Pac-12 Tourney Notes: 'Arizona is a tournament team,' Pac-12 After Dark turns dark, Stanford vs. USC

As the Pac-12 Women’s Basketball Tournament wound down this weekend in Las Vegas, the question remains whether coach Adia Barnes’ Arizona Wildcats played their way into the NCAA Tournament.

The Wildcats will find out in a week on Selection Sunday. For now, everything seems to be changing by the minute.

ESPN bracketologist Charlie Creme had Arizona as the first team out on Friday morning; yet by the evening, the Wildcats were projected as one of the last teams in.

The Athletic’s Mark Schindler had the Wildcats “projected in” as of Saturday morning. He has six Pac-12 teams in for sure — Stanford, Colorado, UCLA, Oregon State, USC and Utah — with UA a would-be seventh. He also has Cal, Washington and Washington State on the bubble.

Creme has seven Pac-12 teams in as well, with WSU in the first four out and Cal in the next four out.

There are a few stats that the NCAA Selection Committee will look at closely. For one, Arizona has one of the toughest strengths of schedule in the country.

As of Saturday morning, Arizona’s strength of schedule is the second-toughest nationally, according to the NCAA. The Wildcats’ SOS takes into account what turned out to be a tough nonconference slate and the difficulty of the Pac-12, considered near-universally the toughest top-to-bottom league.

The NCAA has Arizona’s overall “NET” ranking at 34th as of Saturday.

USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb said on Thursday night, “I’m going to say up here — it’s not just Pac-12-speak — Arizona is a tournament team.”

“They are,” she continued. “They’re playing really well at the end. The gauntlet of teams you face in the Pac-12 has made them better and has made them worthy of a bid.”

1,038 games later, Pac-12 Network signs off

Friday’s doubleheader of Stanford vs. Oregon State and USC vs. UCLA in the Pac-12 Tournament were the two final women’s basketball games that aired on Pac-12 Networks — for now, at least.

The championship game featuring top-seed Stanford and second-seeded USC will be shown on ESPN at 2 p.m. Sunday.

After broadcasting its 1,038th women’s basketball game on the Pac-12 Network, Pac-12 After Dark, in its current iteration, actually turned dark.

With 10 of the 12 teams scattering to different conferences next fall, only two schools will remain —Washington State and Oregon State. The pair will maintain the Pac-12 branding and logo.

And while new Pac-12 commissioner Teresa Gould shared recently that that network’s production capabilities would still be in use for the Cougars and Beavers as quasi-independents, no specific decisions have been made yet on what will happen to the broadcast networks moving forward.

“I think the Pac-12 Network has been a real reason that West Coast basketball is seen and respected,” Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer said. “The number of teams that are ranked in the top 10, top 20 is because people are able to see our teams play. I think the Pac-12 Network has been a big part of that.”

We knew this day was coming, but everyone focused on what was happening right in front of them each day and not looking too far into the future.

During the Pac-12 Tournament, the coaches were commenting on the demise of the conference. While it was bittersweet, some of the best basketball during the league’s run was played this year and especially this week.

“Well, I think that I have to compartmentalize a little bit,” VanDerveer said. “I’m really enjoying this team and being here and the great conference and the fans and all of you being here. And I’m absolutely heartbroken about what has happened to our great conference, especially where we’ve come from nowhere to where we are with women’s basketball. And I can only hope that going forward we’ll figure something out that really … we (can) come back to play with Oregon State and Oregon and all the teams that are sister schools on the West Coast.”

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Scouting the title game: Stanford vs. USC

The only time Stanford and USC played this season was a month ago, and that outcome blew up nationally. It was the JuJu Watkins Show as the freshman finished with 51 points, 11 rebounds and four steals in a 67-58 win for USC.

This time around, there is more at stake: the final Pac-12 tournament championship. It would be Stanford’s 16th title overall, while USC is looking for its second since 2014.

Both teams have taken it up a notch the last few weeks.

Looking for a way to scout this game? Just watch how Arizona played these teams down the stretch. The blueprint is there — although it will take some intense defense.

Against Stanford two weeks ago, Arizona handed the Cardinal its only loss since Watkins went for 50-plus early last month. The Wildcats forced 18 turnovers (six above their average per game) — five coming on steals from Helena Pueyo. UA also held Stanford 17 points below their average of 78 points per game.

Despite losing to USC twice in one week, the Wildcats only lost by a combined five points. Arizona held Watkins to well under her scoring average — 20 points and 17 points — and is the only team to do so twice this season.

In Arizona’s first outing, UA forced Watkins to go to her left, which isn’t her strong suit. She went 7 of 19 from the field and fouled out for only the second time of the season.

In this week’s matchup, Pueyo limited the Pac-12’s Freshman of the Year to 0 for 6 from long distance and forced her to turn the ball over nine times. Arizona also forced 21 turnovers overall (USC averages 12 per game), with six of them steals from Pueyo.

Cats playing with a purpose

Arizona had a rough final weekend of the season with two losses to the Los Angeles schools — one to UCLA on an emotional senior night at McKale Center.

Four days later, the Wildcats had that amnesia that Arizona coach Adia Barnes hoped they’d have. UA beat a tough Washington team, 58-50 and left everything on the floor in a three-point loss to USC in the quarterfinals of the Pac-12 Tournament.

Barnes’ message to her team before the week started was that “it’s a new season,” with freshman Skylar Jones adding that “we wanted to do this for the seniors,” after the win over UW on Wednesday.

“They worked so hard and are just great people,” she said. “We don’t want them to go pro yet. We want to play more games with them. And we want to shock the country with seven people. That’s what we want to do with the magnificent eight (with walk-on Brooklyn Rhodes) or seven. We just want to show how tight knit of a family we are and how far we can make it down the stretch.”

In two games in the Pac-12 Tournament, Jones, who was aggressive on both ends of the court, finished with a combined 25 points, seven steals and four assists.

3s for Equality

Back again this year is the 3s for Equality challenge sponsored by Pacific Premier Bank. For every made 3-pointer in the Pac-12 men’s and women’s basketball tournaments, $150 is donated to the United Negro College Fund and National Urban League. Through Friday night, a total $16,500 was the tally.

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Photos: (2) USC defeats (7) Arizona 65-62, Pac-12 Women's Basketball Tournament