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PAC-12 RUNDOWN

• .861 » Pac-12 teams have combined to win 87 of the league’s first 101 games this season. The Conference’s .861 non-conference winning percentage (87-14) is No. 1 in the nation, ahead of the ACC (.800, 108-27), Big East (.797, 59-15), SEC (.791, 102-27), Big 12 (.786, 66-18) and Big Ten (.722, 83-32).
• 28 or 30 » With 34 non-conference games still on the calendar, the Pac-12 would need to win at least 28 to set a record for the best non-league showing in Conference history. In 2016-17, Pac-12 programs went a combined 117-21 (.848) in non-conference play and the league sent a Conference-record seven teams to the NCAA Tournament. Thirty wins or more in those final 34 non-conference games would give the Pac-12 the best non-conference winning percentage for any league since at least 1999-00. The Big 12 went 99-16 (.861) in 2011-12.
• 0 » That collective push begins in Tucson, Ariz. on Thursday, Dec. 8, when the No. 12 Wildcats host Kansas at 5 p.m. PT on Pac-12 Network and Pac-12 Arizona. Both 7-0, Arizona and the Jayhawks are two of the 15 remaining unbeaten teams in the country. Kansas is eight points shy of appearing in this week’s AP Top 25 and leads a group of 16 teams receiving votes with 37 points. Arizona has won 23 consecutive regular-season, non-conference home games. Its last loss came to Loyola Marymount, 66-64, on Nov. 13, 2018.
• 3 » Three of those 15 unbeaten teams in the nation are from the Pac-12 (Arizona, USC, Utah), a total tied for the most among all leagues. The Wildcats are 7-0 for the fourth consecutive season, USC is 9-0 for just the third time since 1985-86 (2015-16, 2018-19) and Utah (7-0) is off to its best start since 2018-19.
• 2 » The week ends with a pair of Conference rivalry tilts on Sunday, Dec. 11 when Washington hosts Washington State at 2 p.m. PT on Pac-12 Network and Pac-12 Washington and No. 17 Oregon hosts Oregon State at 4 p.m. PT on Pac-12 Network and Pac-12 Oregon. New this season, all rivalry games have been separated, with the first played on a mutually agreed-upon date in the month of December and the second during the traditional nine-week Conference schedule.
• 77.6 » Led by the nation’s top scoring offense in Utah (97.0 points per game), Pac-12 programs are collectively averaging 77.6 points on 45.0 percent shooting in the league’s first 101 games. The Utes, which also lead the country in assists per game (21.7) and field goal percentage (52.6), are not alone. Arizona boasts the NCAA’s fifth-best scoring offense (88.1), Stanford is 11th (85.5) and Oregon is 13th (84.9). The Pac-12, one of just three leagues with multiple top-15 scoring offenses, has more than any other league (Pac-12 - 4; Big Ten - 3, ACC - 2).
• 5 » For the third consecutive week, five Conference teams are in the AP Top 25 in No. 2 Stanford, No. 12 Arizona, No. 13 UCLA, No. 15 Utah and No. 17 Oregon. The Pac-12 is tied with the 14-member Big Ten for the most ranked squads in the country and has a greater proportion of its teams ranked (41.7 percent) than any other league.
• 8 of 50 » The NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) made its debut this week with 10 Pac-12 teams currently in the top 100, including eight in the top 50 - No. 2 Stanford, No. 7 Utah, No. 14 Oregon, No. 18 Arizona, No. 20 UCLA, No. 31 USC, No. 33 Colorado and No. 48 Washington State. Only the 14-member Big Ten (10) has more NET top-50 programs.

STRONG START

• As part of its 87-14 start to the season, the Pac-12 is 19-3 on the road, 12-4 against preseason league favorites, 12-9 against 2022 NCAA Tournament teams and 7-10 against Power 6 foes.
• There have been 87 100-point performances in the country this season during non-conference play, but only two teams have scored that many against Power 6 opponents and both are in the Pac-12.
• In the league’s first of three Top 25 wins this season, then-No. 25 Utah routed then-No. 16 Oklahoma in Salt Lake City on Nov. 16, 124-78. The 124 points tied a Ute program record from 1979, are tied for fourth in Pac-12 history, and are the most scored against a ranked team in regulation since at least 1999-2000. A 133-130, quadruple-overtime win for No. 5 Kentucky against No. 9 Baylor on Dec. 6, 2013 is the only game this century in which more points were scored against ranked opponents.
• In addition to Utah’s 124-point outburst, Oregon routed Northwestern, 100-57, on the season’s opening day.
• It’s the first time a league has had two different teams put up 100+ against major conference opponents in the same regular season since the ACC in 2018-19, which had Notre Dame beat DePaul (101-77) and Iowa (105-71) in November and Miami beat Alabama (101-74) in December.

