SAN FRANCISCO -
Stanford has been selected as the preseason favorite to win the 2022-23 Pac-12 Womens Basketball regular-season crown in separate votes by the leagues head coaches and 28 media members who cover the league.
The Cardinal garnered all available 11 first-place votes and totaled 121 points in the coaches poll, and each of the 28 first-place votes and 336 points in the media poll.
Oregon was picked to finish second in the coaches poll with 101 points, one point ahead of third-place Arizona. The teams switched spots in the media vote, with the Wildcats second (291 points) and Ducks third (275 points).
Team Nos. 4-12 were the same in both polls, with UCLA leading that group in fourth and followed by Utah in fifth. The Utes, last season's Pac-12 Tournament runners-up, received the remaining first-place vote in the coaches poll. Oregon State was selected sixth to round out the polls' top half.
Over the last seven seasons, the Pac-12 leads all conferences in Final Four appearances (7), NCAA Tournament wins (76), NCAA Tournament winning percentage (.685), regular-season, nonconference winning percentage (.793) and WBCA All-Americans (15).
Ten All-Conference, five All-Freshman, and two All-Defensive Team honorees are set to return for the 2022-23 season, including the leagues 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).
Of the 24 women selected to play in the 2022 McDonalds 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
.
Pac-12 programs signed 23 student-athletes from the 2022 espnW HoopGurlz Top 100 who are freshmen on campus this fall, including seven of the top 10 (#1
Lauren Betts
, STAN; #2
Kiki Rice
, UCLA; #6
Timea Gardiner
, OSU; #7
Chance Gray
, ORE; #8
Aaliyah Gayles
, USC; #9
Maya Nnaji
, ARIZ; #10
Raegan Beers
, OSU). Six of the nations top 14 classes 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.
2022-23 PAC-12 WOMEN'S BASKETBALL PRESEASON COACHES POLL
Coaches may not vote for their own teams.
Rank
|
Team (First-Place Votes)
|
Points
|
1.
|
Stanford (11)
|
121
|
2.
|
Oregon
|
101
|
3.
|
Arizona
|
100
|
4.
|
UCLA
|
91
|
5.
|
Utah (1)
|
84
|
6.
|
Oregon State
|
62
|
7.
|
Washington State
|
61
|
8.
|
Colorado
|
55
|
9.
|
USC
|
50
|
10.
|
Washington
|
28
|
11.
|
California
|
21
|
12.
|
Arizona State
|
18
|
2022-23 PAC-12 WOMEN'S BASKETBALL PRESEASON MEDIA POLL
Rank
|
Team (First-Place Votes)
|
Points
|
1.
|
Stanford (28)
|
336
|
2.
|
Arizona
|
291
|
3.
|
Oregon
|
275
|
4.
|
UCLA
|
237
|
5.
|
Utah
|
226
|
6.
|
Oregon State
|
181
|
7.
|
Washington State
|
170
|
8.
|
Colorado
|
145
|
9.
|
USC
|
105
|
10.
|
Washington
|
78
|
11.
|
California
|
71
|
12.
|
Arizona State
|
69
|