Potter Looks To Lead By Example In 2017-18

The stats speak for themselves. 1,248 career points, 802 rebounds (242 offensive, 560 defensive) and 215 blocks. Emily Potter enters her senior season ranked in the top-10 all-time at Utah in blocks, defensive and offensive rebounds and is one of just 27 players to score 1,000 career points, but with just one season left of collegiate basketball, Potter's goals for the year extend past the court.

The senior wrapped up her marketing degree this past year, but is going for a double-major in journalism as well, something she hopes to accomplish in the next couple of semesters. With sports being a huge part of her life, she feels excited about the opportunities her new passion might lead her to.

"After I got my degree in marketing, I thought I would try communications and the journalism path seemed like a good one," Potter said. "We have Pac-12 broadcasters at our games and a lot of them are former players. My roommate Tanaeya [Boclair] said 'I think you would be really good at that.' They get to talk about basketball and I feel like I could talk forever about basketball, so I figured that would be something I could try."

While she has lights, camera, action on her mind, she knows that a possible professional basketball career is in her future as well. The Utes have been successful in sending former players on to the pros, something Potter hopes she can be a part of.

"It is hard for me to look past basketball right now, because I would love to play for the rest of my life," she said. "But I know there is going to come a day when I have to stop playing."

When that day comes, Potter's possibilities are endless. Whether it is a career in broadcasting or not, the senior has decided she wants her life to stay in sports.

"I have thought about getting into coaching," she said. "It is something that interests me. But I also think I would like to be involved in the other side of it with broadcasting, marketing or writing."

Coaching could come into play sooner than later for Potter, with six new freshmen on the team and three of them being posts, the senior already knows her leadership role will be extended this year. Potter's mark on the program is in the record books, but it is her goal to leave behind something that is not on paper for the freshmen.

"On the court, I want to be a good leader for the incoming girls and the underclassmen," she said. "When I leave the program, I want it to just keep going up. I want to leave the program better than I found it."

Potter came to campus in 2013 along with fellow senior Wendy Anae. They, along with senior Tanaeya Boclair were at Utah for the transition from one staff to another. Changing coaching staffs early in a career can be tough, but Potter and the other seniors saw the positives in both.

"Coaching changes are always hard," Potter said. "I will always love the staff that brought me here because they recruited me and I am standing here because of them, so I will always be thankful toward them for making me a Ute."

"I am also thankful of the new staff. They took all of us in when they weren't the ones that recruited us. They saw us for what we were and saw the potential we brought to the table and guided us toward what we could be. I think we are starting to reach that. They understand us as players, so I am really excited for my last year with them and to see how far we have come and how far we can keep going."

It has been quite the road for Potter. She averaged 10.5 points and 6.7 rebounds as a freshman, but then was sidelined with an injury her sophomore year. She came back strong to earn Pac-12 all-conference her redshirt sophomore season and again as a junior, setting the single-season record for blocks two years in a row.

She is averaging 2.3 blocks per game through 95 career games as a Ute, but despite being near the school record for career blocks, it isn't a stat she looks for during games. After earning Pac-12 All-Defensive team honors in 2017, Potter is looking to her senior year as a year to show her versatility on the defensive side of the ball.

"I think defense has always been a work in progress for me," she said. "Offense is easy to work hard for because you are getting points and everyone is happy when they score. I am coming to understand that defense is just as important, if not more important than offense. I want to be the anchor of the defense so that if people get beat, I want them to trust that I am going to be there to help. I want to be a presence there for my teammates."

That presence has been felt from top to bottom on and off the court. Potter's leadership on the team is immeasurable, but her personality and fun-loving attitude has helped her also gain a new family in her teammates.

The senior has been roommates with Boclair and Erika Bean for two years now. Whether it is watching the "Bachelorette" together or cooking dinner, the three have formed a tight bond, but it was a test in the first couple of months of living together that sealed the deal.

"One time, our washing machine flooded our basement," Potter said laughing. "We had to try and get rid of all of the water as fast as we possibly could. So, we got little cups and we were taking water out as fast as we could. It was pretty soon after we had all moved in, but we made it through."

It is relationships like those, and with her fellow seniors in Boclair, Anae and Tilar Clark that Potter will remember about her time at Utah. The four seniors on this year's squad come from all over and all found different paths to Salt Lake City.

Anae and Potter joined the team in 2013 as freshmen with Boclair coming in 2014. Clark transferred to Utah from Salt Lake City Community College last season, joining the group later than the rest.

From Canada to California and Idaho to Texas, the four seniors made their way to Salt Lake City. With Potter looking toward a professional career and broadcasting, Anae wanting to start a family and be a social worker, Clark wanting to run her own hotel and Boclair looking to be a coach on and off the court, the four seniors will take different paths after Utah, but one thing is for sure, their focus is on their team this season.

"I feel like everyone is really close at this point. With the seniors, we are all really different in what we want to do after this year," Potter said. "But we are all committed to the team and we are excited to get this season going."

Utah starts the season with an exhibition match against Carroll College on Thursday, Nov. 2 at 11 a.m. MDT. For season tickets, fans can call their account rep in the Utah ticket office of visit UtahUtes.com.

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Wendy Anae

Erika Bean

Tanaeya BoClair

Tilar Clark

Emily Potter

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