About the only thing that plummeted further than Enron stock
last year was the Pac-10’s reputation among women’s
basketball fans across the nation.
Typically one of the premier conferences, the Pac-10 managed to
secure just two NCAA Tournament bids last season ““ the lowest
total in the history of the league.
“We just didn’t get enough wins,” Associate
Pac-10 Commissioner Jim Muldoon said. “I was a little
surprised that we only got two bids, but we had a down year. We
weren’t worried though, because these things are usually
cyclical.”
The conference has earned at least four invitations to the NCAA
Tournament every year since 1996, but the inexperience of several
marquee teams made that very difficult to achieve last season.
Perennial powers Oregon and USC failed to beat any top-notch
teams during the preseason, and by mid-March, only Stanford was
ranked in the RPI top 40.
The Cardinal and Pac-10 Tournament Champion Arizona State were
the lone bright spots in what was otherwise a dismal campaign.
Four other teams saw the light of the postseason, Washington,
USC, Oregon and Oregon State, each via their participation in the
Women’s National Invitational Tournament.
The bottom three teams in the conference ““ including UCLA
““ finished a combined 6-48 overall last season.
“Every coach personally had to look at their own
team,” said Arizona head coach Joan Bonvicini, whose squad
finished a disappointing 14-14 last year.
“We all felt like we had a responsibility to the Pac-10,
and I don’t think we did a good job as a whole last year. I
think all of us as coaches felt that we had better programs than we
showed.”
According to Bonvicini, the Pac-10 coaches met during the
spring, and emphasized the importance of restoring the credibility
of the conference in the eyes of the NCAA Selection Committee.
Thus far, they have done just that.
Three Pac-10 squads have defeated top-10 opponents, highlighted
by Stanford’s 63-57 victory over No. 2 Kansas State on Nov.
31.
Several more teams have already defeated opponents that are
likely bound for the NCAA Tournament.
“Last year was a fluke for us not to have a lot of teams
be successful,” UCLA head coach Kathy Olivier said.
“We were young as a conference, but now we have one more
season of experience. This year I expect to see a lot more Pac-10
teams in the tournament.”
Olivier’s Bruins are one of several pleasant surprises in
the conference thus far. UCLA (4-2) has already defeated 2001-2002
NCAA Tournament teams in Northwestern State and UNLV.
USC (4-2 through Saturday), Washington (4-1), Arizona State
(5-1) and No. 4 Stanford (4-0) are also enjoying fast starts this
year.
The season is barely three weeks old, but the Pac-10 can take
solace in the fact that the conference appears to be on a badly
needed upswing again.
“We’ve knocked off a few big-name teams early in the
season,” Muldoon said.
“We thought we were going to be a lot better this year,
and early indications are that that is going to be the
case.”