Pac-12 in Women's NCAA Tournament: Stanford Is the Only Team Left

Here’s something few expected: The Pac-12 is sending more men’s teams than women’s teams to the Sweet 16.

Only one Pac-12 team, conference champion Stanford, is still alive in the women’s NCAA tournament, while two – Arizona and UCLA – remain in contention on the men’s side.

That puts a crimp in the argument that the Pac-12 is the best women’s basketball conference in the country. The Pac-12 could make that argument last year, when five of the six Pac-12 entrants won first-round games, three reached the Sweet 16 and both teams in the championship game were from the Pac-12. But this year, with just one Sweet 16 team while the ACC has four, the Pac-12 needs to keep quiet unless Stanford can go all the way.

Three of the six Pac-12 teams in the women’s tournament lost in the first round to lower seeded teams. Colorado and Washington State lost by double-digit margins to lower seeded teams, and fifth-seeded Oregon lost to 12th-seeded Belmont, although Belmont took some of the heat off the Ducks’ surprising loss by giving Tennessee a scare in the next round.

Utah then lost its second-round game to Texas by 22 points, and 2021 national runnerup Arizona, a No. 4 seed, got thrashed on its home court by fifth-seeded North Carolina, which held a 24-point lead with eight minutes left before coasting home for a 63-45 victory.

Stanford did what was expected of a No. 1 seed, blowing past 16th-seeded Montana State and eighth-seeded Kansas on the Cardinal’s home court. But the Pac-12’s reputation now rests with Stanford, which dominated the Pac-12 this season, winning all 19 games against conference foes, suggesting it might be the only elite team in the Pac-12 this season.

The Cardinal should be able to get past third-round opponent Maryland, a team Stanford beat by 18 points in the Bahamas earlier this season, but waiting the regional finals could be No. 2 seed Texas, which beat the Cardinal 61-56 on Stanford’s home court back on November 14.

Stanford has three of the top 11 players left in the women’s tournament, according to ESPN.com, in Haley Jones, Cameron Brink and Lexi Hull, so the talent is there. But repeating as national champion is becoming increasingly difficult in the women’s game. Connecticut’s four straight NCAA titles from 2013 through 2016 is a run not likely to be repeated any time soon.

If Stanford does repeat as national champ, the Pac-12 can crow again.

If the Cardinal loses this weekend . . . .

Cover photo of Haley Jones by Kelley L Cox, USA TODAY Sports

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