Metcalfe – Pac-12 WBB roundup: Seeds set for Las Vegas, Brink or Watkins for POY?

Story by Jeff Metcalfe

Even with three ranked teams losing, the Pac-12 finished the final week of the regular season where it began, at least in terms of conference tournament seeding.

All 12 seeds were the same after play ended Saturday as they were going into Thursday — an anomaly given that no team was locked into a seed and each had two games remaining.

Colorado and Utah, which were upset at home Saturday, ended up being forced to play in the tournament’s first round on Wednesday.

The other ranked teams, Stanford, USC, UCLA and Oregon State, form the tournament’s top four seeds and have byes into the quarterfinals on Thursday. The championship game is Sunday at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

All six ranked teams will make the 68-team NCAA Tournament field, with five in position to host games on the first weekend. Of the group, Colorado is in the most precarious territory.

Just 1-5 in their last six games, the Buffaloes must beat the 12th seed, Oregon, on Wednesday — and perhaps Oregon State on Thursday — in order to host first- and second-round games in Boulder.

It might be too late for Utah to elevate from a projected No. 5 seed in the NCAAs (according to ESPN) and become a host school for the rounds of 64 and 32.

The Utes went 5-of-27 from 3-point range Saturday, losing 62-47 to Washington. That’s a 35-point scoring dip from Thursday, when Utah beat Washington State 82-67 — a major concern for coach Lynne Roberts going into the postseason.

Colorado’s 72-63 loss to Washington State was marginally less costly because of the Cougars’ lofty position in the NET rankings (No. 26). Still, both the Mountain teams have much to prove in Las Vegas.

Here are the full pairings for the Pac-12 tourney:

No. 12 vs. No. 5 Colorado (winner vs. No. 4 Oregon State)
No. 9 Washington State vs. No. 8 Cal (winner vs. No. 1 Stanford)
No. 10 Washington vs. No. 7 Arizona (winner vs. No. 2 USC)
No. 11 Arizona State vs. No. 6 Utah (winner vs. No. 3 UCLA)

UCLA: Hottest team heading to Vegas

Stanford, USC and UCLA finished the regular season with an undefeated week that included three games in six days for the Bruins.

The Trojans needed heroics at the end of regulation to avert a loss against Arizona on Thursday. Down by five with under 20 seconds left, Kaitlyn Davis and Kayla Padilla scored to force overtime. In the second overtime period, another Padilla trey and four free throws by McKenzie Forbes gave USC enough cushion to win 95-93.

UCLA goes into the postseason on a conference-best five-game winning streak, beating Colorado on Monday and Arizona State and Arizona over the weekend. The Bruins have allowed an average of only 46.8 points during their current streak.

“We realize we have a great opportunity in front of us,” UCLA’s Cori Close said after the ASU game. “But not the rest of the year can we come out with that lackluster effort and focus. We’ve got to take responsibility for that, that’s on me as head coach. The next time that happens, you’re done.”

The Bruins took that to heart against Arizona, leading 13-0 and never trailing despite 29 turnovers that, in most cases, would have been back-breaking. The Wildcats scored 19 points off those turnovers but shot 28.3 percent, including 1-of-12 from 3-point range.

Cameron Brink had 43 points and 40 rebounds for Stanford in wins over Oregon State and Oregon. The Beavers still were without Raegan Beers, their scoring and rebounding leader, but she returned Saturday and scored 14 points in a one-sided win over Cal.

In the selection committee’s early seed reveal of the top 16 seeds (prior to the weekend), Stanford and UCLA were No. 1 seeds and USC was a No. 2.

POY: Brink or Watkins?

Will Brink or USC’s JuJu Watkins win the Pac-12 Player of the Year award?

Trojans coach Lindsay Gottlieb believes Watkins, the 6-foot-2 freshman guard, is the clear-cut choice, but it will be difficult for coaches and media to bypass Brink, a senior forward and the media’s pick for Player of the Year honors in 2022.

Watkins is No. 2 nationally in scoring (27.8 points per game) behind only Iowa’s Caitlin Clark, the NCAA’s career scoring leader. She doubled up as both Pac-12 Player of the Week and Freshman of the Week three times and has won the freshman award 13 times. Both are conference records.

Brink is averaging 17.9 points and 12.0 rebounds and leads the nation with 100 blocks. She is a four-time Pac-12 Player of the Week winner and, along with frontcourt teammate Kiki Iriafen, led Stanford to its 27th regular season title.

She is having the most efficient season by a major conference player since at least 2002-03, per College Basketball Reference records.

But Gottlieb stumped for her player on Saturday.

“In a year of exceptional freshman, I think JuJu has risen above all of them pretty clearly,” she said. “She has changed the narrative. Every game plan is to stop her yet she still finds a way to deliver. I think she’s the conference Player of the Year.”

Watkins had 20 points before fouling out late in regulation against Arizona and 26 points and 12 rebounds against ASU.

Defenses gear up for Cal’s Krimili

Ioanna Krimili scoring 21 for the Bears in a victory Thursday over Oregon proved a brief relief.

Her lengthy stretch of scoring in double digits (15 times in 16 games) ended on Feb. 16 when Stanford limited the graduate transfer to two points. Then she scored just nine combined points against the Arizona schools, clearly becoming the focal point of opposing defenses.

Oregon State then shut out Krimili on 0-of-5 shooting Saturday. As a result, more work to free her up is ahead for Cal before Wednesday and a third meeting with Washington State. (The Bears swept the regular-season series.)

“That’s happening,” she said. “I was talking to Elena (Bosgana) after the Stanford game, and she was like, ‘That was my goal to take you out of the game.’ Playing at USF, I proved I’m (good) at scoring, but we have all the weapons on my team at Cal. Every night, some of them go off and have a good game. I’m not really worried about that.”

Krimili was an All-West Coast Conference selection for three seasons at San Francisco before transferring. She averaged 18 points overall for the Dons and is generating 13.7 per game for Cal.

Against Oregon, she went 4-of-4 on free throws in the final 25 seconds as the Bears completed a rally in the final minutes.

“Getting the ball to her at the end was good,” Cal coach Charmin Smith said. “Those are pressure free throws, and she did a great job of knocking them down. It’s good to see her see the ball go in the basket. She struggled the last couple games so to have her knocking down shots and getting on board in terms of scoring was important for us.”

The 5-10 Krimili is from Greece and began thinking about college basketball in the U.S. during her second year of high school.

“My mom and dad didn’t believe I would do it,” she said. “When you’re 16-17, you say a lot of things.”

She spoke minimal English, struggling to adapt for six months even on an internationally diverse USF team. Krimili played in the WNIT three times with the Dons and could end up back in that 48-team field again with Cal this month.

She has the option of playing one more college season – “I’m enjoying my time here, it looks like I’m coming back” – and also aspires to a professional career.

“Coming to the Pac-12, I knew it would be challenging because every team is really good,” she said. “I keep working and believing in the process. I made the right decision to transfer to Cal.”

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