Lynne Roberts proud of historic season, but it's not a 'flash in the pan' moment for Utes

SALT LAKE CITY — The pain of defeat lingers, especially given how close Utah women's basketball was to keeping their season alive.

A close loss in the Sweet 16 is a tough pill to swallow, and it's one that Utah head coach Lynne Roberts still isn't ready to fully accept. There's no going back and rewriting history, though — what's done is done — but there's still a little heartache that Utah couldn't come away with a win.

But in the end, there's only one winner at the end of the season in college basketball.

"I still am gaining perspective as the days go," Roberts said in an wide-ranging interview with KSL.com after the season ended. "That loss, that final loss, is still painful — just knowing where we were and kind of the opportunities ahead of us still, it sucks. I'm still not over it, I guess, is maybe the best way to say it. So I haven't had a ton of mental bandwidth to gain some good perspective, but I know in time I will.

"The fact that we lost a close game on that stage, and I thought we were playing well. it's impossible not to think what if," she continued. "And so that does make the loss harder to get over. But the other side of that is, it'd be weird if we got over it quickly. The more you're invested in something, the harder it is to get over. And I think we were all so invested and so set on doing things that have never been done that it's hard when it just comes to (an end)."

Utah's 3-point loss to LSU, who won its first national championship on Sunday, will continue to hurt over the immediate future, but it's a hurt that has a loaded meaning. For Utah, it was a historical season, and one that saw the program reach new heights — in the national rankings, in postseason awards and accolades, and in attention to the team.

Just two seasons removed from where Utah won only five games, the program climbed as high as No. 3 in the Associated Press Top 25 rankings, shared a regular season conference title with Stanford, had its first outright All-American in Alissa Pili, and gained a sizable fan base that has grown to love women's basketball.

And that's just scratching the surface to the season Utah had. So while its final loss still stings, it's one that doesn't overshadow the immense success the program had this season.

"I'm incredibly proud of what this team achieved, and I think we had kind of a breakout year on the national scene," Roberts said. "I think we've been on the verge, and last year was certainly a good setting of the table for that. But the fact that our players and staff just stayed so locked in over the course of a whole season is really hard to do, so I'm proud of that. We've gained some legitimate community interest in support and fans, which is huge as we continue to build."

But Roberts is quick to point out that this isn't a "flash in the pan" moment for the Utes; it's the beginning to a rising trajectory to what the basketball program can become — not just on the court but with how it can influence rising generations who are now following the game.

"It's not gonna be a flash in the pan; I can promise you that, because it wasn't built in a flash," Roberts said.

Utah returns its core group of players, include Pili, and will be an immediate force to be reckoned with next season. Already, ESPN has the Utes ranked as the second-best team coming into next season in their "way-too-early Top 25" rankings that were published Sunday night. And there's no reason to doubt the Utes are the favorite to win the Pac-12 next season, either.

It's a team that has a lot going for it, especially if it can keep the magic alive from its most recent season in which the team went undefeated at the Huntsman Center and hosted the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament. But what worked during the 2022-23 season, Roberts said, won't necessarily be the same thing that works next season. She said her team will need to "continue to raise the bar."

"I still am hungry for what we haven't done, so there's a level of satisfaction in that, but there's also like — I feel like we have not done what I want to do," Roberts said. "We had so many firsts this year, and it was awesome, but it wasn't the ultimate. So I don't feel at all satisfied, even though it is satisfying to think about that in terms of the growth and where we're at. But I can promise you we're not sitting here fat and happy in these offices; we're grinding and pushing to be better."

The next step is a look to the future, even if it's still more than six months away for a return to games. But there's no real offseason in the sport as teams look to improve, and over the coming months, Roberts and her staff will work to get even better. And given Utah's rise from the previous season to the most recent, there's reason to believe Roberts' team can make the jump.

Barring some immediate transfers from the program, Utah will feature the same roster that had so much success. And with that comes the experience and wisdom of a team determined to go further in the NCAA Tournament and to accomplish more as a program. Utah never lost back-to-back games over the course of the 2022-23 season; but in March, it only takes one loss to end the season.

With the roster capable of improving, Utah hopes to be in serious contention for a national championship, and there's no one in the program that doubts the team can get there next year. So while last season had many firsts, there's still plenty more for Utah to accomplish over the next year.

The challenge to get even better started the day Utah lost to LSU.

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