What's at Stake for Oregon State Women's Basketball in the Final Week of the Season?

There's one week left in the Women's Basketball season, and there's still quite a bit to fight for in the West Coast Conference standings. The Beavers are close to being locked in, they can't rise though they can fall, but there are a few other big questions that will get answered this weekend.

The biggest is who takes the regular season crown. Gonzaga has been leading for most of the season, but last weekend the San Francisco Dons pulled off what may have been the upset of the season, taking down the Bulldogs 70-68. That win opens a window for the Portland Pilots to swoop in and take the crown.

Portland has been on a 10 game winning streak that's put the Pilots tied with the Bulldogs at the top of the WCC standings, each with a 15-3 conference record. Gonzaga swept Portland in their season series, so the Pilots are going to need some help if they want the top spot. Gonzaga faces Pacific and Santa Clara this weekend, and the Pacific game is the one to watch. In their first game in Spokane the Bulldogs squeaked out a 68-64 win. Pacific still has a lot to play for, so Game 2 in Stockton will be a big one.

Portland also faces Pacific this weekend, along with San Francisco. Two tough games, but the good news for the Pilots is that they can't drop any lower than second in the standings. Washington State, in third place, only has one game left this season and can't catch the Pilots.

The Cougars themselves are locked in. They aren't budging from third. With a 13-6 record the only team that could catch them is fourth place Oregon State, and the Cougars own the tiebreaker over the Beavers. The Beavers, and the fight for fourth place, is where things get interesting, especially since the top four teams get an extra bye in the conference tournament.

Oregon State owns an 11-7 conference record. There are three teams that could potentially catch them in the standings, the 10-8 San Francisco Dons, the 9-9 Pacific Tigers and the 9-9 Saint Mary's Gaels. The Beavers and Dons split their season series. so if Oregon State and San Francisco end up tied, things will get complicated.

The next tiebreaker is record against the other teams in the conference, starting with whoever wins the conference. That means whether Gonzaga or Portland takes the conference title could impact who takes fourth place in the tournament seeding. If it's Gonzaga, San Francisco wins the tiebreaker, as the Dons managed to sweep the Bulldogs this season.

If Portland wins, it will come down to how exactly Oregon State and San Francisco ended up tied. San Francisco plays their second game against the Pilots this weekend, so that game will matter. If Portland manages to somehow win the conference despite losing to San Francisco, then both the Dons and Beavers would have 1-1 records against the Pilots, meaning the tiebreaker would move to record against the second place team, Gonzaga, which the Pilots would win. If the Beavers and Dons end up tied with the Dons losing to Portland, the Beavers would win with their 1-1 record against the Pilots.

Things get even more head scratching when you toss two more teams into the mix. Oregon State does not want to be tied with Pacific, as the Tigers beat the Beavers in both their games this season. Saint Mary's is a different story, as the Beavers and Gaels face each other this weekend. The Gaels tying the Beavers would have to come with a win over Oregon State, which would split their season series. The Gaels don't have a win over Gonzaga or Portland though, so in a head up tiebreaker the Beavers take it.

That's if there's a one on one tie. As many as four teams could end up tied for fourth, and that's where the real head scratching starts. First up we'd have wins against the other opponents involved in the tie. Oregon State has one against Saint Mary's and one against San Francisco, but none against Pacific. San Francisco has one each against Oregon State, Pacific and Saint Mary's. Pacific has two wins against Oregon State and one against San Francisco, but were swept by Saint Mary's. Saint Mary's has two wins over Pacific and one over San Francisco, and in the big four way tie scenario they would have also picked up a win over the Beavers, giving them four and the tiebreaker.

So, too long, didn't read, don't want to give myself a headache trying to figure out all these scenarios; the Beavers really want to win at least one game this weekend. Preferably two, just in case Portland can't get it done against San Francisco. Otherwise, the Beavers could potentially drop as far down as seventh in the standings.

The rest of standings are much more concrete. Santa Clara, currently in 8th, can't drop any lower, but could potentially jump Pacific or Saint Mary's, especially with the Tigers facing Gonzaga and Portland. LMU probably locked into the ninth seed, unless Pepperdine manages to upset both Oregon State and Washington State. San Diego could potentially move from 11th to 10th with wins this weekend, but with only two WCC wins so far this season that seems like a tough road ahead.

This is going to be a big week for a lot of teams. The Beavers most of all.