Stanford tops 2021-22 Pac-12 women's basketball preseason coaches poll

SAN FRANCISCO – Defending NCAA and Pac-12 champion Stanford has been selected as the preseason favorite to win the 2021-22 Pac-12 women’s basketball title in a voting of the Conference’s coaches.

The Cardinal, which won its third national championship and 24th Pac-12 regular-season title last season, collected every available first-place vote (11) and totaled 121 points to top the preseason poll. Coming off its fourth consecutive Sweet 16 appearance, Oregon picked up the remaining first-place vote and was second with 108 points. Coaches are not allowed to vote for their own teams.

UCLA came in third with 101 points, Oregon State fourth with 86 points, defending national runner-up Arizona fifth with 83 points and Washington State sixth with 70 points. The top six teams in the preseason poll all earned NCAA Tournament bids last season, marking the fourth consecutive occasion at least half of the Conference’s programs earned bids on Selection Monday and the seventh straight with five-or-more berths.

Colorado (65 points), Arizona State (47 points), USC (45 points), Utah (25 points), Washington (25 points) and California (16 points) rounded out the predicted order of finish.

Stanford topped the preseason poll for 15 consecutive years from 2000-01 through 2014-15. Oregon State led all preseason vote getters for the first time in 2015-16, while UCLA was the pick in 2016-17 and 2017-18, followed by Oregon in 2018-19 and 2019-20. The Cardinal was also the preseason favorite in 2020-21 after a run of five consecutive second-place finishes in preseason polling of the league’s coaches from 2015-16 through 2019-20.

Yesterday, the Pac-12 announced television broadcast details for the 2021-22 women’s basketball season. Every Pac-12 league game will be televised as part of a package that includes 125 total games on Pac-12 Networks and another six on ESPN networks.

All 12 head coaches and two student-athletes from each school are in San Francisco today to preview the upcoming season as part of 2021 Pac-12 Women’s Basketball Media Days. Complete coverage will be available across Pac-12 Networks, Pac-12 Insider, Pac-12.com and the Pac-12 Now app.

2021-22 PAC-12 WOMEN'S BASKETBALL PRESEASON COACHES POLL