A fond farewell to Pac-12 basketball: The end to the Conference of Champions

On Thursday, March 28, the Arizona Wildcats played in the final NCAA Tournament game of Pac-12 men’s basketball history. Oregon State, Stanford, UCLA, USC, and Colorado are still alive and representing the conference in the women’s NCAA Tournament.

The Washington State Cougars just punched their ticket to the Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament championship game.

The Utah Utes are in the National Invitation Tournament Final Four alongside Indiana State, Seton Hall, and Georgia.

After nearly a century of success on the collegiate basketball scene, the Pac-12 conference is coming to an end.

The University of Oregon won the first-ever men’s NCAA Tournament championship game. The women’s teams across the conference have dominated their opponents for the past decade.

As such a storied conference says one last goodbye, let’s take a look back at everything that Pac-12 hoops accomplished over the last 85 years.

The 1939 NCAA Tournament

The Oregon men’s basketball team was one of eight in the inaugural NCAA Tournament. Then known as the Webfoots, Oregon brought a title home after defeating the Ohio State Buckeyes in the national championship.

Thus began the Conference of Champions.

Success for the Pac-8, Pac-10, and Pac-12 would never truly cease despite there being lulls and lapses in rings won by the conference’s members.

When the women’s NCAA Tournament started in 1982, the Pac-12 would once again find quick success for itself.

Pac-12 women’s basketball national titles

While a Pac-12 team didn’t win the inaugural women’s NCAA Tournament, USC captured its first two titles in just the second and third years of the tournament’s existence.

Stanford would bring home two more titles for the conference in 1990 and 1992.

A Pac-12 women’s team wouldn’t win another until Stanford reached the ultimate glory once again in 2021. 

However, some of the most recognizable names in women’s college basketball have taken the court for Pac-12 programs:

Sabrina Ionescu, Kelsey Plum, Lisa Leslie, and more once donned the jerseys of their respective Pac-12 teams.

The winningest college basketball coach of all time, Tara VanDerveer, has led Stanford – and in turn the Pac-12 – for nearly four decades.

Pac-12 men’s basketball national titles

Six different teams have struck gold to combine for 16 national titles for the Pac-12 conference.

UCLA leads the pack with 11 national titles to its name.

Oregon, Stanford, Utah, Cal, and Arizona have one national title each.

All-star players like Russell Westbrook, Bill Walton, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Reggie Miller, and more spent their college years on the West Coast and as a part of the Pac-12.

The Pac-12 conference has 21 national titles to its name. With five teams remaining in the women’s NCAA Tournament, that number may become 22 before the season is officially over.

A beloved conference with more deeply loved teams has brought home an incredible era of tournament runs and national championships.

As a Pac-12 fan, a former Oregon student, and a sports addict, I am truly heartbroken to see the Conference of Champions vanish.

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