Pac-12 Women's Basketball Weekly Rundown - March 1, 2023

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PAC-12 RUNDOWN

• 1x2 » For the seventh time in Conference history and first since 2015-16, the league’s regular-season title was shared by multiple programs in Stanford and Utah. It was the Cardinal’s third consecutive title and 26th overall and the first for the Utes. The two split their regular-season meetings and Stanford secured the No. 1 seed at the Pac-12 Tournament, its 16th all-tme, by virtue of its 2-0 record against No. 3 seed Colorado. Utah was 1-1 against the Buffs. The Cardinal and Utes were both No. 1 seeds when the NCAA women’s basketball committee released its second and final early top-16 reveal on Feb. 23. The Pac-12 was the only league with multiple teams on the top line and has only had two top seeds once previously (1990; Stanford & Washington).
• 3 » Colorado nabbed the second bye in program history (2013) by locking down the No. 3 seed, the best for the Buffs since joining the Pac-12, with a 95-69 victory over California on Feb. 25. This season, CU will be making back-to-back NCAA Tournament trips for the first time since it earned four consecutive berths from 2001-04.
• 4, 5, 6 » Arizona, UCLA and USC all tied for fourth with 11-7 league marks. The Wildcats earned the No. 4 seed and their fourth-straight, first-round bye, the league’s second-longest active streak (Stanford), because of their 2-0 record against the group (UCLA - 2-1; USC - 0-3). After removing Arizona and moving to a two-team tiebreaker between UCLA and USC, the Bruins grabbed the No. 5 seed because of their two regular-season victories over the Trojans. The Wildcats have won at least 10 Pac-12 contests in four consecutive seasons for the first time since 2002-05. USC’s No. 6 seed is its best since the Trojans won it all as a No. 5 seed in 2014, also the year of their last NCAA Tournament appearance.
• 8 » An NCAA-best eight Pac-12 teams are in the top 40 of the latest NET rankings - No. 3 Stanford, No. 7 Utah, No. 18 Oregon, No. 21 Colorado, No. 25 UCLA, No. 26 Arizona, No. 31 USC and No. 39 Washington State
• 7 » ESPN’s latest Bracketology from Tuesday, Feb. 28 features seven Pac-12 teams in the field - No. 1 seed Stanford, No. 1 seed Utah, No. 4 seed Colorado, No. 5 seed UCLA, No. 6 seed Arizona, No. 10 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 - 44.53; SEC - 51.07; Big 12 - 51.80; Big Ten - 59.64).
• 10 » Stanford leads the nation with 10 AP Top 25 wins and also has eight wins against the top 25 in the NET (8-2), which is second to UConn’s 10 (10-3).
• 35 » Only 35 D1 teams have multiple wins against NET top 25 opponents this season and nine of those are from the Pac-12 (Stanford - 8, Utah - 5; Arizona - 4; Colorado/UCLA/USC/Washington State - 3; Oregon State/Washington - 2), a total that only trails the 15-team ACC (10).
• 2.75 » Pac-12 programs have combined for an average of 2.75 wins against NET top 25 opponents this season, which leads the nation (ACC - 2.60; Big Ten - 2.07; Big 12 - 1.60; SEC - 1.07).

NUMBERS OF NOTE

• The nation’s second-leading shot blocker, Stanford’s Cameron Brink has 109 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 288 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 league in both scoring (20.6) and field goal percentage (.599) and is one of two players in the country averaging those numbers this season (Mackenzie Holmes - Indiana). Also second in the Conference in 3-point field goal percentage, hitting 45.8 percent from behind the arc (27-of-59), Pili is tracking to become just the second NCAA women’s basketball player since 1999-2000 to average 20.0 points, hit 60.0 percent from the floor and make at least 20 3-pointers in a single season (Napheesa Collier - UConn; 2016-17).
• USC forward Rayah Marshall is the only player in the Pac-12 and one of seven major conference players nationally averaging a double-double this season (12.9 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 11.1 points, 5.0 assists and 2.4 steals per game this season, Colorado’s Jaylyn Sherrod is the only player in the Pac-12 and one of four players nationally averaging 11 points, five assists and two steals. It’s been four seasons since the Conference has had a player average those numbers. Colorado’s Kennedy Leonard (12.6 ppg, 6.8 apg, 2.7 spg) and USC’s Minyon Moore (14.8 ppg, 5.9 apg, 2.6 spg) did so in 2018-19.

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 14 double-doubles in her first 29 career games and is second among the country’s freshmen in that category (Gracie Merkle, Bellarmine - 18).
• Beers’ 14 double-doubles are tied for the second most by 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 22 40-point performances in the country this season, the Pac-12 is one of two leagues to have multiple players among the 22 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 (1,184 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