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: