Alissa Pili named Pac-12 Player of the Year

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Maples Pavilion Palo Alto, CA. 20th Jan, 2023. Utah forward Alissa Pili (35)drives to the hoop during the NCAA Women's Basketball game between Utah Utes and the Stanford Cardinal. Stanford beat Utah 74-62 at Maples Pavilion Palo Alto, CA. Utah would avenge the loss with a 84-78 victory over #3 ranked Stanford on February 25th. Thurman James /CSM

|Feb 28, 2023|

Dimond's Alissa Pili was named Pac-12 Freshman of the Year following the 2019-20 season. Now in her junior year, Pili was announced Tuesday as the 2023 Pac-12 Women's Basketball Player of the Year.

Pili was named the Pac-12 Player of the Year in both the coaches and media awards, the first player ever to earn this honor. She also earned Most Improved Player in the Pac-12 Media Awards.

Pili started her college career at USC, and after two seasons, entered the portal and chose the University of Utah for the 2022-23 season. The match has been good, as Utah claimed its first-ever Pac-12 title by taking down No. 3 Stanford 84-78 on Saturday, February 25th. As a result, Utah holds the No. 3 ranking in this week's AP Polls, the highest ranking in school history.

Leading the conference in scoring (1st Pac-12, 16th in the nation) and a 59.9% shooting percentage (1st Pac-12, 15th in the nation), Pili is averaging 20.6 points, 5.5 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game. She's scored in double figures in 26 of the 27 games.

With one more month remaining in the season, Pili has led Utah to new heights.
Michael Novelli

Michael Novelli

Michael Novelli is the founder of Prospect Athletics and serves as CEO of Innovate, an Anchorage based advertising and business consulting firm.

His seventeen years of heading up Innovate, has brought him roles with the Alaska Wild football team (Alaska's first professional indoor football team), and nearly ten years with the Alaska Fighting Championship, Alaska's premier mixed martial arts organization. Prior to that he founded the AFL, Alaska's first outdoor adult tackle football league.

With his two oldest kids having made the jump into college athletics and coaching, and three more active kids under the age of ten, Novelli is fully immersed as a parent of student-athletes. He understands the opportunities that student athletics bring in youth development.