Big 12 preview: Utah positioned well in new-look conference

The thing that stood out to Utah coach Lynne Roberts when she began to prepare for the Utes' move to the Big 12 was not the overall toughness of the league, though that was impressive, or the size or depth or talent level of its teams.

It was the vastly different styles that they play.

Motion offenses. Dribble-drive systems. Teams that press and teams that play zone. Up-tempo, low-tempo and, well, what could only be described as no-tempo, the handful of teams that value defense so much that they're happy to win games in the 50s.

“In the Pac-12 there was a similar vibe among the teams, even if they were uniquely different,” Roberts said. “In the Big 12, there are so many styles of play. It's very, very different. And that adds another layer of complexity and preparation.”

As if there wasn't already enough for Utah, Arizona, Colorado and Arizona State.

The Utes may be the best positioned to succeed in the new 16-team league, though, which lost Oklahoma and Texas to the SEC but gained the Pac-12 quartet. Utah has won games in the NCAA Tournament each of the past three years and has a bevy of returning talent, led by preseason All-Big 12 forward Gianna Kneepkens.

“We're at a stage where we have a program, and the program is really centered on recruiting quality kids that want to be at Utah,” Roberts said, “so we've done really well with retention. But we have really hard-working women, too.”

Given all the new venues, coaches, players and, yes, offensive systems they will encounter in the Big 12, the Utes and the rest of the new teams certainly have work to do. Utah was voted tops among them by the league's coaches in their preseason poll, but that still left the Utah staring up at Kansas State and others.

The No. 13 Wildcats, led by preseason Big 12 player of the year Ayoka Lee, were voted No. 1 by the coaches for the first time in school history, while No. 8 Iowa State, No. 12 Baylor, TCU and No. 16 West Virginia were close behind them.

“We had expectations well before the preseason poll came out,” said Kansas State coach Jeff Mittie, whose team was beaten by Colorado on its own floor in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. “We were excited to be No. 1. Probably a little surprised; we know the league is talented. We expected to be picked somewhere near the top. But honestly? We talked about it and it has pretty much been in the rearview mirror ever since.”

It's been harder to put that loss to the Buffaloes in the rearview mirror, especially now that they're in the same conference.

“Absolutely unfinished business,” Lee said. “We had a great season last year but there were some things, like the Big 12 title and not making it to the second week of the (NCAA) tournament that stuck with all of us.”

The Big 12 got seven teams in the NCAA Tournament last year, but only Texas and Baylor reached the Sweet 16 and only the Longhorns — now in the SEC — made it to the Elite Eight. In all, the league went a pedestrian 10-7 in the NCAA tourney.

BYU and Utah have played their bitter rivalry every year. But with the Utes joining the Cougars in the Big 12, the game will take on even more significance — as if that is possible, according to BYU coach Amber Whiting.

“Fans get a little crazy. Wild. My husband played in it as well,” she said. “You can't understand what it means until you're in the moment. I don't think there's any blowout games, and it's out for blood. There's no friends.”

The support for women's basketball has grown exponentially over the past couple years, fueled in part by the success of former Iowa standout Caitlin Clark and LSU star Angel Reese. That has been evident in the Big 12, where commissioner Brett Yormark said the league experienced a 111% increase in television viewership for its games last season.

TCU won a record 14 straight games to start last season, only for injuries to sideline Sedona Prince, Madison Conner, Jaden Owens and DaiJa Turner. The Horned Frogs were so thin — down to six players — that they had to forfeit two games. But they have restocked this season, landing No. 1-ranked transfer Hailey Van Lith, and barely missed the preseason AP Top 25.

“The injuries created some adversity last year,” TCU coach Mark Campbell admitted, “but even within that, there were some blessings within that adversity. Players had an opportunity with a smaller roster that they wouldn't have necessarily had, so we had a group of kids that really blossomed and laid a foundation that will carry into this year.”

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