Slighted by the NCAA selection committee one too many times, the
Pac-10 women’s basketball conference is tired of being a
punching bag.
While most everyone recognizes the changing landscape of Pac-10
women’s basketball, those wielding voting power for the NCAA
tournament are apparently refusing to rake away their ingrained
opinions of the conference.
Stereotyped as a second-rate conference controlled by Stanford
in the 1990s, the Pac-10 is finally beginning to distance itself
from that ugly shadow in recent years.
But not everyone is convinced.
“I still don’t think the Pac-10 is getting the
recognition, and I don’t understand it,” UCLA coach
Kathy Olivier said.
Heading into the Pac-10 Tournament in San Jose this weekend,
eight teams in the conference, including UCLA (16-11), boast at
least a .500 winning percentage, a true testament to the
Pac-10’s parity and grueling competition week in and week
out.
Still, some of the Pac-10 coaches are skeptical as to whether
the NCAA selection committee is getting the message, to which they
have one thing to say: Get with the times.
“If the committee doesn’t give the Pac-10 more
(berths) than it has ever been given, then it’s punked
out,” USC coach Chris Gobrecht said. “(The selection
committee) doesn’t know squat. It’s just
ridiculous.”
Olivier, in simpler and kinder words, agrees.
“The committee needs to catch up and get in the year
2004,” Olivier said.”
Left at the altar last year after her Bruins failed to earn a
tournament berth with a record of 18-11, Olivier now wonders if a
change in how the voting committee views the Pac-10 isn’t in
order.
The sooner the better.
“Last year made me very skeptical,” Olivier
said.
Fast-forward to the 2004 season, and Olivier’s Bruins find
themselves in the same tenuous position, thinking they have
accomplished enough to secure a bid, not knowing for sure if the
committee feels the same.
While only three teams (Stanford, Arizona and Washington) made
it into the tournament last year, the Pac-10 is expecting four
teams’ names to be called during this year’s selection
show, if not more.
“The Pac-10 should get four teams in, and I know
we’re the fourth team,” Olivier said. “For USA
Conference to get four or five teams in, I don’t think that
should happen. But it’s all in the voting, and it’s
very obvious there is an East Coast bias.”
Perhaps this will be the year the Left Coast gets the respect it
deserves.