Several have suggested that the WBB discussions in the Big Blue House forum should be moved to Stew's Spectrum, and with a bit more interest in the team this year than the past few (for obvious reasons) I figured I'd start one here.

Here's what the roster looks like. I'll try to update as commitments come in.

Returning Players
Ivory Finley - G - Will be a senior
Sami Suguturaga - G/F - Will be a senior
Cheyenne Stubbs - G - Will be a senior
Allyzee Verdan - F - Will be a senior
Isabella Tanedo - G - Will be a junior
Gracie Johnson - F - Will be a sophomore

Officially signed and announced
Transfers
Mia Tarver - 5'7 guard - Will be a junior - SLCC
Sophie Sene - 6'3 center - Will be a junior - Rhode Island
Jamisyn Heaton - 5'10 guard - Will be a junior - College of Southern Idaho

Freshmen
Carlie Latta - 5'10 guard - Paul, Idaho
Elise Livingston - 5'9 guard - Millville, Utah
Ava Smith - 5'8 guard - Camas, Washington
Karlie Banks - 5-11 guard/forward - Laclede, Idaho
Denae Skelton - 5-8 guard - West Kelowna, BC

Committed but haven't been officially announced
None

I know of at least one juco transfer, one D1 transfer and one more freshman who are committed but haven't made official announcements. So that should pretty much round out the roster with maybe one or two more spots available depending on walk-ons.

Additionally, we still have at least one coaching position open.

Roy McAvoy wrote:So there’s 360 D1 women’s cbb teams and last year usu was ranked #344.

Where do we think is a fair expectation and hope for this team to get to and finish next year in 1 under Coach Brooks?

I'm expecting at least 6-8 wins in conference. No idea if that's reasonable.


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Roy McAvoy wrote: ↑

April 30th, 2024, 10:15 pm

So there’s 360 D1 women’s cbb teams and last year usu was ranked #344.

Where do we think is a fair expectation and hope for this team to get to and finish next year in 1 under Coach Brooks?

The next lowest MW team was San Jose State at 287 last year. The next after that was Fresno at 215. It's going to take a few years to field an actually competitive team, but I think finishing somewhere between those is perfectly reasonable.

QuackAttackAggie wrote: ↑

April 30th, 2024, 10:17 pm

Roy McAvoy wrote:So there’s 360 D1 women’s cbb teams and last year usu was ranked #344.

Where do we think is a fair expectation and hope for this team to get to and finish next year in 1 under Coach Brooks?

I'm expecting at least 6-8 wins in conference. No idea if that's reasonable.


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I think that will be tough but isn't impossible. The league is pretty bad.

Roy McAvoy wrote: ↑

April 30th, 2024, 10:15 pm

So there’s 360 D1 women’s cbb teams and last year usu was ranked #344.

Where do we think is a fair expectation and hope for this team to get to and finish next year in 1 under Coach Brooks?

Depends on what the preseason picks are. If US is picked 9th in the MW, then I expect either regular season or tourney championship. Any other placement, I expect finishing between 7-9th in conference

AGinNEIowa wrote:

Roy McAvoy wrote: ↑

April 30th, 2024, 10:15 pm

So there’s 360 D1 women’s cbb teams and last year usu was ranked #344.

Where do we think is a fair expectation and hope for this team to get to and finish next year in 1 under Coach Brooks?

Depends on what the preseason picks are. If US is picked 9th in the MW, then I expect either regular season or tourney championship. Any other placement, I expect finishing between 7-9th in conference

I’ll save you the suspense, we’ll be picked 11th lol

I think we would have more success than we've had recently by recruiting locally. I've joking said that a Cache Valley Girls all star team could have beat last years team coached by Ard, and I wasn't joking. If we could expand to the rest of the state we'd be doing even better. There is NO WAY IN HELL we should be getting out recruited by Utah Tech, UVU, SUU, and Cream of Weber.

How many of the returning or incoming players played their high school ball in Utah or nearby states?

Looks like they announced four signings today. Two who had previously announced their commitment themselves, and two who hadn't announced but I referred to earlier.

Mia Tarver - 5'7 guard - Will be a junior - SLCC
Sophie Sene - 6'3 center - Will be a junior - Rhode Island
Jamisyn Heaton - 5'10 guard - Will be a junior - College of Southern Idaho
Ava Smith - 5'8 guard - Will be a freshman - Camas, Washington

Heaton seems like a good get. Smith is likely a project, but has definite potential. The other two seem like wild cards.

https://utahstateaggies.com/news/2024/5 ... gnees.aspx

Wes Brooks and staff have their work cut out for them. Doesn’t appear have gotten very much talent. Aird was a terrible coach so I am expecting a competent coach will have improved play and moderate improvement in record but this is a multi year project and going to have to slowly improve and hopefully that draws in some more talented players.

Two more signings today. I'm a fan of both of these. A tall, versatile player from a small town in Idaho that very easily may have been overlooked, and a 20-year-old freshman who has a few years of post-high school playing experience.

https://utahstateaggies.com/news/2024/5 ... gnees.aspx

I assume this likely finishes the roster with 14 players, unless there's one more out there that I haven't heard about.

Stucki wrote: ↑

May 1st, 2024, 10:24 am

How many of the returning or incoming players played their high school ball in Utah or nearby states?

Looks like the answer is currently eight, but six of the eight players signed by this staff are local/semi-local.

Livingston out of Ridgeline is going to be a baller. She can shoot the three, and plays hard nosed defense. Expect big things from her once she gets her feet wet.

Two more staff updates for the team today:

Joe Haigh, former head coach at Saint Francis. Did some really nice work there at a really tough place to win, and had them had them as a regular post season team before stepping away to spend more time with his family. Has bounced around as an assistant for the past few years. This seems like a really solid hire.

https://utahstateaggies.com/news/2024/5 ... staff.aspx

Kailie Quinn is the video coordinator. Coached the past few years at Westminster, was an assistant at Utah Tech before that and was a really good player at Weber State. Great to get a few people with strong Utah connections on staff.

https://utahstateaggies.com/news/2024/5 ... staff.aspx

I believe that rounds out the staff.