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PAC-12 RUNDOWN

• 1? » For the first time since 2018-19 (Oregon), the Pac-12’s regular-season title will come down to the final weekend. Stanford, Utah and Colorado have all clinched first-round byes in next week’s Pac-12 Tournament and the Cardinal can secure at least a share of its 26th regular-season championship with a win on Thursday at Colorado. The fourth and final bye in Las Vegas remains up for grabs between Arizona and UCLA. The Wildcats need to win just once to lock up their fourth consecutive top-four seed. Utah is assured of the first Pac-12 Tournament bye in program history and Colorado will be skipping the first round for just the second time (No. 4 seed in 2013).
• 7 » An NCAA-best seven Pac-12 teams are in the top 30 of the latest NET rankings - No. 5 Stanford, No. 7 Utah, No. 21 Colorado, No. 22 Arizona, No. 24 UCLA, No. 25 Oregon and No. 28 USC.
• 7 » ESPN’s latest Bracketology from Tuesday, Feb. 21 features seven Pac-12 teams in the field - No. 1 seed Stanford, No. 2 seed Utah, No. 4 seed UCLA, No. 5 seed Arizona, No. 5 seed Colorado, No. 8 seed USC and No. 10 seed Washington State. Oregon is among the first four out and Washington among the next four out. The Conference’s record of NCAA Tournament participants is seven in 2016-17.
• 40.92 » The country’s deepest conference, Pac-12 schools have an average NET positioning of 40.92, which is tops in the nation (ACC - 45.07; Big 12 - 52.10; SEC - 51.71; Big Ten - 59.93).
• 27 » For the fourth time this season, the Pac-12 calendar features a top-10 matchup when No. 3 Stanford is at No. 8 Utah on Sunday at 11 a.m. PT in what could decide the regular-season league title. The showdown will be the 27th between a pair of Pac-12 teams in the AP Top 10 since 2016-17 (including the postseason), which is 12 more than any other league. The ACC has had 15 such meetings over the past seven seasons, the SEC 13, the Big Ten 10 and the Big 12 eight.
• 45 » The Stanford at Utah meeting will be the 45th top-10 matchup between a pair of Pac-12 schools all-time. The Conference only had 18 such games during the first 30 years of women’s basketball sport sponsorship, from 1986-87 through 2015-16.
• 9 » Stanford is tied for the national lead with nine AP Top 25 wins (Indiana) and also has nine wins against the top 25 in the NET (9-1), which is second to UConn’s 10 (10-3).
• 12 » Only 12 D1 teams have at least four wins against NET top 25 opponents and four of those are from the Pac-12, a total tied with the Big Ten for the most among all leagues. In addition to Stanford’s nine such victories, Utah is 5-3 and Arizona and Colorado are both 4-4 against NET top 25 foes.
• 5 » Coming off of victories over then-No. 4 Utah and No. 21 Colorado, Arizona is tied for fifth nationally with five AP Top 25 wins this season, including three in its past six games. It’s just the second time since 1999-2000 the Wildcats have beaten five ranked opponents during the regular season (2019-20).
• +45 » Winners of five of its last seven games, including an upset of then-No. 2 Stanford, Washington has joined the NCAA Tournament bubble in ESPN’s most recent Bracketology by rising 45 places in the NET rankings during the Conference season to No. 71 (116th on Dec. 27). The Huskies have already won eight more games than they did a season ago (7-16), tied for the fifth-best increase among major conference teams.
• 2.92 » Pac-12 programs have combined for an average of 2.92 wins against NET top 25 opponents this season, which leads the nation (ACC - 1.93; Big Ten - 1.71; Big 12 - 1.40; SEC - 1.00). Nine Conference squads have multiple NET top 25 wins, tied with the 15-team ACC for the most in the country (ACC - 9; Big 12 - 5; Big Ten - 4; SEC - 4).

