Issue link: https://catalog.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1208184
P A C - 1 2 C O N F E R E N C E 2 0 2 0 P A C - 1 2 S O F T B A L L M E D I A G U I D E 3 BUILT ON A FIRM FOUNDATION of academic excellence and superior athletic performance, the Pac- 12 Conference renewed its undisputed claim as the Conference of Champions® in 2018- 19. Beyond the courts and fields, the Pac-12's accomplishments extend into the classrooms across 12 campuses, and outside its tradi- tional geographic footprint into new corners around the world. The only conference to win 500 NCAA Championships, the Pac-12 once again led the nation in 2018-19 with 13 NCAA crowns. This haul adds to an incredible 188 NCAA team titles claimed since 1999-2000 and 330 since 1981-82, the start of women's sports sponsor- ship, an average of nearly nine per year. Even more impressive has been the breadth of the Pac-12's success with championships com- ing in 28 different men's and women's sports. The Pac-12 has led or tied the nation in NCAA Championships in 53 of the last 59 years, with the exceptions coming no lower than third. For the 14th-consecutive year, the Pac- 12 had the most, or tied for the most, NCAA titles of any conference in the country, winning at least six every year since 1999-2000. No other conference has won double-digit NCAA crowns in a single year, the Pac-12 doing so 11 times, including a record 14 in 1996-97. Spanning over a century of outstand- ing athletics achievements, the Pac-12 has claimed 526 NCAA Championships (304 men's, 191 women's, 31 combined), over 200 more than the next league. Pac-12 members have won 304 NCAA team championships on the men's side, 85 more than the next-closest conference. Men's NCAA crowns have come at a phenomenal rate for the Pac-12 - 16 basketball titles by six schools, 54 tennis titles, 47 outdoor track & field crowns, and 29 baseball titles. Pac-12 members have won 25 of 49 NCAA titles in volleyball, 45 of 50 in water polo, 31 in skiing, and 25 in swimming & diving national cham- pionships. On the women's side, the story is much the same. Since the NCAA began conduct- ing women's championships 38 years ago, Pac-12 members have claimed at least four national titles in a single season on 29 occa- sions, including every year except one since 2000-01. Overall, the Pac-12 has captured 191 NCAA women's titles, easily outdistancing the SEC, which is second with 103. Pac-12 members have dominated a number of sports, winning 24 softball titles, 24 tennis crowns, 16 volleyball titles, 19 of the last 30 trophies in golf, and 17 in swimming & diving. Individually, the Conference has pro- duced an impressive number of NCAA indi- vidual champions. Over 2,000 (2,379) in- dividual crowns have been won by Pac-12 student-athletes over the years with 1,383 by male student-athletes. Pac-12 women stu- dent-athletes have captured an unmatched 808 NCAA individual crowns, an average of over 21 championships per season, includ- ing 29 in 2018-19. Student-athletes have also captured 188 individual titles at combined championships (i.e., skiing and fencing). The Pac-12's excellence is further proven in the annual Division I Learfield IMG College Directors' Cup competition, the prestigious award that honors the best overall collegiate athletics programs in the country. STANFORD won an unprecedented 25th-consecutive Di- rectors' Cup in 2018-19 to lead the Confer- ence, leading a 1-5-6 finish for Pac-12 institu- tions. Six Pac-12 member institutions ranked among the top-25 Division I programs: No. 1 STANFORD, No. 5 USC, No. 6 UCLA, No. 18 CALIFORNIA, No. 19 ARIZONA STATE and No. 24 WASHINGTON. At least five member institutions have been ranked in the top 25 each year of the Directors' Cup program. 