Pac-12 Women's Basketball Weekly Rundown - March 15, 2023

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PAC-12 RUNDOWN

• 7 » A league record-tying seven teams are headed to the 2023 NCAA Tournament in Arizona, Colorado, Stanford, UCLA, USC, Utah and Washington State. The seven in the bracket matches a Pac-12 best, achieved once before in 2016-17, and are tied for the second most in the country this year.
• 58.3% » With seven of its 12 in the field, 58.3 percent of the Pac-12 is in the NCAA Tournament, which is the second-best clip in the country and tied with 2016-17 for second in Pac-12 history. In 2005-06, six Pac-10 teams were in the NCAA Tournament (60 percent).
• 1 » Stanford earned the No. 1 seed in Seattle Regional 4, the program’s 13th time as a No. 1 seed and the 19th for a current league member all-time (USC - 1982, 1983, 1984, 1986; Washington - 1990; Colorado - 1995).
• 2 » Utah is hosting first and second-round games in the tournament for the second time (2001) as the No. 2 seed in Greenville Regional 2. The Utes, appearing in consecutive NCAA Tournaments for the first time since 2008 and 2009, have their best-ever seed.
• 4 » The No. 4 seed in Greenville Regional 1, UCLA is hosting first and second-round games for the first time since 2018.
• 5 » The No. 5 seed in Greenville Regional 2, Washington State will be making the program’s third consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance. Winners of a program-record 23 games, the Cougs just won four in four days to secure their first Pac-12 Tournament title as the No. 7 seed. WSU is just the third team from a major conference seeded seventh or worse to win their league’s tournament (No. 9 Auburn - 1997 - SEC; No. 7 Kentucky - 2022 - SEC).
• 6 » The No. 6 seed in Seattle Regional 4, Colorado nabbed an NCAA bid for the second straight season, the first time since 2001-04 the Buffs have made consecutive NCAA Tournaments.
• 7 » A No. 7 seed in Greenville Regional 1, Arizona is making its third consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance, the first time the Wildcats have earned three straight NCAA berths since 2003-05.
• 8 » USC is the No. 8 seed in Seattle Regional 3 and in the field for the first time since 2014.
• 2 » Rounding out the Pac-12’s postseason teams are Washington and Oregon, which will host first-round WNIT games against San Francisco and North Dakota State. The Ducks won the WNIT in 1989 and 2002.

PAC-12 POSTSEASON SUCCESS

• Since the 2015-16 season, the Pac-12 leads all conferences in Final Four appearances (7), non-conference winning percentage (.801), NCAA Tournament wins (76) and NCAA Tournament winning percentage (.685).

NCAA TOURNAMENT WINNING PERCENTAGE (SINCE 2016)

TOTAL FINAL FOUR APPEARANCES (SINCE 2016)

• 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).
• In addition to the aforementioned success over the past seven seasons, 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.

DIFFERENT TEAMS TO APPEAR IN A FINAL FOUR (SINCE 2013)

TOTAL FINAL FOUR APPEARANCES (SINCE 2013)

• Since 2016, Pac-12 teams are 53-14 (.791) in the tournament’s first two rounds.

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.
• 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.

BEST REGULAR-SEASON, NON-CONFERENCE WINNING PERCENTAGES (SINGLE SEASON SINCE 1999-2000)

• The country’s deepest conference, Pac-12 schools compiled an average NET positioning of 40.17, which topped the nation (ACC - 44.80; SEC - 50.57; Big 12 - 51.30; Big Ten - 60.36) and is the best for any league in the three years of the NET.
• Utilizing the NET’s Opponent Success metric, Pac-12 schools boast 10 of the 25 toughest schedules in the nation, a total that easily leads the country (ACC - 5; Big Ten - 5; SEC - 3).

NUMBERS OF NOTE

• The nation’s third-leading shot blocker, Stanford’s Cameron Brink has 111 this season, which is tied for sixth 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. Her 290 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 (20.3) and is second in field goal percentage (.585) and is one of two players in the country averaging those numbers this season (Mackenzie Holmes - Indiana). Stanford’s Chiney Ogwumike in 2012-13 (22.4, .586) and 2013-14 (26.1, .601) is the only other Conference player since 1999-2000 to average 20 points on 58.0 percent shooting.
• 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 (12.6 ppg, 11.4 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 11.2 points, 5.0 assists and 2.5 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.

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.

AWARDS WATCH

• All-America honors have started to roll in, beginning with announcements from the Associated Press and U.S. Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) on Wednesday, March 15. Both of those lists featured Cameron Brink (Stanford) and Alissa Pili (Utah) on the second team and Haley Jones (Stanford) on the third team. Charlisse Leger-Walker (Washington State) and Charisma Osborne (UCLA) also received honorable mention nods from the AP.
• The Conference boasts an NCAA-high 21 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 (20).
• Since 2015-16, the Pac-12 also 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. WBCA All-Americans are announced the weekend of the Final Four.
• Brink, Jones and Pili are also the Pac-12 representatives who remain on the national ballot for the Wooden Award (15 names) and Brink and Pili are semifinalists for the Naismith Trophy (10 names).
• Brink is one of four finalists for Naismith Trophy Defensive Player of the Year accolades, and Utah head coach Lynne Roberts is one of 10 semifinalists for Naismith Coach of the Year honors.
• Jones and Utah’s Gianna Kneepkens (Cheryl Miller Award - SF) and Brink (Katrina McClain Award - PF) are also among five finalists for their respective positional awards from the WBCA and Basketball Hall of Fame.
• Academically, Stanford’s Hannah Jump and Washington State’s Charlisse Leger-Walker both landed on the College Sports Communicators Academic All-America second team.

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.

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 (1,185 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.

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.

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