When considered in its entirety, the Utah women's basketball team had a very impressive campaign in 2007-08.
The Utes (27-5) won a team-record 22 consecutive games at one point and became the first team in the expanded Mountain West Conference to go 16-0 in league play. They were nationally ranked and wound up earning numerous individual accolades.
Senior point guard Leilani Mitchell was an Associated Press All-American, the MWC Player of the Year and a finalist for the prestigious Lieberman Award. Junior guard Morgan Warburton was the conference scoring champ (17.2 points per game), a first-team all-MWC selection and an honorable mention All-American. Sophomore Kalee Whipple netted second-team all-conference honoree.
On top of that, Elaine Elliott was tabbed as the MWC's Coach of the Year and added district honors as well.
All the success, however, may not be enough to overshadow an 0-2 postseason performance. A shocking 60-52 loss to last-place Colorado State in the Mountain West tournament was followed by a quick exit from the NCAA tourney — a 66-59 setback at Purdue, a task that evolved when the Utes received an unexpected No. 8 seed.
"That isn't just going to go away. It's understandable that's what people want to talk about," said Elliott, who completed her 25th season at the Utes' helm. "It's just that there's so much more to the season and so we want to be sure that we celebrate all that was accomplished."
The postseason pain, she added, is something from which they can learn.
"Being successful in the postseason can make a bad season good. That's how people like to look at it," said Elliott. "So we'll obviously look at that and try to get both accomplished when we can."
She realizes that neither path is easy.
"Our sport is so weird. You can't be bad all season long and have a chance to be in the postseason. That's the problem. You've got to be good. You've got to win games. You've got to build your resume for that at-large bid," said Elliott. "So it's a really, really long season and it's very difficult to be as good and as consistent as we were for so much of the season. Not to be able to do that the last two weeks, obviously, was disappointing.
"But it's only part of the story," she explained.
While recording the second-most wins in team history, the Utes wound up leading the MWC in numerous statistical categories — scoring margin, field goal percentage, free throw percentage, 3-point shooting percentage, field goal percentage defense, 3-point percentage defense, rebounding defense and rebounding margin.
They did so with just two seniors — Mitchell, who was drafted by the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury, and Jessica Perry, a four-year starter in the post.
"We've got some good experience coming back, and we'll obviously have to work in an inexperienced point guard," said Elliott. "But we still feel like we have reason for great optimism."
The year with Mitchell, she noted, should pay dividends down the road.
"Without a doubt. You know (Mitchell) really made for Morgan and Kalee's best years, which for them means great confidence. They know what they can do," said Elliott. "They know they have to take over that leadership role, and they'll be more than ready to do that."
Warburton, in fact, is so eager about next season she wanted to keep going. Elliott, however, told her to take a little time off and she'd see her and the rest of the team in a couple of weeks.
"That's what you want. You want kids who are ready to go and they are," said Elliott. "The returning kids were ready to go the first time they stepped back in my office."
Besides Warburton and Whipple, senior-to-be Katie King returns as a starter. Halie Sawyer, Deanne Stevenson, Cydney Knight, Hennasea Tokumura, Shasha McKinnon and Josi McDermott are returning reserves. They'll compete with four newcomers who will join the mix next season. Janita Badon, a 5-foot-6-inch point guard at Jefferson High School in Portland, Ore., is the frontrunner to replace Mitchell as a starter.
"She'll have every reason to believe that's exactly what she'll do," said Elliott, who explained that Hannah Stephens from Archbishop Mitty High School in San Mateo should provide some competition.
"We feel like we'll have a good bunch to look at as far as that positions goes," said Elliott.
Box Elder star Mandy Munns, a 6-foot-3-inch post player, will also be brought along as quickly as possible as the Utes seek to replace Perry.
Utah's other recent signee, Iwalani Rodrigues from Kalani High School in Hawaii, is a pure shooter who Elliott said could give the Utes a good rotation at the guard-swing position next season.
Season at a glance
Final record: 27-4, 16-0
Postseason: A shocking 60-52 loss to last-place Colorado State in the Mountain West Conference tournament quarterfinals was followed by a season-ending 66-59 loss to Purdue in the opening round of the NCAA tournament.
Starters lost: All-American point guard Leilani Mitchell (16.8 ppg, 7.2 apg) and four-year starting post player Jessica Perry (6.3 ppg, 5.3 rpg).
Starters returning: Morgan Warburton (17.2 ppg, 5.4 rpg), Kalee Whipple (14.7 ppg, 7.3 rpg) and Katie King (6.6 ppg, 4.9 rpg).
Season highlights: A 22-game winning streak that began Dec. 8 and ended on March 12. An 81-77 double overtime loss to eventual NCAA tournament finalist Stanford in the Huntsman Center on Nov. 18 was also noteworthy.
Season lowlights: The postseason. Losses to Colorado State and Purdue brought a record-setting season to an abrupt end.
E-mail: dirk@desnews.com