LAS VEGAS – BYU women's basketball head coach Amber Whiting, junior forward Lauren Gustin and sophomore guard Nani Falatea represented the Cougars at the West Coast Conference Women's Basketball Media Day on Wednesday in Las Vegas.
Whiting and company previewed BYU's upcoming season with an appearance on the WCC's live broadcast at media day along with two of her top returners in Gustin and Falatea. The group also participated in several photo and video shoots, social media content creation and additional interviews for the 2022-23 campaign.
At the start of the day the WCC released its preseason coaches poll, picking BYU to finish third in the league behind Gonzaga and Portland. The Cougars were picked to win the conference last year and followed through on the prediction with a 15-1 WCC record en route to a regular-season title.
“I think it definitely gives us some motivation heading into this year,” Whiting said about the preseason poll. “I think we will surprise a lot of people with the team we have and I am looking forward to getting started.”
BYU returns Gustin, who was named to the All-WCC Preseason team Wednesday, along with Falatea but is looking to replace four starters, including WCC Player of the Year Shaylee Gonzales and all-conference selections Paisley Harding and Tegan Graham, along with Sara Hamson, the two-time WCC Defensive Player of the Year.
“We lost a lot of good players, a lot of seniors, a lot of leaders, Gustin said. "But I think it provides others with opportunities step up and become better players."
In addition to Gustin and Falatea, the team's 3-point percentage leader last season (50.0 percent), BYU returns Kaylee Smiler, Emma Calvert and Arielle Mackey-Williams who played significant minutes last season. The Cougars also get Rose Bubakar, Kate Vorwaller, Devry Millett, Heather Hamson and Amanda Barcello back this year.
BYU also added Arizona State transfer Gabriela Bosquez, true freshmen signees Alyssa Blanck and Sophia Lee along with newcomers Sierra Johnson, Mayci Taylor and Eliza Galbreath to round out the roster.
The Cougars open the season On Nov. 8 at Colorado State.