Stanford, Cal anchor Pac-12 reunion as old rivals meet again
SAN FRANCISCO — For a few hours at Chase Center on Sunday afternoon, the college basketball map folded back in on itself.
Stanford and Cal wore familiar colors against familiar foes, Oregon and USC crossed paths with old rivals and the echoes of the Pac-12 felt close enough to touch at the Invisalign Bay Area Women’s Classic.
The showcase reunited four programs that helped define women’s college basketball on the West Coast before conference realignment scattered them across the country. Oregon and USC now battle with the Midwest’s best in the Big Ten while Stanford and Cal are the two lone Pacific coast teams in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Stanford’s win over Oregon and USC’s victory over Cal mattered in the rankings, but Sunday’s slate of games carried a deeper resonance – a reminder of rivalries built over decades and a style of basketball many in the building grew up with.
Fans leaned into the familiarity, coaches exchanged smiles across the floor and for one afternoon, the Pac-12 felt less like a memory and more like a living thing once again.
“It was fun coaching against Lindsey (Gottlieb) and playing against USC. To see Oregon and Stanford go at it was fun,” Cal coach Charmin Smith said. “We miss the Pac-12. It was a great group of student athletes, great coaches. So I hope that we can continue to do things like this.”
While the showcase was held in Stanford and Cal’s backyards, plenty of Oregon and USC fans made their way into Chase Center.
Cal and USC have played each other 47 times since 2000. Despite falling to the Trojans 61-57 on Sunday, the Bears still hold a 26-21 all-time record against USC.
Oregon came close to snapping an eight-game losing streak to the Cardinal, but Stanford’s stingy defense came in clutch in a 64-53 win.
But for Oregon and USC, the showcase was less about looking back than briefly reconnecting with familiar faces and rivalries before getting a heavy dose of conference play in January.
“I do miss the Pac-12,” Oregon coach Kelly Graves said. “I don’t want to take this time to relive that. It is what it is at this point. But coach (Kate) Paye is a great coach. Lindsey I still get to see, but it was good to see Charmin as well.”
USC coach Lindsey Gottlieb added, “I think the Pac-12 reunion is nostalgic. … It was a couple of good memories here, but it was really just good teams coming together to play.”
Sunday’s win put Stanford at 11-2. The Cardinal picked up a win against another former Pac-12 foe on Friday when it defeated No. 22 Washington 67-62.
Graves praised Stanford, and even went as far as to say that Stanford coach Kate Paye has gotten Stanford back to its winning ways after the Cardinal went a disappointing 16-15 last year.
After Cal made the tournament last season for the first time under Smith, the Bears have struggled to find a rhythm through the first two months of the season. Cal has lost five games so far to Vanderbilt, Auburn, Missouri, Stanford and now USC.
“I think where this team could be at the end of January, end of February is a lot higher when we can speak of their ceiling,” Smith said. “We’ve got to do the work to get there.”
As the old Pac-12 continues to exist in memories and box scores, Sunday’s games offered something tangible. A reminder that the Pac-12’s women’s basketball tradition still carries weight, even if the conference patches on the jerseys might have changed.
“I think it’s important for West Coast basketball,” Paye said of the showcase. “These are great teams, great coaches, great players. Our fans love the rivalry. I loved the crowd tonight. I think it was more packed than maybe I saw last year. So you know, this is great competition. It will help us heading into ACC play.”