OREM, Utah — The Utah Valley University women's basketball team tips off the 2022-23 season on Monday, Nov. 7 at 6 p.m. MT in the UCCU Center against Park Gilbert University. It will be the only game at home until Dec. 1, when UVU hosts St. Thomas.

The Wolverines return seven letterwinners from last season and welcome nine new players and returning redshirts to the program. Among the returners are senior Kayla Anderson and preseason All-WAC selection, junior Shay Fano.  

EXPERIENCE WANTED
This year's version of the UVU women's basketball team is one of the most inexperienced and young teams in the program's recent history after losing its top four point scorers and top three rebounders from last season. The Wolverines return just 20.1% of the scoring offense and 27.5% of the total rebounds. Shay Fano, who was named to the preseason All-WAC second team, was limited to 12 games last year due to injury and averaged 6.7 points and 6.6 rebounds per game. She is the leader among all returners in both categories. There's just one senior on the roster, Kayla Anderson, with 13 players in their first two seasons of eligibility. 

UP NEXT
UVU will play the first of seven in-state games on Friday, Nov. 11 at 1:30 p.m. MT at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. The Wolverines have three in-state road games in non-conference play with contests at Weber State (Nov. 19) and Utah State (Dec. 3). UVU will also have home and away games in WAC play against SUU and Utah Tech. 

ABOUT PARK GILBERT
Park University Gilbert defeated SAGU-American Indian University, 99-63, in the season opener on Thursday. Monday's game at UVU will be an exhibition for the NAIA program. UVU and Park met one time previously, which was also an exhibition for the Buccaneers. UVU won that contest, 90-47, on Nov. 9, 2021, which was last year's season opener. 

WAC ADOPTS SEEDING SYSTEM
A resume seeding system will be used by the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) to determine how teams are seeded (men's and women's) at this year's WAC Basketball Tournaments. An algorithm will rate performance against all teams faced in the regular season, not just conference play. That will rank teams for the conference postseason tournament.

WAC Commissioner Brian Thornton and Associate Commissioner of Basketball Drew Speraw, worked with Ken Pomeroy of kenpom.com to put together this formula.

Using this resume seeding system, teams will receive more credit by playing stronger opponents than if they play weaker opponents. This should help the WAC have higher NET rankings, a key-criteria used by the NCAA basketball selection committees.

THE NEW WAC
The 2022-23 school year brings two new faces to the WAC with the additions of Southern Utah and UT Arlington. SUU's entrance in the league gives Utah three WAC schools. The conference has a total of 13 schools for the 2022-23 academic year. Chicago State is no longer part of the WAC, and both New Mexico State and Sam Houston are leaving next summer for Conference USA.