This week in Pac-12 Women's Basketball

• Once again the Conference of Champions boasts four teams ranked in the AP top 25, three of which are ranked in the top 10 which is the most of any other conference. UCLA comes in at #5, and is followed by #6 STANFORD, #10 ARIZONA and #11 OREGON. 

 

• STANFORD is at #2 in the latest NET Rankings, followed by #4 OREGON, #7 UCLA, #15 ARIZONA, #31 WASHINGTON STATE, #59 COLORADO, #63 OREGON STATE, #65 USC and #77 ARIZONA STATE for nine teams inside the top 80. The three teams in the top 10 are the most of any other conference.

 

• WASHINGTON STATE’s Charlisse Leger-Walker earned her fifth Pac-12 Freshman of the Week honor on Monday, becoming the seventh player in league history to earn the honor five-or-more times since the award started during the 2012-13 season. Former CALIFORNIA standout Kristine Anigwe owns the record for most Freshman of the Week nods with eight, which she earned during the 2015-16 campaign.

 

• Santa Clara County has returned to the Purple Tier following the lifting of California’s Regional Stay at Home Order, which allows STANFORD to resume training and competition involving contact, close proximity and equipment sharing, both indoors and outdoors. The No. 6 Cardinal, who have not played a true home game since Nov. 25, are scheduled to host COLORADO on Feb. 5 at Maples Pavilion.

 

• The NCAA announced several planning updates for the 2021 Division I Women’s Basketball Championship, including the reiteration of a 64- team bracket. The committee also announced that for the 2020-21 academic year, it would waive the .500 rule, which normally requires teams to have overall won-lost records of .500 or better to be considered for an at-large selection. Due to the entire championship moving to one geographic area and the San Antonio region currently under consideration, the committee decided to remove references to geography in principle for placing teams into the bracket for the 2021 championship only. More information can be found here.