STRONG STARTS

• A number of Pac-12 programs have put themselves in solid positions for NCAA Tournament berths with quality starts to their seasons
  • Colorado (20-5 overall, 12-4 Pac-12)
    • Best overall start since 2012-13 (22-5)
    • Best league start since 1996-97 (12-4 Big 12)
  • USC (19-8 overall, 9-7 Pac-12)
    • Best overall start since 1993-94 (24-3)
    • Best league start since 2013-14 (9-7)
  • Utah (23-3 overall, 13-3 Pac-12)
    • Best overall start sine 2007-08 (23-3)
    • Best league start since 2008-09 (13-3 MW)

NUMBERS OF NOTE

• The nation’s second-leading shot blocker, Stanford’s Cameron Brink has 101 this season, which is good for seventh in league history and the most for any player outside the state of Oregon. Ahead of her on the list are Oregon State’s Ruth Hamblin (3x) and Patricia Bright and Oregon’s Stefanie Kasperski (2x). Her 280 career blocks are fourth in Pac-12 history. Third on the list is USC’s Lisa Leslie who had 321 rejections from 1991-94.
• Utah’s Alissa Pili leads the Pac-12 in scoring and field goal percentage, averaging 20.7 points on 60.5 percent shooting. She is one of just two players in the country this season scoring at least 20.0 points per game while shooting better than 60.0 percent from the floor (Mackenzie Holmes, Indiana). Stanford’s Chiney Ogwumike in 2013-14 (26.1 ppg, .601 FG%) is the only Pac-12 player to finish a season with those numbers since 1999-2000.
• USC forward Rayah Marshall is the only player in the Pac-12 and one of eight major conference players nationally averaging a double-double this season (13.5 ppg, 11.7 rpg). California’s Kristine Anigwe in 2018-19 (22.5 ppg, 16.2 rpg) is the last Pac-12 player to average a double-double for an entire season.
• Averaging 10.6 points and 5.0 assists per game this season, Colorado’s Jaylyn Sherrod is the only player in the Pac-12 and one of 13 major conference players nationally averaging 10 points and five assists. It’s been three seasons since the Conference has had a player average those numbers. UCLA’s Japreece Dean (13.6 ppg, 5.5 apg) and Oregon’s Sabrina Ionescu (17.5 ppg, 9.1 apg) did so in 2019-20.

BEST CONFERENCE IN NON-CONFERENCE

• Pac-12 teams finished with a national-best .852 (115-20) non-conference winning percentage this season, ahead of the ACC (.818, 139-31), Big 12 (.803, 94-23), SEC (.791, 144-38), Big Ten (.760, 117-37) and Big East (.755, 80-26).
• The league’s .852 clip is a new Pac-12 record, bettering the .848 mark (117-21) from 2016-17 when a Conference-record seven teams earned NCAA Tournament berths.
• Not including the pandemic-impacted season of 2020-21, which featured inconsistent and erratic non-conference scheduling, the Pac-12’s .852 winning percentage is the best in the NCAA since the Big 12 won 86.1 percent (99-16) of its regular-season, non-conference games in 2011-12.
• Removing 2020-21, the Pac-12 actually owns three of the four best regular-season, non-conference winning percentages in women’s college basketball since 1999-00.
  • Big 12 - 2011-12 - .861 (99-16)
  • Pac-12 - 2022-23 - .852 (115-20)
  • Pac-12 - 2016-17 - .848 (117-21)
  • Pac-12 - 2019-20 - .839 (115-22)

• The Pac-12 is the country’s top-rated league according to Massey Ratings and also boasts the nation’s No. 1 strength of schedule. Per Massey, the Pac-12 has finished as the No. 1 rated conference every season since 2018-19.

STUNNING SUCCESS OF LATE

• Since 2015-16, the Pac-12 leads all conferences in Final Four appearances (7), non-conference winning percentage (.801), NCAA Tournament wins (76), NCAA Tournament winning percentage (.685) and WBCA All-Americans (15).
• Taking it back even further, the Pac-12 also leads all conferences in Final Four appearances since 2012-13 with nine. Those nine appearances have been spread across six different programs - Arizona (2021), California (2013), Oregon (2019), Oregon State (2016), Stanford (2022, 2021, 2017, 2014), Washington (2016) - which is two more than any other conference.
• Simply put, in an amazing display of depth, half of the Pac-12 has appeared in a Final Four in the past nine NCAA Tournaments. The ACC has had four different programs make the Final Four over the same span, the Big East three, the SEC two, and the Big Ten, Big 12 and American each one.
• Stanford’s appearance in the national semifinals last season was the 20th for the Conference all-time (since the start of Pac-12 sport sponsorship in 1986-87). Of those 20 Final Four appearances, more than one third have come in just the past six NCAA Tournaments (35 percent; seven total).

