The Pac-12 is so damn good right now

Getty Images / SB Nation Illustration

Once again, those who back the Pac should turn their attention to the hardwood.

It’s been looming for a while now. Though the ACC led the league in RPI (a metric that calculates match-up difficulty) for the past two seasons, the West Coast has once again asserted that — at least when it comes to women’s college basketball — it is the best coast.

You might have heard about Sabrina Ionescu and the seemingly inevitable Oregon Ducks, who are more than living up to the hype. They’re undefeated, even after losing their star forward Satou Sabally to EuroBasket qualifiers for the first three games of the season (she’s playing for her native Germany); four games in, Ionescu has already notched her 19th career triple-double.

But there’s plenty of excitement to go around outside Eugene. Arizona is ranked in the AP Poll for the first time since 2004 off the back of a 6-0 start — voters were likely particularly impressed by the Wildcats’ commanding victory over then-No. 22 Texas, in which 5’7 guard Aari McDonald went off for 44 (FORTY-FOUR!) points.

“[I knew] in warm-ups,” she told reporters a few days after setting the school single-game scoring record (she now has three of the top five spots on that list). “I kept telling my teammates, I’m in my bag, I feel it — I just feel different.” After shooting 78 percent from the floor (!) and 100 percent from the free-throw line (!!), McDonald was just about everyone’s player of the week.

She’s one of those pull-up-from-anywhere kinds of players — one who you can try to cover, if you dare …

But she’s totally capable of scoring anyway.

Cal is getting a little national attention too, even if they haven’t yet managed to crack the top 25 (it looks like it might be only a matter of time, though). An upset over No. 25 Arkansas (including this writer’s sentimental fave, Chelsea Dungee) earned Jaelyn Brown and Evelien Lutje Schipholt conference honors earlier this week, as the former hit 30 points (including four threes) and snagged 12 rebounds while the latter earned her first career double-double.

Meanwhile, Stanford, Oregon State and UCLA are all just hiding in plain sight near the top of the NCAA stack. The undefeated Cardinal are cooking with enviably balanced box scores — sophomore Lexie Hull and freshman Ashten Prechtel have put up the most impressive numbers so far, but only by a hair.

Oregon State is doing Oregon State things — namely, capitalizing on their explosive offense (to the tune of the second-highest field-goal percentage in the country). Mikayla Pivec is more or less out of her mind (in a good way), with three double-doubles so far this year; Aleah Goodman has 81 percent EFG, per Her Hoop Stats.

UCLA is cruising, and senior Japreece Dean has locked in after missing the first two games of the season because of the terms of her redshirt year. No, it may not be statistically significant, but averaging nine assists a game — even in just two games — is pretty impressive. Dean to Michaela Onyenwere could be an absolutely lethal connection ...

Around the top 25

• The top 10 teams remained constant this week — but hopefully all the Thanksgiving weekend ranked match-ups will shake things up a little.
• Baylor probably has some ... thoughts about their No. 2 ranking, given that they’ve been holding opponents to an average of 38 points a game, per Her Hoop Stats.

• OK, they’re not in the top 25, but Dyaisha Fair is the No. 2 scorer in the league right now. The 5’5 Buffalo freshman is averaging 26 points per game on a completely respectable 53 percent EFG, per Her Hoop Stats. She’s also averaging five rebounds, five assists and 2.5 steals per game — someone please get us highlights ASAP.

Three games to watch

The action this weekend is in the U.S. Virgin Islands, where four teams in the top 10 will face off at the annual Paradise Jam tournament. Look out for No. 1 Oregon vs. No. 8 Louisville (Nov. 30, 3:15 p.m. ET) and No. 2 Baylor vs. No. 5 South Carolina (Nov. 30, 8 p.m. ET) — both will only be broadcast on FloHoops (yes, another subscription service).

No. 6 Texas A&M will have its first big test versus No. 12 Florida State (Dec. 1, 8:30 p.m. ET, Fox Sports Go): SEC vs. ACC, the star-driven Aggie offense (hello, Chennedy) vs. the scrappy, fighting-for-every-bucket style that’s so far served FSU well. It should be a fun one.