By: Matthew Zimmer

The Pac-12 Women’s Basketball Tournament starts tonight in Las Vegas for Oregon State and tomorrow for Oregon.

First Game – Oregon & Oregon State

As a top four seed, Oregon clinched an opening round bye. The Ducks are the top seed and won’t play until Friday at 2 p.m. on Pac-12 Network. They’ll face the winner of the No. 8-No. 9 seed battle between Utah and Washington.

On the flip side, Oregon State plays tonight. After being dominant for stretches of the season, the Beavers had two bad stretches cost them big during conference play.

OSU lost three straight in January, including two against Oregon. Then, the Beavs lost four in a row in February. However, Oregon State closed the regular season with wins in their final three games.

The losses helped drop the Beavs to No. 6 in the conference ahead of the tournament. Without a top four seed, Oregon State plays in the opening night of the tournament tonight against Washington State. The game tips at 8 p.m. on the Pac-12 Network.

In the only matchup this season, the Beavs beat the Cougs 73-58 to wrap the regular season last Sunday.

Potential Path in the Pac-12 Tournament

First Round

(1 seed) Oregon (bye)

(6) Oregon State vs. (11) Washington State – 8 p.m. Pac-12 Network

Second Round

(1) Oregon vs. (8) Utah/(9) Washington – 2 p.m. Pac-12 Network

(3) Stanford vs. (6) Oregon State – 8:30 p.m. Pac-12 Network

Semifinals

Instead of giving you a bunch of slashes, here’s are the teams Oregon and Oregon State could face in the semi’s.

Oregon could face No. 4 Arizona, No. 5 Arizona State or No. 12 Cal if they pull off two massive upsets. Oregon’s semifinal game would be at 6 p.m. on the Pac-12 Network. UPDATE: Cal upset No. 5 Arizona State Thursday afternoon, 71-67.

The Ducks beat Arizona twice, by seven in the desert and by 33 in Eugene.

Oregon split two with Arizona State. The Sun Devils are the only Pac-12 team to beat Oregon, they did so in Tempe 72-66, while the Ducks smashed ASU 79-48 in Matthew Knight Arena.

Cal didn’t stand a chance either time they took on Oregon. The Ducks obliterated the Golden Bears 105-55 in Eugene and 93-61 in California.

As for the Beavs, if they get past the Cougs and Cardinal they could face No. 2 UCLA, No. 7 USC or No. 10 Colorado if they upset the Trojans and Bruins. Oregon State’s semifinal game would be at 8:30 on the Pac-12 Network.

The Beavs lost their only matchups with both UCLA, 83-74, and USC 72-66 during their January four-game losing streak. Oregon State beat Colorado both times in 2020, 72-60 in Corvallis and 79-52 in Boulder.

Championship Game

The Pac-12 Women’s College Basketball Tournament Championship Game is scheduled for a 5 p.m. tip-off on ESPN 2.

Oregon will likely face UCLA, Stanford or Oregon State in the final. The other teams on the right side of the bracket are, again, USC, Colorado and Washington State.

Oregon beat UCLA big in their only game, 80-66. In two battles with Stanford, Oregon came out victorious–in Eugene 87-55 and 74-66 in California. Finally, Oregon got past the Beavs in two close games, 76-64 in Eugene and 66-57 in Corvallis.

Oregon State, if they make it that far, will likely face Oregon, Arizona or Arizona State in the final. The other teams on the left side of the bracket are, again, Utah, Washington and Cal.

As mentioned, Oregon State lost both to Oregon. However, the Beavs split with both the Wildcats and Sun Devils.

OSU won in Tucson against Arizona, 63-61, and then lost to Arizona State in Tempe 55-47. Then in Corvallis, the Beavs topped the Sun Devils 64-62 and then lost to the Wildcats 65-58.

NCAA Tournament – Bracketology

ESPN’s Charlie Creme put Oregon as the “third-best” No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, while Oregon State is a No. 4 seed in the “toughest” quarter of the bracket.

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