonconference neutral site matchup in December.

Should Utah get past its first-round opponent, a potential meeting with host No. 4 Gonzaga stands between the Utes and another Sweet 16 appearance in Portland. A Sweet 16 appearance could mean a possible meeting with No. 1 seed Texas, a rematch of Utah's second-round loss two seasons ago.

Regardless of the opponent, Pili is looking forward to playing different teams from outside of the Pac-12 gauntlet this season.

"It feels great," Pili said. "It's super fun just to get a different look, especially when we've been playing Pac-12 teams for so long, and we know each other so well. So just to be able to play a different team of a different style, and somebody who doesn't know us, it kind of opens up our game and let's us do what we're good at without having to do so many critiques and things like that."

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