Tag: pac-12 women’s basketball

Buffaloes Wire predicts every Pac-12 game in Women’s NCAA Tournament Sweet 16

Buffaloes Wire predicted the outcomes for the five Pac-12 games in the Women’s NCAA Tournament Sweet 16. What are your picks?

Our friends at Buffaloes Wire are going to leave the Pac-12 in a few months, but there’s still the Sweet 16 at the Women’s NCAA Tournament before Colorado and other schools exit for other conferences. Buffaloes Wire predicted the winners for each of the five Sweet 16 games involving Pac-12 teams. Colorado and USC are both part of the action in a star-studded Sweet 16 round with endless intrigue and drama.

Here is what Buffaloes Wire editor Jack Carlough said about USC’s Sweet 16 game against Baylor, which is this Saturday, March 30, in Portland:

“Although JuJu Watkins is navigating only her first NCAA Tournament run, USC’s star freshman hasn’t been fazed by the big lights this year. I’m taking the Trojans to win by at least 10 over the Bears.”

We all hope Jack is right about this game. Jack’s Colorado team goes up against Caitlin Clark and Iowa on Saturday in the Sweet 16. It’s the second straight year CU and Iowa will meet in the Sweet 16 round of March Madness. USC-Baylor immediately follows Colorado-Iowa on the Saturday schedule, which we have for you right here.

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UCLA Wire previews the Pac-12 in Women’s NCAA Tournament Sweet 16

Get a quick look at each of the opponents facing the five #Pac12 teams left in the Women’s NCAA Tournament.

Our friends at UCLA Wire are previewing the Pac-12’s games in the Women’s NCAA Tournament Sweet 16.

“There are five Pac-12 women’s teams left as the NCAA Tournament reaches the Sweet 16 stage. The games begin on Friday, with UCLA facing LSU in arguably the biggest matchup of them all on Saturday in Albany, New York.”

UCLA Wire editor Matt Wadleigh looks at the opponents for each of the five Pac-12 teams still in the NCAA Tournament. Oregon State’s opponent in the Sweet 16 is Notre Dame. Stanford faces North Carolina State in its upcoming regional semifinal game. The blockbuster game UCLA Wire alluded to above is UCLA versus LSU, a matchup of top-three seeds which includes the defending national champions from Baton Rouge.

USC, as you know, goes up against the Baylor Bears on Saturday afternoon. That game with JuJu Watkins immediately follows a repeat Sweet 16 clash between Colorado and Iowa, with Caitlin Clark trying to extend her career, go back to the Final Four, and attempt to win the national championship which eluded her grasp last year. This is a huge weekend for the Pac-12, a conference trying to make a stand before it dies. Can this conference go out in the blaze of glory, or will it all end not with a bang, but a whimper?

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Pac-12 women’s basketball bubble watch: Arizona right on the cut line before Selection Sunday

Arizona will likely be one of the last four in or the first four out on Selection Sunday. Drama in the Pac-12.

We are all waiting for Selection Sunday, one of the best days of the year for college basketball fans and sports fans. We get to fill out brackets and study the paths for teams on the road to the Final Four. Before making a deep run, though, teams need to get into the NCAA Tournament. In Pac-12 women’s basketball, six Pac-12 teams are guaranteed to be in the NCAA field. The bubble involves a few teams, including Washington State and Cal, but Arizona is viewed as the one team which has a decent chance of getting in.

Arizona is appearing as the last team in or the first team out in some brackets. The Wildcats are very close to the cut line and will have a long wait on Selection Sunday. Their odds are best viewed as 50-50, not a lock and not clearly on the bad side of the bubble, either. They’re right on the fence and will be one of the most-discussed bubble teams on Selection Sunday, for better or worse. If they get in, the Pac-12’s strength of schedule will have carried them. Arizona nearly beating USC twice in the past few weeks highlights the point that if Arizona had won just one of those two games, the Wildcats would clearly be in. As is, they’re a 50-50 shot before the brackets are revealed on Sunday.

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USC and UCLA hope to create a historic Pac-12 Women’s Tournament semifinal

The biggest game at the 2024 Pac-12 Women’s Tournament might not be the championship game. That and more in this Pac-12 notebook.

