I thought the Pac-12 mountain teams would feel the transfer loss of three seniors from Utah and one from Colorado (whose best player graduated, to boot), but the Utes and Buffaloes are a combined 26-3, with +47 in scoring differential.
Utah won 85-58 in Salt Lake on Dec. 14, with 42 points, 10 rebounds, 7 assists, 4 blocks, 1 assist, and 2 turnovers by their conference freshmen of the year, forward Alissa Pili (2020) and Gianna Kneepkens (2022). Colorado’s other loss was to Tennessee when the Volunteers were ranked #21.
Were Dre’Una Edwards (2019), Dru Gylten, and Breanna Maxwell still in Utah, that would make six members of the four most recent conference all-freshmen teams, which is the sort of thing about which I like to imagine.
Colorado’s Kindyll Wetta, my favorite Buffalo, joined Kneepkens and Jenna Johnson in the 2022 all-freshmen group. The numbers that greatly stood out for Wetta in 2022 were 152 assists-plus-steals to 43 turnovers. In 2023, 77-to-30 suggests a little less care or luck, but still supports my theory that coaches’ kids are smarter than the average bears.
Edwards is in some sort of limbo — she wanted to make another transfer to Baylor (the new rules make it too easy for teenagers to act on their whims), but thinks Kentucky kept her in place. The South Dakota State Jackrabbits figure to win another Summit League championship with Gylten, and Maxwell just won a player of the week award for Gonzaga, owners of the West Coast Conference.
Gylten had a good reason to transfer — going home to get married. It seems Maxwell departed because she didn’t like her changing role with Kneepkens’ emergence, and I think a little less of her for that. Kemery Martin was one of the Pac-12’s outstanding players in 2021, and she went to Cal — in her case, I suspect she didn’t like her prospects of getting out of Coach Roberts’ doghouse.
Whether Utah would be any better with those three still in the picture, who can say. (With Gylten, yes, absolutely. She’s one of those players whose floor presence makes a team better. I’m glad she landed at SDSU, where the Frost Arena fans are insanely supportive of the Jackrabbits.)
I hate the idea of a $20/week television package that includes Pac-12 Network, but I’d better complete signing up for such.