At this point we know the men of Pac 12 basketball gave uninspiring performances in the NCAA tournament. Five teams were upset in the first round (Colorado, Cal, Arizona, USC, Oregon State). One, Utah, was upset by the 11th seeded Zags in the round of 32. Oregon managed to make it the farthest before getting crushed by Oklahoma in the Elite 8.
Enter the Pac 12 women, who decided someone needs to pick up the slack.
Although they didn't have as many teams in the tournament as the men (five to the men's seven), the teams that did make it certainly put on a better show. UCLA made it to the Sweet 16, ultimately losing to Texas, a two seed. Stanford made it to the Elite 8 before getting taken out by another Pac team. (If we want to unify this with the trend in football, the Pac 12 should probably change their slogan to "The Conference of Cannibals".) Two seed ASU was the only real disappointment, losing to 7 Tennessee who was probably better than their seed implied given that they would go on in the next round to upset 3 Ohio State by a larger margin.
As the Final 4 looms, Oregon State and Washington both have the chance to make it to the championship game. Although probably not too likely, there could end up a championship played between two teams not just from the same conference, but both from the Pac 12 North.
In order to get to the Final 4, Oregon State and UW both pulled off some sweet wins. On the way, OSU crushed St. Bonaventure and then proceeded to upset 1 Baylor. Washington, a seven seed, upset 2 Maryland, 3 Kentucky, and then 4 Stanford. What's more, the closest of these wins were by 9 points (against Maryland and Stanford) and they beat Kentucky by 13.
To get to the championship, the Beavs first have to go through the Yankees of women's college basketball, UConn. FYI, Connecticut has not missed out on a Final 4 since 2007 and the last time they weren't in the NCAA tournament, the Berlin Wall still stood. Holy crap. I'm not particularly religious, but may (insert deity here or, alternatively, the force) be with you, Oregon State.
Washington dukes it out with 4 Syracuse - not quite the Goliath that is UConn, but still not a team to be underestimated. Both UW and Syracuse are in the Final 4 for the first time in program history, and the Orange have already beaten the Huskies earlier in the year by a four point margin.
Both games will be played on April 4th.
Personally, I'll be cheering for a Pac v. Pac championship.
