LOS ANGELES — Heading into No. 6 USC’s biggest test of the season against No. 2 UCLA, coach Lindsay Gottlieb kept getting the same question from her friends in the basketball community. NBA general managers, coaches and friends on the East Coast all wanted to know: How do we watch this game?
The anticipated clash between two top-10, undefeated teams wasn’t on national television; it was on the Pac-12 Network. And the fact that the Pac-12’s biggest showcase game wasn’t available to most fans around the country was a reminder why these two teams chose to leave this conference, and why the conference itself will essentially cease to exist by the start of next season.
As UCLA coach Cori Close said postgame: “The (big networks) should have been here. They should have bought Pac-12 Network, whatever, I don’t care. But the reality is is that if you weren’t here and you didn’t find a way to watch it, you missed out.”
It’s ironic that the Pac-12 is witnessing one of its most compelling and competitive seasons in its swan song. Its two shining stars are the programs which had their exits booked even before the house crumbled around them.
USC and UCLA are ascending. As the rest of the conference (look at Stanford, Oregon and Arizona) saw transfers depart en masse…
