SAN FRANCISCO - The Pac-12 will have 20 former women's basketball student-athletes on WNBA opening-day rosters entering the 2023 season, which tips off on Friday. The Conference is represented by seven of its 12 members and on nine of 12 WNBA franchises.

In comparing conference totals based on per-membership averages, the Pac-12 leads all leagues with 1.67 per school on opening-day rosters (20 players/12 schools), ahead of the Big Ten (1.64 = 23 players/14 schools), Big East (1.55 = 17 players/11 schools), ACC (1.53 = 23 players/15 schools) and SEC (1.50 = 21 players/14 schools). 

In addition to the former standouts on team rosters, the Pac-12 is one of two leagues with multiple alumnae as WNBA head coaches (Big Ten). UCLA's Noelle Quinn is in her third season leading the Seattle Storm and Stanford's Vanessa Nygaard is in her second season with the Phoenix Mercury.

Arizona State's Briann January retired following a 14-year career after the 2022 season and is in her first year as an assistant coach with the Connecticut Sun. UCLA's Natalie Nakase is in her second season as an assistant with the Las Vegas Aces, where fellow Bruin Natalie Williams is the general manager. Washington's Karen Bryant is the chief administrative officer and general manager of the Los Angeles Sparks. UCLA's Nikki Blue is an assistant for Nygaard in Phoenix, while USC's Ebony Hoffman is an assistant in Seattle alongside Quinn, who also has Stanford's Susan Borchardt as the team's sports performance consultant and Oregon State's Talisa Rhea as the general manager. Washington State's Shelley Patterson is an assistant with the Washington Mystics.

Led by Stanford's Haley Jones, who was taken with the sixth overall pick by the Atlanta Dream, five Pac-12 women's basketball standouts were selected in the 2023 WNBA Draft, the fourth time in the past five years the Conference has had five student-athletes selected. It was the 13th consecutive WNBA Draft to feature at least three selections from the Pac-12. The Conference has had multiple players taken in every College Draft dating back to 1997.

The WNBA season kicks off with four games tonight beginning with Indiana hosting Connecticut and Washington hosting New York at 4 p.m. PT, followed by Chicago at Minnesota at 5 p.m. PT, and Phoenix at Los Angeles at 8 p.m. PT.