Utah WBB Picked To Finish Eighth In The Pac-12 Preseason Poll

One year after finishing in eighth place, head coach Lynne Roberts and the Utah women's basketball team is predicted to finish eighth once again in the highly loaded Pac-12

Playing in the Pac-12 conference for women's basketball is a like playing a who's who of top teams in the nation. Between perennial national title caliber squads in Oregon, Oregon State and Stanford and dangerous contenders in Arizona, Arizona State and UCLA, just surviving in the conference is deemed a massive success.

For Utah head coach Lynne Roberts are her team, they're looking to take that next step into contender. After finishing in eighth place last season with one of the youngest rosters in the league, the Utes were once again chosen to finish eighth in the 2020-21 Pac-12 preseason media poll.

Credit: Francisco Kjolseth

For the first time in three years, Oregon will not sit stop the preseason poll — which is to be expected considering the Ducks lost Sabrina Ionescu, Satou Sabally and Ruthy Hebard to the WNBA Draft.

Unseating the Ducks is Stanford, buoyed by a great returning core and the addition of freshman Cameron Brink, a five-star forward/center from the Portland area. Picked second is Arizona, who possessed arguably the best player in the nation (definitely the best scorer) in guard Aari McDonald.

Then come the Ducks, who after losing those three All-Americans, are restocking with the nation's top class and five five-star prospects, not to mention returners in Taylor Chavez and Erin Boley and 6-foot-7 center transfer Sedona Prince.

UCLA, Oregon State and Arizona round out the top-6. 

Our 2020-2021 Pac-12 pairings are here. 🙌

📰 | https://t.co/LXAf1lAVDn #Elevate pic.twitter.com/nddRvylSyP

— Utah Women’s Basketball (@UTAHWBB) November 16, 2020

The Utes are sort of in no-man's land considering USC (who is predicted to finish 7th) has 130 votes and Cal (who is predicted to finish 9th) has 76 points. Utah sits in eighth with 94 points.

Pac-12 Preseason Media Poll

1. Stanford Cardinal (19 first place votes) – 248 points
2. Arizona Wildcats (1 first place vote) – 225 points
3. Oregon Ducks – 201 points
4. UCLA Bruins – 200 points
5. Oregon State Beavers (1 first place vote) – 174 points
6. Arizona State Sun Devils – 135 points
7. USC Trojans – 130 points
8. Utah Utes – 94 points
9. California Golden Bears – 76 points
10. Colorado Buffaloes – 75 points
11. Washington Huskies – 53 points
12. Washington State Cougars – 27 points

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