Pac-12 women’s basketball is going out with a bang

ALBANY, N.Y. — The requiem for the Pac-12 will come at a later date.

Friday morning, J.R. Payne chose to celebrate the best women’s basketball conference in the country.

“I think in the very beginning, we all wanted to make this the best year ever, just knowing that it was the last year,” said Payne, the head coach at Colorado.

In the final year before its members scatter, the Pac-12 has five teams in the Sweet 16.

No. 17 Colorado (24-9) faces No. 2 Iowa (31-4) at 2:30 p.m. (CT) Saturday at MVP Arena.

“I believe it's the best conference that we've ever had,” Payne said. “Top to bottom, really strong and really capable of competing and winning on any given night.

“We definitely feel like playing in the Pac-12 prepares us for anything that we could see in the postseason.”

Colorado and UCLA make up half of the Albany-2 semifinal field (UCLA faces defending national champion LSU at noon CT). Oregon State defeated Notre Dame, 70-65, in an Albany-1 semifinal Friday.

USC is a top seed in one of the Portland Region brackets; Stanford is a 2-seed in the other.

The Pac-12 will essentially dissolve this summer.

* USC, UCLA, Washington and Oregon will depart for the Big Ten.

* Colorado, Utah, Arizona and Arizona State will join the Big 12.

* Stanford and California will head to the ACC.

* Oregon State and Washington State have a short-term agreement with the West Coast Conference.

NCAA women’s basketball super-regionals, Year 2

For the second consecutive year, Iowa fans faced two unappealing options for following their team in the regionals:

A long drive/flight. Or don’t bother.

Once again, the “super-regionals” were bi-coastal, at Albany, N.Y., and Portland, Ore. Last year, it was Seattle and Greenville, S.C.

“I'm not sure that I love the two extremes that we're seeing because I think it's a disadvantage to us,” Iowa Coach Lisa Bluder said. “You've got UCLA and Colorado flying halfway across the country. Can't there be something in the middle that helps a little bit? I don't know. I would think so.

“I think women's basketball has grown so quickly, we haven't been able to keep up with it. It has, it's exploded, and we do these bids so far out that I don't think people knew what to expect three or four years ago when they bid on these sites.”

Next year’s “super-regionals” will be at Birmingham, Ala., and Spokane, Wash.

Molly Davis remains doubtful

Molly Davis was in uniform and stretching during the 10 minutes in which Iowa’s practice Friday was open to the media.

She remains unlikely to play, Bluder said.

“She’s doubtful for tomorrow,” Bluder said. “I really thought she'd be back by now. I really did. I have no idea how long it's going to take for her to completely heal, but we're not going to put her out there when it's unsafe for her to be out there.”

Davis suffered a knee injury March 3, and hasn’t played since.

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