STUNNING SUCCESS OF LATE

• Coming into the year, and not including the pandemic-impacted season of 2020-21 that featured inconsistent non-conference scheduling, the Pac-12 owned two of the three best regular-season, non-conference winning percentages in women’s college basketball since 1999-00.
  • Big 12 - 2011-12 - .861 (99-16)
  • Pac-12 - 2016-17 - .848 (117-21)
  • Pac-12 - 2019-20 - .839 (115-22)
• 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).

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).
• Pac-12 programs put together record-stting recruiting classes last season, signing 23 student-athletes from the 2022 espnW HoopGurlz Top 100 who are freshmen on campus this fall, including seven of the top 10 (No. 1 Lauren Betts, STAN; No. 2 Kiki Rice, UCLA; No. 6 Timea Gardiner, OSU; No. 7 Chance Gray, ORE; No. 8 Aaliyah Gayles, USC; No. 9 Maya Nnaji, ARIZ; No. 10 Raegan Beers, OSU).
• Six of the nation’s top 14 classes from 2022 were put together by Conference programs, including each of the top three and five of the top eight - No. 1 UCLA, No. 2 Oregon, No. 3 Oregon State, No. 5 Stanford, No. 8 Arizona and No. 14 Washington.
• Of the 24 women selected to play in the 2022 McDonald’s All American Game, a national-best 11 are on Pac-12 rosters this season in Arizona’s Paris Clark and Maya Nnaji, Oregon’s Chance Gray and Grace VanSlooten, Oregon State’s Raegan Beers and Timea Gardiner, Stanford’s Lauren Betts and Indya Nivar, UCLA’s Gabriela Jaquez and Kiki Rice, and USC’s Aaliyah Gayles.

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 (1,167 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.
• At the Conference level, the Pac-12 recently made a pair of important hires with backgrounds as NCAA DI Women’s Basketball Committee chairs in Rhonda Lundin Bennett and Lisa Peterson. Bennett, who chaired the committee in 2017-18 and 2018-19, began at the Conference on Sept. 22 as Associate Commissioner for Women’s Basketball & Sports Management, spearheading the Pac-12’s strategic planning efforts to elevate, advance and grow its women’s basketball brand. Peterson started at the Pac-12 on Oct. 17 as Senior Associate Commissioner for Sports Management and is responsible for the comprehensive management and oversight of the league’s 21 Olympic sports.

PAC-12/SWAC LEGACY SERIES

• The first three of six Pac-12/SWAC Legacy Series women’s basketball games took place during the season’s opening week when Arizona State hosted Grambling State on Nov. 11, Washington State hosted Prairie View A&M on Nov. 13 and Oregon played at Southern on Nov. 14.
• Utah played at Mississippi Valley State on Dec. 1 and the final two games are scheduled later this month with Texas Southern at Arizona (Dec. 14) and Florida A&M at California (Dec. 18).
• All Legacy Series games on Pac-12 campuses will feature officiating crews consisting entirely of people of color.
• A first-of-its-kind educational and basketball scheduling pact between Autonomy 5 and HBCU leagues, the Pac-12/SWAC Legacy Series is aimed at: creating a forum for competition; promotion and education around issues of anti-racism and social justice; and motivating the current and next generation of community leaders to affect positive change.

LOOKING TO 2022-23

• Ten All-Conference, five All-Freshman, and two All-Defensive Team honorees return for the 2022-23 season, including the league’s Player of the Year (Haley Jones, STAN), Defensive Player of the Year (Cameron Brink, STAN) Freshman of the Year (Gianna Kneepkens, UTAH), Sixth Player of the Year (Quay Miller, COLO) and co-Most Improved Player of the Year (Bella Murekatete, WSU).
• A combined 17 from the Pac-12 were selected to Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Starting 5 Watch Lists ahead of the 2022-23 season. The Conference’s 17 candidates are tied for the second-most nationally (ACC - 22; Pac-12 17; SEC - 17; Big 12 - 13; Big Ten - 12; ) and are second on a per membership basis (ACC - 1.47/member; Pac-12 - 1.42/member; Big 12 - 1.30/member; SEC - 1.21/member; Big Ten - 0.86/member). A national-best five Pac-12 posts are on the watch list for the Lisa Leslie Award, which is given to the nation’s top center.

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 20 former women’s basketball student-athletes on WNBA opening-day rosters entering the 2022 season. The conference was represented by seven of its 12 members and on 10 of 12 WNBA franchises.
• In comparing conference totals, the Pac-12 was fourth behind the ACC, which entered the WNBA season with a total of 26 on rosters, the SEC (23) and Big Ten (22). Based on per-membership averages, the Pac-12 was second among all leagues with 1.67 per school (ACC - 1.73).
• In addition to the former standouts on team rosters, the Pac-12 was the only collegiate league with multiple alumnae as WNBA head coaches. UCLA’s Noelle Quinn completed her second season leading the Seattle Storm and Stanford’s Vanessa Nygaard was hired to coach the Phoenix Mercury in late January.
• 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