Roundup: Oregon women look to join Oregon men, Stanford women in Final Four

The Pac-12 will be represented in both basketball Final Fours, as Oregon got the weekend started right by upsetting Kansas 74-60 to reach Glendale, Ariz. Tyson Alger details the significant moments that paved Oregon’s road to the Final Four in this article for The Oregonian/OregonLive. And, if Kelly Graves’ squad slays the behemoth known as UConn, there will be two Oregon teams playing in the Final Four.

Down 16 in the third quarter, it didn’t look like Nerd Nation would be participating in Dallas next weekend, but Stanford roared back to defeat Notre Dame 76-75 thanks to a game-winning layup from Alanna Smith and a game-saving block from Erica McCall (AP recap). One of the best games of March, men or women.

A hot start wasn’t enough in Stockton for the Beavs as Oregon State women’s basketball lost to Florida State 66-53 in the Sweet 16, and Gina Mizell puts some perspective behind Oregon State’s Sweet 16 loss.

The Huskies also bowed out in the Sweet 16 to Mississippi State, but at least Kelsey Plum was a unanimous choice as an Associated Press All-American. Doug Feinberg of the AP has a write-up on it.

As expected, Lonzo Ball declared for the NBA Draft following UCLA’s loss to Kentucky in the Sweet 16. He is expected to be a top-five pick come June (Bleacher Report).

Ryan Kelapire of Arizona Desert Swarm makes some educated guesses on which Arizona players will declare for the NBA Draft. He thinks Lauri Markkanen and Kobi Simmons are for-sure going, while he thinks Allonzo Trier is still up in the air and Rawle Alkins will come back to Tucson.

They just keep on winnin’ – Washington State women’s basketball is off to the WNIT Final Four after beating Iowa 74-66 in Iowa City, Iowa, Sunday afternoon. Up next for the Cougs is Georgia Tech on Wednesday.

Kyle Goon reports that the University of Utah will conduct a study to see if Rice-Eccles Stadium should be expanded.

Cal softball defeated Stanford 7-4 behind Annie Aldrete’s grand slam, and here is the Pac-12 Networks recap courtesy of our very own Kate Scott and Tammy Blackburn.

Scott Wolf reports that assistant coach Jason Hart will stay with USC men’s basketball after turning down an offer to join Mike Hopkins’ coaching staff at Washington. Hopkins recruited Hart to play at Syracuse back in the day. Good news for the Trojans.

Speaking of grand salamis, Arizona State softball defeated Oregon State on a walk-off grand slam by Sashel Palacios (it sounds more dramatic than you think, as it was a walk-off run-rule grand slam; the Sun Devils won 11-0).

Brian Howell features Colorado football offensive lineman Josh Kaiser, who is hoping to earn more playing time up front in 2017 in what will be his fourth season in Boulder.