It is a great time to be a fan of Pac-12 women’s basketball. You might have heard that the conference is guaranteed to win a national championship. Stanford and Arizona won their respective Final Four national semifinals on Friday. One of the two will lift a trophy Sunday in San Antonio.

This success offers cause for reflection on how Pac-12 women’s basketball improved over the past decade. Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury News helpfully explained one reason among many for this noticeable development in Pac-12 women’s hoops: the Pac-12 Network.

It might not have helped for football (which is where it needs to be strong, and frankly hasn’t been), but credit deserves to be given where due: The network profoundly and continuously boosted the strength of women’s basketball in the Pac-12.

Wilner explains:

The Pac-12 has done more than any single league to generate visibility for the sport.

Say what you will about the Pac-12 Networks — and we have said plenty, much of it unflattering — but they have been an undeniable boon for women’s hoops in the conference.

The overall quality of play, particularly as defined by the breadth of NCAA Tournament participants, tracks closely with the 2012 launch of the networks and subsequent traction.

Pac-12 teams in the NCAAs:

2010: 2
2011: 3
2012: 2
2013: 4 (first season of P12Nets)
2014: 4
2015: 5
2016: 5
2017: 7
2018: 6
2019: 6
2020: N/A
2021: 6

More than anything, the networks have enhanced recruiting, giving West Coast prospects good reason to stay home: Their families can watch them play.

California made the Final Four in 2013. Oregon State and Washington made the Final Four in 2016. Oregon made the Final Four in 2019 and was the pre-tournament favorite in 2020 before the pandemic hit. Arizona has reached the national title game in 2021. Stanford, the long-term colossus in the conference, has made four Final Fours in the last 10 seasons.

This might not be enough to save Pac-12 Network, given the bad numbers attached to football in the conference. However, it is good to know — regardless of what the future might hold — that this network has had a discernible and markedly positive effect on women’s sports, basketball most of all.