Cardinal heads for the Rockies

... to take on the new Pac-12 members.

This will be the first Pac-12 meeting between these schools, but Stanford has played Colorado occasionally and Utah frequently. Long-time Cardinal fans may remember Colorado as the team that defeated us in the West Regional semi-final in Boise in 2002. And remember the game at Utah in 2007 when, with 0.2 seconds left to play, Melanie Murphy sank the first three-pointer in her career and took the game into overtime ... and an eventual win.

The Utah game (Thu Jan 12, 6:00 pm PT)will be webcast by Utah All-Access. The Colorado game (Sat Jan 14, 3:00 pm PT) will be telecast by ROOT Sports ‐ Rocky Mountain, which is widely available throughout the western U.S. KZSU will broadcast both games.

  Utah Utes

Utah won seven of 11 Mountain West Conference titles before moving to the Pac-12. Last season, they won the MWC tournament and went to the NCAA tournament, where they lost in the first round to eventual national runner-up Notre Dame.

They return four starters from that team and lost none of their high volume scorers. But they are a young team with only one senior, and injuries have done major damage to the depth of their roster. Sophomore guards Brittany Knighton and Ciera Dunbar are out indefinitely with knee injuries.

Utah did well in their non-conference run. They lost just four of eleven games — all on the road and by a total margin of 19 points. They stumbled at the beginning of Pac-12 play with losses to Colorado and WSU, then won over Washington.

The Utes are a strong defensive team. Coming into the conference season, head coach Anthony Levrets said, “We have defended well and we continue to get better at that.”

They lead the Pac-12 in scoring defense, allowing their opponents just 51.4 points per game, and are second in field goal % defense (33.2%). They are ranked #16 nationally in both those categories. They are also ranked #18 nationally and second in the Pac-12 in turnovers per game (14.2) and lead the Pac-12 in free throw percentage (73.4%).

The probable starters for Utah are:

• #15, 6'4" sophomore forward Michelle Plouffe leads the Utes in scoring (15.1 ppg) and rebounding (8.7 rpg). She was MWC Freshman of the Year last season and trained with the Senior Women's Canadian National Team last summer.


• #11, 6'3" redshirt sophomore forward Taryn Wicijowski is another strong presence in the front court. She's the second-best scorer (12.9 ppg) and rebounder (8.0 rpg) and has the most blocks (1.6 bpg). She was MWC Freshman of the Year in 2010, then sat out most of last season after tearing her ACL in late November.


• #3, 5'9" redshirt junior guard Iwalani Rodrigues is the Utes' most productive three-point shooter. She set a school record last season with 110 (For perspective, Jeanette set the Stanford record with 96; the Pac-12 record is 124.). So far this season, she has taken half of her shots from beyond the arc and made 33% of them. She averages 10.4 points and 2.4 rebounds per game.


• #1, 5'7" senior guard Janita Badon runs the point for the Utes. She averages just under five assists per game (second-best in the Pac-12) and has a good assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.6. She averages 10.2 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.8 steals per game.


• #13, 5'9" junior guard Rachel Messer plays the '1', '2' or '3'. She averages 5.6 points and 2.0 rebounds per game.

The starting five account for 85% of the scoring and 82% of the rebounding. The Utes have six healthy reserves, but only two of them play more than ten minutes per game.

Utah's win-loss record (8-6 overall, 1-2 conference) places them ninth in the Pac-12; their RPI (136) and strength of schedule (148) place them eleventh.

Here are Utah's 2011-12 statistics and their roster.

  Colorado Buffs

The Buffs were used to finishing in the middle of the Big 12 (their previous conference) behind Baylor, Texas A&M, Kansas State and other ranked teams. They feel more optimistic about their prospects in the Pac-12. Head coach Linda Lappe thinks they can finish anywhere from two to twelve (she concedes the top spot to Stanford). She says, "We feel like we can do very well in the Pac-12; we feel like we can make an impact."

The Buffs' confidence increased as they won every non-conference game. They accomplished that with a very weak schedule (ranked 333 by Collegiate Basketball News), but they've jelled into a team that believes in itself and is thinking 'W' every time they hit the court.

They've started well in the Pac-12 with a win at Utah, a loss at Washington and a 1-point win over WSU.

The Buffs are a very young team with just one senior, two juniors and five freshmen. They did a lot of off-season conditioning and lifting work and are in topnotch physical condition. This is a big plus, especially in home games at 5345 ft altitude. Lappe likes her team to push the pace – they run a lot.

The probable starters for Colorado are:

• #23, 5'10" junior guard Chucky Jeffery is the Buffs' star player – a dynamic point guard who leads the team in scoring (16.9 ppg), rebounding (8.4 rpg), steals (2.1 spg), blocks (1.1 bpg) and drawing fouls (she gets almost four free throws per game and makes 78% of them). Her play is marred by careless ball handling – she has a few more turnovers than assists. (This is a weakness in the team as a whole, which averages 13 assists and 17 turnovers per game.)


• #1, 5'11" freshman guard Lexi Kresl is primarily a shooting guard. She averages 11.1 points per game. She takes almost two-thirds of her shots from beyond the arc and makes 36% of them. She also gets four rebounds per game.


• #15, 6'3" senior forward Julie Seabrook is Colorado's most dependable shooter – she makes almost 60% of her field goal attempts. She averages 8.7 points and 6.0 rebounds per game.


• #14, 6'2" junior forward Meagan Malcolm-Peck averages 5.2 points and 5.0 rebounds per game. She plays about 27 minutes per game – less than you may think – one of her teammates is her identical twin sister Brenna.


• #40, 6'4" sophomore center Rachel Hargis averages 4.6 points and 3.9 rebounds per game.

The Buffs have six reserves, four of whom play major minutes. They account for about 28% of the Buffs' scoring and 36% of the rebounding.

Colorado's win-loss record (13-1 overall, 2-1 conference) places them fourth in the Pac-12 their RPI (91) places them ninth, and their strength of schedule (333) places them last.

Here are Colorado's 2011-12 statistics and their roster.