There’s a lot to talk about at the Pac-12 Women’s Basketball Tournament in Las Vegas. The show is underway on Wednesday afternoon, with USC and UCLA playing Thursday night in the quarterfinals. If they both win — and it’s far from a lock that they will — they would create a historic and hugely important Pac-12 Tournament semifinal matchup late Friday night in Sin City. We’re not taking this matchup for granted — good teams could easily play spoiler and prevent this matchup from happening — but if it happens, we want you to know how big a game it will be on Friday. We’ll lead with that item but then continue with some other discussion topics in this Pac-12 women’s basketball notebook, with help from UCLA Wire:

If USC and UCLA meet on Friday night in the Pac-12 semifinals, the two rivals would meet for bragging rights and a victory in the three-game season series. The teams split the first two meetings, so this would be the decider. That’s meaningful on a personal level for both teams and fan bases, but the real prize on Friday — if these teams do meet — would be a possible No. 1 seed in the Women’s NCAA Tournament. The winner would have good odds of getting that top seed even if it loses in the Pac-12 Tournament final on Sunday. The winner would be near-certain to get a top seed if it then wins the Pac-12 Tournament title on Sunday.

USC and UCLA, if they meet, would play the second (late) semifinal Friday night. ESPN has the final on Sunday. That means this is the last Pac-12 Conference women’s basketball game ever shown on Pac-12 Network. What a way to end the Pac-12 Network era if the Trojans and Bruins meet on Friday.

USC could face Arizona or Washington. UCLA could face Utah. Which quarterfinal is tougher? UCLA Wire’s Matt Wadleigh said “It doesn’t matter who faces USC. JuJu Watkins is that good. UCLA will have a tougher game assuming Utah is the matchup. This tournament seems to be pretty chalk early on, but things can get interesting later on.”

Do UCLA fans want USC to lose before Friday’s semifinals? We don’t think so. UCLA Wire’s Matt Wadleigh agrees.

“I think UCLA fans want part three,” Wadleigh told us. “Sure, an easier matchup is always the hope. Then again, adding another signature win would help their chances of landing a 1-seed in the field of 68. L.A. showdown part three will be fantastic.” 

UCLA hammered Utah not that long ago. Will this meeting be different?

“Not much different,” Wadleigh said. “UCLA is playing arguably its best basketball of the season.” 

Which is the tougher matchup for USC in the quarterfinals on Thursday?

“Washington,” Wadleigh said. “That Huskies loss (earlier in the season) hurts, but perhaps the Trojans have figured out a way to get it down.” 

Wadleigh weighed in on a great coach of the year race in the Pac-12:

“It’s a four-person race: Scott Rueck, Lindsay Gottlieb, Cori Close, and Tara VanDerveer. VanDerveer has the best team, again. Cori Close has dealt with numerous injuries and is on the verge of a 1-seed in the NCAA Tournament. Lindsay Gottlieb has the Trojans looking dangerous, although she has the best player in the conference in JuJu Watkins. I’ll go with Scott Rueck. Oregon State finished second to last a year ago, and they have been a top-25 team and can be a real threat in the Big Dance.”

Wadleigh told us that “Cameron Brink, Alissa Pili, and Lauren Betts all deserve consideration. However, I’ll go with JuJu Watkins. As we have all seen, she is a generational talent that has been key to turning around this USC program. Winning both the freshman player of the year and conference player of the year is extremely rare. But, JuJu is that good.”

Wadleigh summed up JuJu Watkins’ greatness this way:

“She is arguably the second best women’s player in the country behind Caitlin Clark, and any other year she would be at the top. She has been out of this world and just isn’t slowing down.” 

Wadleigh:

“The Oregon state beavers … somehow. The Beavers are destined for the Big Dance after going 13-18 and finishing second to last a year ago.” 

Wadleigh:

“The Oregon Ducks. They won 20 games a year ago and are now losers of 20 games. It’s a tough basketball season all around in Eugene.”

Women’s basketball bubble watch: USC will play a bubble team at Pac-12 Tournament

USC is guaranteed to play a Pac-12 bubble team this week in Las Vegas. The Pac-12 will frankly want USC to lose.

The USC Trojans will be part of the story relating to the Pac-12 bubble in Pac-12 women’s basketball. USC is guaranteed to play a team which is part of the bubble picture at the Pac-12 Tournament this week in Las Vegas. The Trojans’ success and the Pac-12’s success will clash in Sin City. What will be good for USC will not be good for the league.

We will explain that and more in this pre-Pac-12 Tournament edition of the women’s basketball bubble watch. The 2024 Pac-12 Tournament begins Wednesday, March 6, in Las Vegas, continuing through Sunday, March 10. USC is the No. 2 seed at the tournament.

Here’s the latest on the Pac-12 women’s basketball bubble:

2024 Pac-12 Women’s Basketball Tournament Bracket

The bracket is set. Here are all the matchups and seedings for the 2024 Pac-12 Women’s Tournament in Vegas.

