Three Pac-12 teams in NCAA women’s basketball top 10

SAN FRANCISCO - For the first time ever, the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship Sport Committee provided a sneak peek in regard to their current thought process on Monday, providing the first of three February top-10 rankings in seed order. Boasting the No. 1 RPI in the country, the Pac-12 teams had three teams in the top 10, the most for any league in the nation, with ARIZONA STATE coming in at No. 7, followed  by No. 8 OREGON STATE and No. 10 UCLA.

Ranked No. 8 in the latest Associated Press poll also released on Monday, the Sun Devils are the only team in the Pac-12 without a league loss, earning a 9-0 record, the team’s best-ever start to league play. ASU will put that perfect record on the line tonight when they face the ninth-ranked Beavers in Corvallis on ESPN2 at 8 p.m. PT. Last year’s Pac-12 regular-season champion, OSU is just one game back of ASU in the Conference standings heading into tonight’s game. It will be a battle of wills as both are among the top-10 teams in the country in scoring defense, Oregon State allowing just 50.4 points per game, which is fourth-best in the nation. ASU is limiting opponents to just 51.9 ppg, 10th-best in the country.

No. 14 in the AP poll, UCLA is currently third in the Pac-12 after sweeping Colorado and Utah over the weekend. The Bruins are on a five-game winning streak and are 8-2 in league action.

The Pac-12 has the top Conference RPI in the nation with the league featuring four teams in the top 10 of the most recent RPI posted today. No other conference has as many top-10 RPI teams. Five teams are also in the top 16 and 11 are in the top 100.

The Feb. 1 ranking is the first of three times the potential seeding will be announced during February, with future ranking dates coming up again on the 15th and 29th. The initial announcement on each of those days will take place at halftime of the Big Monday games taking place on ESPN2. The three February announcements will have no bearing on the final bracket that will be revealed on Selection Monday, March 14, at 7 p.m. on ESPN.