Pac-12 women's basketball coaches lament the end of once storied conference
LAS VEGAS — Last year, seven Pac-12 women's basketball teams advanced to March Madness. No team is more synonymous with championships in the sport than Stanford. And last year Utah emerged as a premier program, finishing tied for the regular season with the Cardinal.
This is the last year of the Pac-12 as we know it, with 10 of the current 12 schools headed elsewhere. That includes Stanford to the ACC and Arizona's two state schools to the Big 12, along with current Pac-12 foes Colorado and Utah.
So it was one last gathering at Pac-12 Media Day for the women on Tuesday at the Park MGM in Las Vegas. Arizona, led by coach Adia Barnes, was the first team to take the stage, followed by the rival Arizona State, with teams getting their turn by alphabetical order this season.
Stanford has won 26 Pac-12 regular season titles, with Oregon's five the next most by another school. The Cardinal have also won 15 conference tournament title since its inception in 2002. So the apparent end of the Pac-12 has hit their veteran coach hard.
"It's heartbreaking," said Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer, who has headed the Cardinal program for 38 years. "This has been my whole life. I woke up when I heard about it, and I said I'm in a bad dream. This is a nightmare. But we are committed to this year being a great year. Our team's theme is best year ever, and I think that that's kind of what everyone wants. We want to make the very best of it, and we're really thankful that we have such support in the Pac-12 from everyone."
Most coaches talked about using this as one last chance to celebrate the legacy of the conference before embracing the change that was inevitable in the new landscape of college athletics.
"We do lose some camaraderie. Some relationships. The championships and the memories are moments, more important than anything but I think. And I realize I am still relatively new," said ASU head coach Natasha Adair, who is starting her second season. "But I know I can call (Cal coach) Charmin (Smith) or I can call (UCLA coach) Cori (Close). We're not going to lose that but yes it's a lot of history and a lot of tradition."
While the Big 12 has been seen as the top conference when it comes to the sport, Adair thinks that the addition of the Pac-12 schools can elevate the conference. While ASU is coming off an abysmal season due mainly the injuries, the other three are established Pac-12 powers.
"In the big scheme I was excited about coming to the Pac-12," she added. "I'm not a stranger to realignment because I have been in other conferences. I am grateful that we're still holding on to a little bit of the Pac-12 with four of us moving to the Big 12 together. From the standpoint of competitiveness, I think we're going to add to that conference and help elevate it."
Adair also said that moving to a new conference is going to help change the school's recruiting footprint. She plans to hit some of those territories hard, emphasizing that players from those states can play for a school like ASU and still be able to play in front of friends and family.
"From a recruiting standpoint it helps because it can expand our recruiting base," Adair said. "Now I can go into a home in Texas and say, `You know what I can bring your daughter home.' Even if it's only for one or two games. I think it's more about how we can recruit nationally, where we can recruit geographically. The biggest thing is integrity of the league. Can you win a national championship? Are you going to be able to compete against the best teams in the country? And I think a lot of that is yes because of the teams going into the Big 12."
Among the players who appreciate the move is ASU's Jaddan Simmons, who hails from Houston.
"I love the Pac 12 and the teams that are in it, having that experience every weekend," said Simmons who represented ASU at media day along with sophomore Trayanna Crisp. "I know that in the other conference, I'll have that same thing but I'm excited to be out there and playing different teams but right now I'm happy to say that I was part of the last season of the Pac-12."
While there is a lot of focus on the history of the conference, some are just focused on the present. Barnes said her team is just looking at the task at hand. Not only has she coached in the conference but she played in it as well. Fifth-year seniors Esmery Martinez and Helena Pueyo accompanied her to media day.
"My focus this year is these great young women. I have some super seniors. It's probably some of the best Pac-12 basketball in history. I think I'm so excited about that. You don't even look ahead because the main thing is to win now and live in the present. Just excited about the talent we're going to have, all the great players, the excitement, how there's so much parity, and then just not really looking ahead because we've got to win now today.
Other notes
Among those in attendance was former ASU women's coach Charli Turner Thorne, who stepped down after the 2021-2022 season, ending a 25-year tenure heading the program. Turner Thorne has been as busy or more so since "retiring" from that coaching gig.
She is doing some work for the Pac-12 Network and was also recently added to the coaching staff of the Phoenix Mercury.
Stanford's Cameron Brink, a 6-foot-4 senior forward, was scheduled to be one of Stanford's player representatives but she missed the festivities after rolling an ankle in practice recently.
Lindsay Gottlieb is starting her second season as coach at USC but was making her first appearance at media day. She missed last year's event, after having her second child a week earlier. Also representing USC was freshman Juju Watkins, the nation's No. 1 high school recruit.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Pac-12 women's basketball coaches lament the end of conference
