As the end of the women’s basketball regular season
approaches, the NCAA Tournament talk is heating up. For the Pac-10
teams looking to earn a spot or improve their seeding in the
tournament, the last two weeks of the regular season, along with
the Pac-10 Tournament, will be a make or break period. With its two
big wins last week, UCLA (15-9, 10-5 Pac-10) took a big stride
towards securing a tournament berth. In the new mock bracket
released by ESPN, UCLA is projected to earn an at-large bid as the
No. 9 seed. Still, UCLA coach Kathy Olivier realizes that the
Bruins still have work to do if they are to wrap up a berth.
“These three games are very important for us.” Olivier
said. “Our numbers play against us because we still
don’t have a lot of wins.” While the number of wins
that the Bruins have do not necessarily work in their favor, they
do have quite a few other factors working for them. The Bruins have
recorded quality wins against Georgia, Stanford, Washington, and
Arizona State. Moreover, they played two tough Baylor and Oklahoma
teams very close on the road and an early loss to BYU at home
doesn’t look nearly as bad now as it did then. (BYU is
currently 20-2 and owns the No. 14 RPI in the country.) If the
Bruins win the remainder of their regular season games, or win two
out of the three and win one game in the Pac-10 Tournament, that
would give UCLA 18 wins. The Bruins were a tournament team two
years ago with a 17-12 record, but failed to make it last year with
a similar 16-12 record. Taking all of the other factors into
consideration, 18 wins is a number that Olivier is feeling pretty
good about. “If we finish with 18, that’s healthy. Our
RPI’s up (39), our strength of schedule is number 17 in the
country, we have a lot of positive things working for us.” As
far as the five other Pac-10 teams in contention for a tournament
bid, the last stretch of the season means everything. Four of the
six teams vying for a spot ““ Washington, USC, UCLA, and
California ““ are still very much on the bubble and some of
the teams will play each other at least one more time before the
NCAA selection show. Because some of the bubble teams are bound to
lose to each other, it is very unlikely that all six in contention
could get in the tournament. In ESPN’s bracket this week,
four Pac-10 teams ““ UCLA, Washington, Stanford, and Arizona
State ““ were in the bracket while USC was the second team
left out of the bracket. Still, Olivier thinks that it is not out
of the question for five Pac-10 teams to make the tournament.
“I would like to see (the Pac-10) get five,” Olivier
said. “Within those six teams (in NCAA contention),
there’s still a lot of Pac-10 to be played.” As
important as the remainder of the regular season is, it is a big
possibility that the tournament bids could come down to the Pac-10
Tournament, which will be played in two weeks in San Jose. Teams
will have the opportunity to add to their win total and the winner
will get an automatic bid. An early loss could be a big detriment
to any of the bubble teams. “You could either use (the Pac-10
Tournament) to get on a roll or it will be used against you and not
be a positive situation,” Olivier said. “You go into
the Pac-10 Tournament and you lose to a team that you
shouldn’t at the very beginning, you’re sending a
message that your team is not playing well and they might drop you
a couple of seeds down.”
QUINN HONORED: Noelle Quinn was named the
Pac-10 player of the week for her outstanding performances against
Washington and Washington State. This is the third time this year
Quinn has won the award, which is more than any other Pac-10
player.
With reports from Adam de Jong, Bruin Sports senior
staff.