UTAH UTES
Utes Bulletin: Things Happening In Utah Athletics (Week Of 2/27/23)
SALT LAKE CITY โย With football on a bit of a hiatus till spring ball kicks off and several of the smaller sports in full-swing and having success, we thought a one-stop-shop for little tidbits of Utah Athletics information might be helpful for you, the fan, with the Utes Bulletin.
If you missed any of the highlights from the previous week, you can review that here.
Without further ado, here is this weekโs Utes Bulletin that includes ranking updates, upcoming events for the week, and important dates to keep track of among other things of interest concerning Utah Athletics for the week of 2/27/23.
๐จ๐๐ฎ๐ต ๐๐๐ต๐น๐ฒ๐๐ถ๐ฐ๐ ๐ง๐ต๐ถ๐ ๐ช๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ธ
โพ๏ธ @utahbaseball
๐โโ๏ธ @UTAHswimdive
โณ๏ธ @UtesGolf
๐ @UtahWBB
๐ฅ @Utah_Softball
๐พ @UteWomensTennis
๐คธโโ๏ธ @UtahGymnastics
๐ @UtahBeachVB
๐ @UtahMBB
๐ฅ @UtahLacrosse
๐พ @UtahTennis๐๏ธ https://t.co/pL7bwJzVjf#GoUtes pic.twitter.com/N1iEZDwAGa
— Utah Athletics (@utahathletics) February 27, 2023
Utah Utes Women’s Basketball
What haven’t the Utah women’s basketball team accomplished lately?
- Beating No. 3 Stanford for a piece of the Pac-12 Regular Season Title? Check.
- Earning the two-seed and a first round BYE at the Pac-12 Tournament? Check.
- Hauling in the highest AP Ranking in program history (No. 3)? Check.
Basically, life has been really good to the Utes in 2023 with a little more to perhaps check off of the list starting with Pac-12 post-season play this week.
Down goes No. 3 Stanford. Your No. 8 ranked @UTAHWBB walks away victorious 84-78.#GoUtes #UteProud #LightTheU pic.twitter.com/YIkQHVerzm
— Michelle Bodkin (@BodkinKSLsports) February 25, 2023
Who, What, When, Where
The Utah women’s basketball team will be heading to Las Vegas this week in search of being named the Pac-12 Champion in the conference tournament. The Utes will enjoy a first-round BYE on Wednesday while watching Cal and Wazzu closely to determine who they will take on come Thursday.
Tip-off for the Utes’ first Pac-12 Tournament is set for 7:00 pm MT, Thursday, March 2 and can be viewed on Pac-12 Networks.
The #PAC12WBB Tournament is this week in Las Vegas! ๐๐
Be There: https://t.co/LL22FyakRj@UtahWBB | @pac12 | #GoUtes pic.twitter.com/dXuva3S7VH
— Utah Athletics (@utahathletics) February 27, 2023
Utah Gymnastics
After a disappointing outing in Tempe on Monday, the Red Rocks had to regroup and reorganize quickly to host No. 6 Cal on Friday. Girl, did they.
The clip being 22 seconds long ๐ฅบ ๐ https://t.co/HkCMZvgQ19
— Jaedyn Rucker (@JaedynRucker) February 25, 2023
Moving Up The Rankings
After standing pat at No. 4, Utah made some moves in the college gymnastics hierarchy for 2023 sliding in at No. 3 this week and flirting very hard with No. 2.
๐ช๐๐๐ ๐ด โจ ๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ป๐ธ๐ฒ๐ฑ #๐ฏ
Event Rankings โคต๏ธ
Vault: 5th
Bars: 4th
Beam: 1st
Floor: 9th#trUSt pic.twitter.com/2sBikYLgCo— Utah Gymnastics (@UtahGymnastics) February 27, 2023
The Utes also rank in the Top Five in three of four events: vault, bars, beam while steadily improving their positioning on floor from a week before.
Who, What, When, Where
The Red Rocks will wrap up their regular season home slate against Arizona on Friday, March 3 at 7:00 pm MT. They will be honoring six seniors for Senior Night and want 15,000 strong there to do it. In honor of Utah’s No. 3 ranking fans can purchase tickets for Friday’s send off for $3.
