Pac-12 Champion to be decided in final week

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• The Pac-12 regular-season champion will be crowned this final week of the regular season. No. 7/7 OREGON STATE will be looking for its second-straight regular-season crown while No. 9/9 ARIZONA STATE is looking for its first title since 2000-01 and was one-game shy of sharing the crown last year.

• OSU and ASU will try to clinch the Pac-12 title on the road, including two of the toughest places to play this season. The Beavers open its road trip on Friday, Feb. 26 at Maples Pavilion, traditionally one of the toughest places to play in the history of women’s basketball. No. 13/13 STANFORD has suffered just one home league loss this season. The Sun Devils end the season on Sunday, Feb. 28 at No. 14/15 UCLA where the Bruins are undefeated at home in Conference play. Both those games will be on televised Pac-12 Networks.

• For the sixth-consecutive year, the Pac-12 boasts at least five teams with 20-win seasons. Among the teams already at the 20-win plateau are UCLA and OREGON. The Bruins were one win shy of No. 20 last season while the Ducks have made a seven-game improvement so far, after only logging 13 victories last season.

• Owning the No. 1 Conference RPI in the nation, the Pac-12 is the only conference with four teams in the top 10 in the RPI and 10 of the 12 teams are in the top 100.

• Of the 17 players averaging double-doubles in the nation, the Pac-12 is the only league with three players achieving the feat including OREGON’s Jillian Alleyne, WASHINGTON’s Chantel Osahor and UTAH’s Emily Potter

• While it is true that it is tough to win on the road, that has not been more true than in the 2015-16 campaign where three teams -- Arizona State, Oregon State and UCLA -- have not relinquished a win at home in league play. No other conference has as many teams undefeated at home during league action.

• OREGON STATE’s Jamie Weisner was tabbed the Pac-12 Player of the Week while COLORADO’s Kennedy Leonard was voted the Pac-12 Freshman of the Week, only the second Buff to earn the honor all-time and first since 2012-13.

This Week in Pac-12 Women's Basketball

PAC-12 TEAMS IN THE POLLS
Four Pac-12 teams are ranked this week in the Associated Press poll and in the USA Today/WBCA Coaches poll. OREGON STATE matched its highest-ever ranking last week, climbing to No. 7 in both polls. It is the highest ranking of any Pac-12 team, followed by ARIZONA STATE, who is also in the top 10, coming in at No. 9. STANFORD ranks No. 13 in both pollings, while UCLA is No. 14 and No. 15, respectively. Five league teams were ranked in the AP poll from the week of Nov. 30 to the week of Jan. 11, it was the longest stretch of that many Pac-12 teams ranked in league history. Prior to that, five teams had been ranked in the AP on Nov. 13, 2006 for two weeks. Seven different Pac-12 teams earned a national ranking in one or both polls this season.

HAMBLIN EYEING BLOCKS RECORD
OREGON STATE senior Ruth Hamblin is threatening the all-time Pac-12 blocks record. The post who is a two-time CoSIDA Academic All-District selection, has been the Conference’s blocks leader in each of the last two seasons, posting the Conference’s best average this season, as well. Already owning the Pac-12’s top-two blocking seasons, tallying a league-record 144 stuffs as a sophomore in 2013-14, she is on track to becoming the only player in league history with three 100-block seasons.

2K CLUB 
On Jan. 31, two Pac-12 standouts each reached 2,000 career points. WASHINGTON’s Kelsey Plum needed only 88 games to reach 2,000 career points, becoming the fastest player to reach the milestone in Conference history. Jillian Alleyne also hit the mark, becoming the 10th player in the NCAA to total 2,000 career points and 1,500 career rebounds. Plum broke into the top-10 all time in Conference history, collecting 2,182 points to date. 

NCAA Selection Committee Top 10
The NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship Sport Committee made its second of three announcements on Feb. 15 of its top-10 rankings in seed order, giving a look into their current thought process as it relates to the NCAA Tournament selections in early March. Owning the No. 1 Conference RPI for most of the season, the Pac-12 again was the only league with three teams in the ranking as No. 7 OREGON STATE, No. 8 ARIZONA STATE and No. 10 UCLA made an appearance for the second time. The Committee will reveal the final top 10 on Feb. 29.

Pac-12 in the National Stats
As of Feb. 23, WASHINGTON’s Kelsey Plum is averaging 26.8 points per game, the third-best average in the country. One of the most prolific scorers in Pac-12 history, the junior became the fastest player to reach 2,000 career points in Pac-12 history.

OREGON senior Jillian Alleyne has recorded double-doubles in the majority of the games she has played in her career, including 23 this season which is the most in the country. Alleyne also ranks second in the country averaging 13.6 rebounds per game.

Also posting stats in the top-10 in the country are Oregon State’s Ruth Hamblin, averaging 3.37 bpg which ranks ninth nationally and Stanford’s Karlie Samuelson who ranks fifth nationally.

Upset City
January was the month of upset with 12 Pac-12 teams posting underdog wins, based on Associated Press rankings, further highlighting the strength of Pac-12 teams this season. Oregon State set the tone for February, posting the slight upset over Arizona State on the first of the month. The Pac-12 has the No. 1 RPI in the country with four teams in the top 10, the most for any conference in the nation. Below is a list of Conference upsets from this season. Rankings are at the time of the meeting: