Unless the Oregon women’s basketball team has an impressive showing at the inaugural Pacific-10 Conference Tournament, the Ducks may miss the NCAA Tournament for the first time in eight years.
The same could be said for practically the entire Pac-10.
“Every team in the (Pac-10) tournament, except Stanford, has to do something to get into the NCAAs,” USC head coach Chris Gobretch said.
Regardless of what it does this weekend at McArthur Court, No. 2 Stanford (28-1 overall, 18-0 Pac-10) will be invited to the Big Dance
— and will likely be a top seed.
“I think we have to win the tournament to be a No. 1 seed,” Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer said.
Getting any NCAA seed for any other team in the Pac-10 is a different story.
Stanford is the only Pac-10 team ranked in the Ratings Percentage Index top 69, and the Pac-10 may have a tough sell at getting more than one team into the Big Dance. At 21-8 overall, Arizona State (No. 69 in the RPI) has a legitimate chance to advance later this month but needs a good showing this weekend.
“Obviously we’d like to play some more basketball,” Arizona State head coach Charli Turner Thorne said. “In my mind, we have to win on Saturday (against Arizona). We’re going to Oregon to win the conference tournament.”
Washington (17-10, 12-6), an Elite Eight team last year, is also on the bubble.
“The stakes are high for all 10 teams involved (in the Pac-10 Tournament),” Washington head coach June Daugherty said. “It’s important that you focus on the things you can control, and that’s preparing for your first opponent.”
Last year, the Pac-10 sent four teams — Oregon, Stanford, Arizona State and Washington — to the NCAA Tournament.
This year, seven teams have winning records, but Oregon State, USC, Arizona and Oregon most likely need to advance to the Pac-10 championship game to garner attention from the NCAA selection committee.
While the speculation could run on until Selection Sunday (March 10), the only guarantee for any team not named Stanford this weekend is to win the Pac-10 Tournament, which gives the winner an automatic trip to the NCAA Tournament.

Oregon game to be televised
Oregon’s first-round game against Washington State, the first game of the Pac-10 Tournament, will be televised locally on KEZI at 6:30 p.m. Friday.
Fox Sports Net will broadcast the two semifinal games on Sunday and the championship at 7:30 p.m. Monday.

Hey, you look familiar
Of the four games already established in the first round (Stanford and Washington await winners of the two Friday games), three feature teams that played each other within the last week.
Oregon defeated Washington State, 88-47, in Pullman on Feb. 21. No. 8 seed UCLA and No. 9 California met last Friday, with the Bruins coming out on top, 58-48.
And in one of the bigger surprises of the year, Arizona defeated rival Arizona State on Saturday, 72-66. With the win, the Wildcats earned the No. 6 seed in the conference tournament and will play the Sun Devils at 2:15 p.m. Saturday.
“So much is at stake for us,” Arizona head coach Joan Bonvicini said. “I thought (the Arizona State win) was one of our best games as far as intensity. We changed some things around, and we were very fortunate that some things worked.
“You definitely make adjustments — and we will.”