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.”