The Red Rocks are ranked #3 in the nation & we're offering $๐ ๐ญ๐ข๐๐ค๐๐ญ๐ฌ to our last home meet of the 2023 season this Friday against Arizona! ๐
๐๏ธ https://t.co/etrIUdOiub#trUSt | #GoUtes pic.twitter.com/hhCYV7yFKJ
— Utah Gymnastics (@UtahGymnastics) February 27, 2023
The meet can be viewed on Pac-12 Insider.
Utah Men’s Basketball
The men unfortunately dropped their last two home games of the Pac-12 regular season to No. 4 UCLA and USC. The Runnin’ Utes kept both games within reach of victory, but just lacked the firing power to make the strong finish they desired.
โค๏ธ๐ค๐ค pic.twitter.com/QqXfW4bjAZ
— Utah Basketball (@UtahMBB) February 26, 2023
Who, What, When, Where
Utah will have one more chance to end the regular season on a high note but will have to do it on the road this week paying Colorado a visit on Saturday, March 4. Tip-off is set for 3:30 pm MT and can be viewed on Pac-12 Networks.
Utah Football
Utah football head coach Kyle Whittingham was asked to be the speaker for the inaugural Union Scholarship Speaker Series designed to raise funds for the Utah student union scholarship funds. Whittingham didn’t disappoint talking about various aspects of leadership and how the team has recently overcome the deaths of two teammates within a nine-month span.
I am in the process of writing this up right now and will share more of the videos tomorrow, but this one really stuck out. @UtahCoachWhitt was asked about some of the adversity @Utah_Football has faced recently in regard to Ty Jordan & Aaron Lowe. His answer was exactly 1:22. pic.twitter.com/GVbluo8AKF
— Michelle Bodkin (@BodkinKSLsports) February 24, 2023
As part of the healing process for his team, Whittingham revealed they plan on renaming their “Red and White Game” to the “22 Forever Game” in honor of Ty Jordan and Aaron Lowe. The “22 Forever Game” will appropriately take place on April 22.
Four Utes Head To Indy
The NFL Combine for the 2023 NFL Draft starts this week and Utah will have four representatives. Tavion Thomas, Braeden Daniels, Clark Phillips III, and Dalton Kincaid are making their way to Indianapolis to showcase their talents for all 32 teams.
22 Forever
๐ค pic.twitter.com/SYIcHdp16n— Clark Phillips lll (@ClarkPhillips21) February 27, 2023
Unfortunately, Kincaid will not be going through drills, but will be there to talk to and interview with teams. Kincaid has recently seen his Draft stock rise after a strong 2022 senior season with some experts projecting him as a first-round talent.ย
Utah Baseball
Quick chit-chat with Coach Henderson before we hop on the plane home to SLC#GoUtes pic.twitter.com/97K3odE2TQ
— Utah Baseball (@utahbaseball) February 27, 2023
The Utes will be returning to Texas this coming weekend for a three-game series at UTSA from Friday through Sunday, March 3-5.
Utah Lacrosse
The Utes had a tough outing Baltimore, Maryland again Johns Hopkins University falling 12-8. They now sit 1-3 on the 2023 season. Utah will be looking to regroup on the road this weekend against No. 8 Rutgers on Saturday, March 4, at 11:00 am MT.
Final: JHU 12, Utah 8
Regroup, refocus, look forward. #GoUtes pic.twitter.com/vu3hz8kVM5
— Utah Lacrosse (@UtahLacrosse) February 25, 2023
The Pac-12 Media Rights
The varying reports were yet another example of how no one really knows what is going on with the Pac-12 and their negotiations except for those who are actually in those meetings. With any luck a resolution will be coming soon with some speculating around the middle of March.
Pac-12 Media Day
Not a lot of information has been revealed yet about the Pac-12’s 2023 football Media Day, but the conference did announce the event will take place in Las Vegas on July 21 this year. This is a departure since Utah and Colorado joined the conference in 2011 from hosting the event in Los Angeles.
Michelle Bodkin is the Utah Utes Insider for KSLsports.com and host of both the Crimson Corner Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and The Saturday Show (Saturday from 10 a.m.โ12 p.m.) on The KSL Sports Zone. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram: @BodkinKSLsports