THE CONFERENCE OF TRIPLE-DOUBLES

• Stanford’s Cameron Brink put together the Pac- 12’s 56th all-time triple-double, and just second with blocks, going for 16 points, 11 rebounds and a Stanford single-game record 10 rejections in a 62-54 home win over Oregon on Jan. 29.
• Per ESPN Stats & Info, a Pac-12 player has now had a triple-double in 12 consecutive seasons, the longest streak by a conference in DI history.

FRESHMAN DOUBLE-DOUBLES

• Oregon State’s Raegan Beers has 13 double-doubles in her first 27 career games and is second among the country’s freshmen in that category (Gracie Merkle, Bellarmine - 17).
• Beers’ 13 double-doubles are the third most for a Pac-12 freshman since 1999-2000.
  • 21 - Shawntinice Polk, ARIZ - 2002-03
  • 14 - Kristine Anigwe, CAL - 2015-16
  • 13 - Raegan Beers, OSU - 2022-23
  • 12 - Jillian Alleyne, ORE - 2012-13
  • 11 - Alissa Pili, USC - 2019-20
  • 11 - Ruthy Hebard, ORE - 2016-17
  • 11 - Chiney Ogwumike, STAN - 2010-11
  • 10 - Taylor Jones, OSU - 2019-20
  • 10 - Nicole Powell, STAN - 2000-01

40+

• One week after Washington State’s Charlisse Leger-Walker became the 25th player in Pac-12 history to score 40 points in a game at Washington on Dec. 11, Oregon State’s Talia von Oelhoffen became the 26th when she poured in 41 on 17-of-20 shooting (.850) in a 96-84 victory over Nevada in Maui on Dec. 17.
• Two of 20 40-point performances in the country this season, the Pac-12 is one of two leagues to have multiple players among the 20 along with the Big East (Aneesah Morrow, DePaul/Maddy Siegrist, Villanova). It’s the first time the Pac-12 has had multiple 40-point scorers in single season since 2016-17 (Kelsey Plum, Washington/Kristine Anigwe, California).

NO SIGNS OF SLOWING DOWN

• Pac-12 women’s basketball programs signed 29 student-athletes to National Letters of Intent during the early signing period for the Class of 2023, 19 of whom are in the espnW HoopGurlz Top 100 (65.6 percent), including three in the top 10.
• Five of the nation’s top 20 classes have been put together by Conference programs, including three of the top 10 - No. 3 Arizona, No. 7 Stanford, No. 10 USC, No. 16 Washington, No. 18 Oregon.
• On Nov. 15, USC signed the nation’s top recruit and a local product in JuJu Watkins out of Sierra Canyon High School. The third time in the past five seasons the country’s No. 1 recruit has picked a Pac-12 program (Lauren Betts, Stanford - 2022; Haley Jones, Stanford - 2019), it’s the first time in nine recruiting cycles that the No. 1 recruit has signed with two different schools in the same league in back-to-back years (A’ja Wilson, South Carolina - 2014; Mercedes Russell, Tennessee - 2013).
• Rosters for the 2023 McDonald’s All American Games were revealed on Tuesday, Jan. 24, and of the 24 women selected to play in the showcase, six have signed National Letters of Intent to join Pac-12 programs next season - Sofia Bell (Oregon), Breya Cunningham (Arizona), Amanda Muse (UCLA), JuJu Watkins (USC) and Jada Williams (Arizona) representing the West, and Courtney Ogden (Stanford) on the East roster - the second-highest total among all conferences (SEC - 7).
• It’s the fifth consecutive year the Pac-12 has boasted at least five signees named to McDonald’s All American Game rosters. Last year, the Conference had a national-best 11 of the 24 women selected.

TOP TALENT THRIVES

• Since 2015-16, the Pac-12 leads all conferences with 15 Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) All-Americans, two more than the SEC (13). Stanford’s Cameron Brink and Haley Jones landed on the 10-member team in 2022, giving the conference multiple WBCA All-Americans for the fourth consecutive season and sixth in the past seven.
• The Conference also boasts a NCAA-high 18 U.S. Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) first-, second- and third-team All-Americans since 2015-16, tied with the 14-team SEC and one more than the 14-team Big Ten (17).