2018-19 REVIEW The Conference's 13 NCAA titles came in the form of eight women's, four men's crowns and one from a combined sport. Seven Con- ference members claimed at least one NCAA title and, of the five institutions in the country to have won multiple titles, two were from the Pac-12. STANFORD's tied the single-season NCAA record for most NCAA titles with six, a record the Cardinal had set in 1996-97. The Cardinal extended its streak of winning an NCAA title to 43 years with the women's volleyball team capturing its second crown in three years and NCAA-leading eighth national championship all-time. The Cardinal women's swimming and diving team won a third-straight title, won its sixth men's gymnastics crown, captured its NCAA-leading seventh women's water polo national championship, claimed its nation-leading 20th women's tennis title, wrapping up the year with men's golf winning its first NCAA Championship since 2007, up- setting three higher-seeded teams along the way. Stanford was one of just five teams in the nation to win multiple NCAA Championships in 2018-19 and the only one to win more than a pair. Also a multiple championship win- ner, UCLA defended its beach volleyball title winning an All-Pac-12 final and claimed its NCAA-leading 12th softball crown, the Con- ference's first since 2011. Led by senior Dani Jones who claimed the individual crown, COLORADO dominated the women's cross country field to claim its third all-time title. USC won its 10th national championship in men's water polo, playing in its NCAA-record 14th-consecutive final. UTAH skiing won its second title in three years and 12th all-time while CALIFORNIA men's swim- ming and diving built a commanding 85-point cushion over the second-place team to win its first national crown since 2014 and sixth in program history. WASHINGTON women's rowing swept all three grand finals to win the NCAA Championship for the second time in three years. In addition to the 13 national champi- onships, the Pac-12 also had runners-up in six NCAA Championship events: men's water polo (STANFORD), women's swimming (CALI- FORNIA), women's indoor track & field (USC), women's water polo (USC), beach volleyball (USC) and wiomen's track & field (USC). In nine sports, there were at least two teams among the final four and 33 teams finished in the top four at 21 NCAA Championship events, including all-Pac-12 finals in beach volleyball, men's water polo and women's wa- ter polo. Participation in the postseason was a common occurrence for the Pac-12 in 2018- 19. Of the 24 sports sponsored by the Con- ference, 19 witnessed at least half its teams participating in NCAA or other postseason ac- tion. The men sent 63 of a possible 95 teams into the postseason (66.3 percent), while the women sent 79 of a possible 130 teams (60.8 percent). WASHINGTON won its second Pac-12 Football Championship Game in three years, and 17th overall, with a 10-3 win over UTAH. It was the seventh time in the last eight seasons where the North Division won the Conference championship. With Utah's participation in the Championship Game, the South Division has now sent all six teams to the Pac-12 Champi- onship Game in its eight-year existence. Washington LB Ben Burr-Kirven was named the Pac-12's Pat Tillman Defensive Player of the Year and earned first team All- America status by the Football Writers' Asso- ciation and the Associated Press. He was also recognized as the Pac-12 Football Scholar- Athlete of the Year. WASHINGTON STATE, which tied Washington atop the North Division, was victorious in the Alamo Bowl to cap an 11-2 season. Quarterback Gardner Minshew II, the Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Year, led the Cougars to their most wins in a season in school history, establishing a new Pac-12 single-season passing mark as he threw for 4,779 yards. OREGON DB Ugochukwu Amadi received the Lombardi Award honoring the top FBS player regardless of position. It is the sec- ond-straight season a Pac-12 player earned the award. Three players earned Google Ac- ademic All-America Honors — Oregon QB Justin Herbert was named a first team selec- tion, and tabbed as the Academic All-America Team Member of the Year; UW LB Ben Burr- Kirven and OREGON STATE WR Timmy Her- nandez were second-team honorees. A total of 33 Pac-12 players were selected in the NFL Draft and now have had three or more players selected in the first round since 2011. Led by OREGON's surprising four-wins- in-four-days run to the Pac-12 Tournament title in Las Vegas at T-Mobile Arena, Pac-12 men's basketball sent three teams to the NCAA Tournament (ARIZONA STATE, OR- EGON and WASHINGTON) and a fourth to the NIT (COLORADO) in 2018-19. The Ducks continued their postseason success into the Sweet 16 for the third time in four seasons