Pacific 10 Women’s Basketball : USC Can Win Title With a Sweep

Take four women’s basketball teams from the Pacific 10 Conference, maybe even five, and throw them into the air. Where they will land, nobody knows.

Going into the final week of the first-ever Pacific 10 women’s basketball season, anything can happen. USC Washington and Oregon are tied for first place at 13-3, and UCLA is 10-6 and confident about an National Collegiate Athletic Assn. playoff spot with a two-game sweep. Additionally, there is some feeling that California (8-8) could be a fifth Pac-10 team to make the postseason competition if it wins its last two games.

In the end, deciding who will make the NCAA field could be the easy part. Picking the conference champion takes a coaches’ insight and a rule book and a calculator.

In a nutshell:

The Washington schools come to Southern California, with tonight’s meeting at 6 between the Huskies (21-5 overall) and USC (19-7) at the Campus Gym being the big showdown. The Trojans will take the conference title with a two-game sweep. However, they need to beat Washington by at least 13 points to offset a 12-point loss in Seattle, in case of a tie in the final standings.

USC also can win the conference title under tiebreaker No. 2, record against common non-conference opponents. Washington and USC have only one: Brigham Young. The Huskies lost to BYU and the Trojans won in Provo.

On Saturday night, Washington plays UCLA (17-9) at Pauley Pavilion, while USC takes on Washington State (2-14) at the Campus Gym.

Meanwhile, Oregon plays at Stanford tonight and California Saturday night, but that’s a difficult trip since USC and Washington have both lost at Berkeley this season. But if the Ducks and Trojans both finish with sweeps to go 15-3, USC will be the champion with a one-point differential in their two meetings.

“I really thought going in, and I’ll say the same thing again now, USC will win the conference championship,” UCLA Coach Billie Moore said Wednesday.

Two victories for Cal would put the Bears (17-9) at 10-8 in the Pac-10, and UCLA would have to lose twice to fall into a tie, but wins over the three best teams in the conference might be appealing enough for the NCAA selection committee.

As for the Bruins, a sweep, beginning tonight at 5 p.m. at the Wooden Center against Washington State, is imperative.

Women’s Pacific 10 Standings

Conference All Games W L W L USC 13 3 19 7 Oregon 13 3 21 5 Washington 13 3 21 5 UCLA 10 6 17 9 California 8 8 17 9 Oregon St. 8 8 17 9 Stanford 7 9 13 13 Arizona St. 4 13 10 16 Arizona 3 14 10 18 Wash. St. 2 14 10 16

REMAINING GAMES USC--Versus Washington tonight at the Campus Gym; Versus Washington State Saturday night at the Campus Gym.

UCLA--Versus Washington State tonight at the Wooden Center; versus Washington Saturday night at Pauley Pavilion.

Washington--At USC tonight; at UCLA Saturday night.

Oregon--At Stanford tonight; at California Saturday night.