After two years of wait, the Pac-12 conference will begin again on July 1 and create a new solid home for women’s college basketball in the west.
Joining the rebuilt conference are Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, Gonzaga, San Diego State, Texas State and Utah State. Oregon State and Washington State are holdovers from the Pac before its dissolution.
The old Pac was a conference to be feared. In the last two seasons of its existence, eight teams were ranked in the AP Top 25 poll at some point in both seasons. In the 2024 NCAA tournament, four Pac-12 teams advanced to the Sweet 16, and USC made it to the Elite Eight. Since the Pac’s dissolution, its former teams are still competing at a high level – in 2025, UCLA made it to the Final Four and seven total former Pac-12 teams made it to March Madness.
That same tournament featured only two “future-Pac” teams: Oregon State and San Diego State. This does not mean that the new Pac will not feature tournament-quality teams.
Do I think that the new Pac-12 will be a power conference in women’s basketball? No, at least not right away. However, I think it is well-positioned to become a very strong mid-major conference, perhaps the strongest.
If the new Pac-12 existed this year, its win-loss percentage would have been .563, which would make it the fifth most-winning conference in the nation, and very nearly the fourth most-winning. In comparison, the West Coast Conference’s W/L percentage this regular season was .517. This indicates that the Pac schools should be able to have some strong non-conference showings and rack up some wins.
By and large, the coaching staff has some experience under their belts. OSU’s Scott Rueck, Colorado State’s Ryun Williams and Boise State’s Gordy Presnell, among others, have all spent over a decade with their teams. Two coaches are fresher faced: Ryan McCarthy is in his first year with Fresno State (and first year coaching D1) and Wesley Brooks is in his second year with Utah State.
“You got a couple old coaches, I know that, so we’ve been around a while,” Rueck said after facing Colorado State in November 2025. “From what I’ve seen, (the new Pac is) well-coached. We haven’t played everybody, but I think the influx of more resources and the focus on our sport in particular is only going to make everybody better and better. And so I think it’s going to be a great basketball conference, both men and women.”
While the Pac will have to say goodbye to some longstanding teams that helped make the conference such a force (UCLA, Stanford, etc.), the incoming teams should keep fans excited.
My prediction for Pac-12 standings at the end of the regular season is as follows:
- Gonzaga
- Oregon State
- San Diego State
- Colorado State
- Boise State
- Washington State
- Fresno State
- Texas State
- Utah State
Gonzaga, coached by the excellent Lisa Fortier, is a huge get that will help bring the new Pac back into the limelight. The Zags have been the perennial regular season champs in the WCC, having led the conference nearly every year for over two decades.
If Gonzaga retains their key young players like WCC Freshman of the Year and WCC Player of the Year Lauren Whittaker, along with All-WCC First Team Allie Turner, they should be a very credible threat in the regular season and beyond.
Oregon State is a strong team that frequents the NCAA Tournament, going to the big dance as recently as last season. Rueck has proved time and again that he can turn OSU into a tournament-bound team. Gonzaga and OSU split their two-game series this regular season, and I think that these two teams are the biggest threats to take over the conference.
Of the Mountain West teams joining the Pac, SDSU, Colorado State and Boise State will prove the strongest. All of these teams have had a number of 20-win seasons in the last few years and should expect to remain competitive within the conference.
Washington State has been in a rut for all of the 2025-2026 season due in part to an exodus of players, but I think they’re going to find success in the new conference and at least get back above .500.
Texas State will likely struggle in the opening season of the new Pac. They are the odd one out, so to speak, as they are the lone member coming from the Sun Belt conference. They’re not the only middling team in the new Pac, but the lack of history they have against the rest of the conference may prove a challenge early on.
Utah State’s women’s basketball program has had an unfortunate history plagued with seasons with wins in the single-digits. The team hasn’t posted a winning record since the 2018-2019 season. Maybe a change of scenery will help the Aggies, but I think that they’re most likely to round out the bottom of the conference.
Women’s basketball is well-positioned to become one of the defining sports of the new Pac. Fans can look ahead to November, because I think that the Pac should prove to be an exciting conference with some really gritty basketball.