IT STARTS AT THE TOP

• Not only does the Conference boast the winningest coach in the history of women’s college basketball in Stanford’s Tara VanDerveer (1,183 wins), it also has three of the 35 winningest active Division I coaches by percentage in VanDerveer, Oregon State’s Scott Rueck and Oregon’s Kelly Graves, a total tied for the most among Power 5 leagues (ACC).
• Five of the Conference’s head coaches have led a team to the Final Four in Arizona’s Adia Barnes, Oregon’s Kelly Graves, Oregon State’s Scott Rueck, Stanford’s Tara VanDerveer and USC’s Lindsay Gottlieb, who took California in 2013.
• Of the country’s 13 active NCAA head coaches who have led a Division I team to the Final Four, five are from the Pac-12, which is the most among all leagues. The Pac-12 and the SEC (4) are the only conferences with multiple coaches that have taken a program to the Final Four.

FIBA WOMEN’S BASKETBALL WORLD CUP

• Eight Pac-12 women’s basketball players from five schools represented four national teams at the 2022 FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup in Australia.
• Oregon’s Sabrina Ionescu and Washington’s Kelsey Plum suited up for the gold-medal winning United States. Four of the 12 on the Canadian roster were from the Pac-12 in a pair of current Ducks, fifth-year Taya Hanson and sophomore Phillipina Kyei, along with UCLA’s Nirra Fields, a three-time All-Pac-12 performer (2016, 2015, 2014), and Arizona State’s Mael Gilles, the Conference’s fourth-leading rebounder from a season ago. Seattle Storm head coach and UCLA graduate Noelle Quinn was also an assistant coach for Team Canada.
• Colorado’s Mya Hollingshed, the program’s sixth all-time leading scorer and a two-time All-Pac-12 selection (2022, 2021), played for Puerto Rico, and UW’s Sami Whitcomb, who completed her sixth WNBA season with the New York Liberty, played for the bronze medalist Australians.
• The Pac-12’s eight women’s basketball alumnae at the event in Sydney tied with the ACC for the most among all conferences and were two more than the Big Ten (6), three ahead of the Big 12 and Big East (5) and double the SEC (4).

PAC-12 IN THE PROS

• Washington’s Kelsey Plum (first team), Oregon’s Sabrina Ionescu (second team) and Stanford’s Nneka Ogwumike (second team) were three of 10 players voted to the 2022 All-WNBA Team.
• The Pac-12’s three All-WNBA Team members tied with the SEC for most among all conferences and the two leagues were the only ones with multiple selections.
• It was the first time the Pac-12 has had a trio voted to the All-WNBA Team since 2001, when USC’s Lisa Leslie and UCLA’s Natalie Williams were on the first team and the Trojans’ Tina Thompson on the second team. The Conference had at least three All-WNBA picks in the first five years of the league (1997-2001) and had four selections in both 1999 and 2000 (Leslie, Thompson, Williams and USC’s Cynthia Cooper).
• Plum, Ionescu and Ogwumike were also voted starters for the 2022 AT&T WNBA All-Star Game in July, the first time since 2003 the Pac-12 had a trio voted to start in the WNBA’s midseason showcase.
• The Pac-12 had three players selected in the 2022 WNBA Draft, including three of the first eight picks in Nyara Sabally (No. 5 - New York Liberty), Lexie Hull (No. 6 - Indiana Fever) and Mya Hollingshed (No. 8 - Las Vegas Aces). It was the fourth time the Pac-12 had three first-round selections (1997 College Draft, 2000 College Draft, 2020) and the second time it has boasted three of the draft’s first eight selections (2020). The conference has had multiple first rounders in six consecutive drafts, an active streak that leads all leagues by three years. The SEC has had multiple first rounders in three consecutive drafts.

CONFERENCE STANDINGS (Expanded Standings) 

UPCOMING SCHEDULE (Full Schedule)

PAC-12 PERFORMANCE AWARDS PRESENTED BY NEXTIVA (Weekly Awards History)

NATIONAL WEEKLY HONORS