The Pac-12 women’s basketball media day began Tuesday with a bucketful of glowing numbers.
Over the past seven seasons, the Pac-12 leads all conferences in Final Four appearances (seven), in nonconference winning percentage (.793), in NCAA Tournament wins (76), in NCAA Tournament winning percentage (.685) and in WBCA All-Americans (15). Eleven of the 24 2022 McDonald’s All-Americans will make their collegiate debuts on Pac-12 rosters. Six of the nation’s top 14 recruiting classes belong to the Pac-12.
The message sent is clear. The Pac-12 is the best women’s basketball conference, top to bottom, in the country.
“This is a conference that really cares about women’s basketball,” said Oregon coach Kelly Graves at the Pac-12 offices in San Francisco.
“The Pac-12 Conference has always had great players, great teams, great universities, great coaches,” Stanford’s Tara VanDerveer said. “The Pac-12 has put women’s basketball on the map.”
Yet two of the mainstays in the conference will soon be leaving. The decision by UCLA and USC to bolt to the Big Ten in 2024 is driven by college football and will only hurt most of the schools’ other sports.
Including women’s basketball.
“I lament the fact that there are some decisions being made for apparent short-term financial gains,” said Commissioner George Kliavkoff. “I’m not even sure there is financial gain. But that is undoubtedly the reason why these decisions were made.
“And that may be OK for football athletes who have to travel a very few times across the country. But I really, really worry about the student-athletes in all our other sports who will have to travel and miss academic days on campus and put their bodies through the stress of going across multiple time zones to play conference games.”
Other athletes, who play more than one game a week and don’t necessarily travel on charters, won’t just suffer because of travel and missed classes. The women’s basketball players at USC and UCLA will also be hurt by diluted competition.
“Obviously the decision is disappointing,” said Deputy Commissioner Teresa Gould. “It is disappointing that the association and tradition of this magnitude is going away.”
The decision was made because of football. And it puts representatives from the other sports in an awkward position, having to answer questions about the move.
“I’m so thankful for what we’re going to be able to do over the next two years, and we are committed to being a great partner to that end,” said UCLA head coach Cori Close. “I have not felt women’s basketball was disregarded, even though we know (the decision) is driven by some football and media rights.”
Pac-12 women’s basketball will be hurt during a time of tremendous growth for the sport. The departure of UCLA and USC — eliminating the representatives from the second biggest television market in the United States — will correspond with the start of a new Pac-12 media rights deal.
“Women’s basketball is our fastest growing television sport,” Kliavkoff said. “Ratings are growing faster than any other sport, and I think it’s one of the sports that has been undervalued traditionally in media rights. That provides a great opportunity.”
Kliavkoff said every potential distributor the conference is talking to is interested in women’s basketball.
“They want to talk about women’s basketball, and they want to talk about how to highlight our women’s basketball programs,” he said. “We talk about women’s basketball with every single potential media distributor.”
That’s good news for Stanford and VanDerveer. A lot of those flattering numbers about Pac-12 women’s hoops are fueled by the continued excellence of the Cardinal. After winning a third championship in 2021 and making it back to the Final Four last March, Stanford is still loaded. It is led by the combined star power of Haley Jones and Cameron Brink, who want to avenge that semifinal loss to UConn.
“That Connecticut loss was really difficult to swallow,” Jones said. “We want to turn it into a positive. … We’re getting motivation from that loss.”
For the first time, the Cardinal will have two nationally televised games on ABC: Nov. 20, when it hosts defending national champion South Carolina, and Dec. 18 against longtime rival Tennessee. The attention in women’s basketball has pushed some ESPN games over to the network giant.
VanDerveer is excited that broadcast outlets are finally recognizing the entertainment value of women’s basketball.
“I’m thrilled players like Haley and Cam will get to play on ABC,” VanDerveer said. “ABC will get to more homes. … It’s absolutely thrilling.
“It’s also a good diet,” she said of the stress from the spotlight. “And I’m not sleeping well.”
College sports, overall, is not sleeping well. Player transfers, NIL deals (some of which seem just like boosters sliding cash over, rather than under, the table), conference realignment, huge television contracts: they are all remodeling the collegiate landscape. The previous structures are crumbling. Including, to an extent, the Pac-12 Conference.
But when it comes to women’s basketball, the teams that are leaving the Pac-12 are the ones taking the L.
Ann Killion is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. Email: akillion@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @annkillion