It’s that time of year. March means brackets and single-elimination tournaments and a whole lot of madness. The Pac-12 has concluded its final women’s basketball regular season. Next up: The last Pac-12 Women’s Basketball Tournament, which begins next week in Las Vegas. We have a Pac-12 Women’s Tournament bracket for you to look at. The bracket contains all the potential matchups for the event from March 6-10 in Sin City.

Let’s go through each day’s matchups so that you can see how they all line up within the bracket. USC will be the No. 2 seed at this tournament. If the Trojans win two games, they are assured of a No. 2 seed in the 2024 Women’s NCAA Tournament and will have a shot at a No. 1 seed. If USC can win the Pac-12 Tournament, there’s a very good chance the Trojans will be a top seed.

Here is the bracket followed by each day of play in Vegas:

Pac-12 Women’s Basketball Tournament seedings if the season ended today (February 24)

These seedings will change, but right now, USC is in a very good spot.

The Pac-12 Women’s Basketball Tournament will be held from Wednesday, March 6 through Sunday, March 10 in Las Vegas. The Pac-12, if you didn’t already know, has the strongest top five of any conference in the country. Five Pac-12 teams are currently projected to be top-four NCAA Tournament seeds. No other conference can match that total. That’s five teams which will be seeded to make the Sweet 16. Other conferences have two or three significant Sweet 16 threats, but the Pac-12 has more.

With that in mind, here are the seedings for the 2024 Women’s Pac-12 Basketball tournament if the season ended right now. These seedings will obviously change, beginning with results on February 25 and 26. Colorado and UCLA play on the 26th, Monday night, in Westwood:

USC-Colorado women’s basketball showdown is part of a shocking Pac-12 story

The extent of the gap in quality between Pac-12 women’s basketball and men’s hoops is absolutely staggering.

You might be reading this article after USC plays Colorado in a big women’s basketball game on Friday night in Los Angeles. That’s not a problem. What we’re about to share with you is not time-sensitive, in the sense that the result of the USC-Colorado game will change this piece of information or render it obsolete. It won’t. This piece of information will remain relevant regardless of whether the Trojans defeat — or lose to — the Buffaloes in the Galen Center in a battle of Pac-12 women’s basketball teams ranked in the top 12 of the country.

We know that Pac-12 women’s basketball is elite on a national scale. Five teams have a chance to be a top-three seed in the 2024 Women’s NCAA Tournament.

We know that Pac-12 men’s basketball is really struggling, with USC and UCLA failing to make the NCAA Tournament as at-large teams. The only way they get in is if they win the Pac-12 Tournament in March.

Yet, while we know how great Pac-12 women’s hoops is and how mediocre men’s basketball is, the extent of the gap might still surprise you. One fact in particular is an eye-opener. Let’s go in depth on this:

Pac-12 women’s basketball standings: February 20

The two biggest Pac-12 games on Friday had fantastic finishes and shook up the conference race.

The Pac-12 women’s basketball season has been one constant thrill ride. The Pac-12 has more teams projected to be a top-three seed in the 2024 Women’s NCAA Tournament than any other conference.

Stanford, USC, Oregon State, Colorado, and UCLA give the Pac-12 five teams which — on the morning of Tuesday, February 20 — are all projected to be top-three seeds in March Madness. No other conference has more than two projected top-three seeds.

The ACC has North Carolina State and Virginia Tech. The Big Ten has Iowa and Ohio State. The SEC, Big 12, and Big East have just one team apiece. The Pac-12 really does have the best group of five teams in the country. No other conference has a top five as good as the Pac. With that in mind, here are the latest Pac-12 women’s basketball standings heading into this huge weekend of games on Friday, February 23, and Sunday, February 25:

Is Oregon State the best women’s basketball team in the Pac-12? Beavers are climbing

Oregon State swept Colorado and is tied in the loss column for second place in the Pac-12. Watch out.

Sunday in Pac-12 women’s basketball was not straightforward or normal. That’s a warning to USC, which prepares to host Arizona in a Galen Center Monday night special on ESPN2. The Trojans, if they were watching other Pac-12 games on Sunday, watched a few upsets happen which should have them attentive and on upset alert against the U of A. Leading the pack: Oregon State.

The Beavers might soon lead the Pac — not just the pack — if they keep playing the way they are playing.

Pac-12 women’s basketball is extremely cutthroat, and Oregon State is playing cutting-edge defense right now. That and more in our latest installment of Pac-12 women’s basketball notes as the month of March gets closer: