Women's Hoops Gets Serious in Pac-10

Stanford has ruled the Pac-10 Women's basketball landscape for the past 20 years, and California and Arizona State have recently emerged to make the conference a three-team scramble for supremacy. But two recent hires by Oregon and USC have made it apparent that women's basketball is indeed becoming a higher priority on the West Coast.

Oregon shocked the women's basketball community by hiring former NBA championship coach Paul Westhead to replace the fired Bev Smith. Westhead was fired along with P.J. Carlesimo from the Oklahoma City Thunder in December, but he comes to Eugene, Ore., with a WNBA title from the Phoenix Mercury.

While Oregon has been a fruitful recruiting base for Stanford and other national powers, the Ducks have advanced to just one NCAA tournament since 2001. Westhead's fast-paced style should attract recruits and some much-needed attention to the program. Meanwhile, USC athletic director Mike Garrett nabbed five-time NBA champion Michael Cooper to lead the Trojans, who haven't been a national power since the days of Cheryl Miller and Cynthia Cooper.

"He has coached and played at the highest level and with the greatest players in the world," Garrett said after the announcement. "He'll be an excellent in-game coach, he'll do a great job preparing his teams and he'll wow the recruits. And I'll say this: we'll be a strong team defensively."

Cooper won two WNBA titles with the Los Angeles Sparks and will coach the Sparks this summer and take over the USC program in the fall. The hiring of Cooper away from the WNBA is a serious indication that Garrett wants the women's program to snatch some of the attention given to Stanford, which has reached two consecutive Final Fours and won at least a share of the past nine Pac-10 titles.

Women's basketball is getting increasing national attention and prestige but West Coast schools have ignored this trend. Stanford is the lone Pac-10 program to consistently compete with the powers -- UConn, Tennessee, Rutgers -- on the East. But if Cooper and Westhead have any say, that will change quickly.