Where the Pac-12 stands heading into Selection Monday
Who is comfortable and who is facing the unknown?
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It is a brutal undertaking, pandemic or no pandemic. Playing in a league that regularly featured a third of the league in the top 15 and a quarter in the top 10 of both major polls is not for the faint of heart. It is something Pac-12 coaches and players are accustomed to, though.
Now, it’s patience that is required as they await the release of the postseason brackets for the NCAA Tournament and WNIT.
The top four teams just needed to get to the finish line. Little has changed in the NCAA Tournament hopes of Stanford, Arizona, UCLA, or Oregon for months. They have shifted a bit on the seed lines, but have remained comfortably in the field.
The biggest concern for these teams is injury. Oregon has slipped outside the top 16 seeds, sitting at a No. 6 according to Charlie Creme of ESPN. That is not a major concern since no one gets home-court advantage this season.
What is a major concern is that the Ducks lost back-to-back games to Oregon State to end the regular season and began the postseason missing their starting point guard. Freshman Te-Hina Paopao has not played since the Feb. 21 victory over USC.
For several teams outside that group of four, the conference tournament presented an opportunity to solidify or improve their status in the eyes of the NCAA Tournament selection committee. Few took advantage of that opportunity.
Oregon State did not waste the opportunity. The Beavers’ remarkable improvement after returning from a pandemic-related pause of nearly a month has put them firmly into the field according to those making projections.
Oregon State started the season 3-3, going 1-3 in early Pac-12 play, before hitting the pause button on Dec. 19, 2020. Initially, it did not look more promising when they returned on Jan. 17, 2021. Arizona easily handled the Beavers in Tucson.
But change was just around the corner—both in results and in the lineup.
Talia von Oelhoffen joined the team midyear as many of her peers around the country did. She made her first appearance in the Beavers’ next game, a double-overtime loss to Washington State. The freshman would earn Pac-12 Freshman honorable mention honors on the basis of just eight games. She averages 12.5 points per game for her squad.
The next game was a confidence booster, as Oregon State demolished Washington by 30 points. The Beavers would lose just two more games all season—both to projected No. 1 overall seed Stanford—and defeat their in-state rivals from Eugene twice.
Oregon State now awaits their NCAA fate with a record of 11-7 overall and 7-6 in conference play.
Washington State also went home hoping that they had done enough to make the field for the first time since 1991 and just the second time in program history. The Cougars sit at 12-11 with a conference mark of 9-10.
Big wins over Arizona, Oregon State, and UCLA are impressive for any resume. The NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) has Washington State ranked No. 44 as of the conclusion of games on Mar. 10. Will that be good enough?
“We've played a really hard schedule,” Cougars head coach Kamie Ethridge said. “We played teams unbelievably hard. We're in a great league. We've won some big-time games. We're going to go forward as though we're in the tournament. I feel like we've earned our way in. I think we've proven that we can compete with really, really good teams that are making the tournament.”
The NCAA Tournament is certainly where all of the teams hope to end up, but the WNIT is still an option this year. It is just a more limited one.
In a normal season, the WNIT has a 64-team field. This year, that field has been cut in half, but there is no requirement that teams be above .500 to be considered.
Teams like Colorado, USC, and Arizona State (11-10, 6-9) will be hanging their hopes on a berth in the WNIT. At No. 51 in the NET rankings, Colorado (10-10, 8-8) had the best chance of the group to nab a spot in the NCAA Tournament with a good run in the conference tourney.
It was not to be for the Buffaloes.
A season-ending injury and ensuing surgery took sophomore guard Jaylyn Sherrod off the court for the Buffs. The 2021 Pac-12 All-Defensive team honoree was a huge loss for Colorado.
The Buffaloes earned the No. 7 seed in the Pac-12 Tournament, but were summarily dismissed by the 11th-seeded Washington Huskies in a 68-54 game, likely ending any hopes of getting into the NCAA Tournament.
Now everyone sits and waits to learn their postseason fates. After a year of unknowns, it is just one more to endure.
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