How Cal and the Rest of the Pac-12 Conference Fared in Football and Basketball
Arizona State, Utah and Washington joined Cal as Pac-12 schools that neither sent a football team to a bowl game nor a basketball team to the men’s or women’s NCAA tournament.
So the perils of the 2020-21 academic year were not restricted to the Golden Bears.
Still, no school in the conference had quite the difficult time that Cal experienced in 2020-21.
The Bears’ combined totals of 11 overall wins in the three sports and five Pac-12 victories were easily the lowest in the Pac-12. Here's a deeper dive into how Cal's football and basketball teams are fared since the start of the century.
Every other school in the Pac-12 faced unexpected challenges this season, even if the health and safety protocols in place at Berkeley were more restrictive than in some other conference communities.
It wasn’t bleak everywhere in the conference. Stanford won the women’s basketball national championship, joined in the Final Four by surprising Arizona. And UCLA’s men made their own unexpected run to the Final Four.
Oregon was the only school in the Pac-12 represented in the postseason by teams in all three sports.
Here’s a look at each Pac-12 school did during the football and men’s & women’s basketball seasons:
-- ARIZONA
Football: 0-5 overall, 0-5 Pac-12 (No bowl)
Men’s basketball: 17-9, 11-9 (No NCAA tournament)
Women’s basketball: 21-5, 13-4 (Final Four)
Totals: 41-19 overall, 24-18 in Pac-12
-- ARIZONA STATE
Football: 2-2 overall, 2-2 Pac-12 (No bowl)
Men’s basketball: 11-14, 7-10 (No NCAA tournament)
Women’s basketball: 11-10, 6-9 (No NCAA tournament)
Totals: 24-26 overall, 15-21 in Pac-12
-- CAL
Football: 1-3 overall, 1-3 in Pac-12 (No bowl)
Men’s basketball: 9-20, 3-17 (No NCAA tournament)
Women’s basketball: 1-16, 1-12 (No NCAA tournament)
Totals: 11-39 overall, 5-32 in Pac-12
-- OREGON
Football: 4-3 overall, 3-2 in Pac-12 (Bowl game)
Men’s basketball: 21-7, 14-4 (NCAA tournament)
Women’s basketball: 15-9, 10-7 (NCAA tournament)
Totals: 40-19 overall, 27-13 in Pac-12
-- OREGON STATE
Football: 2-5 overall, 2-5 in Pac-12 (No bowl)
Men’s basketball: 20-13, 10-10 (NCAA tournament)
Women’s basketball: 12-8, 7-6 (NCAA tournament)
Totals: 34-26 overall, 19-21 in Pac-12
-- STANFORD
Football: 4-2 overall, 4-2 in Pac-12 (No bowl)
Men’s basketball: 14-13, 10-10 (No NCAA tournament)
Women’s basketball: 30-2, 19-2 (NCAA champion)
Totals: 48-17 overall, 33-14 Pac-12 in Pac-12
-- UCLA
Football: 3-4 overall, 3-4 in Pac-12 (No bowl)
Men’s basketball: 22-10 overall, 13-6 (Final Four)
Women’s basketball: 17-6, 12-4 (NCAA tournament)
Totals: 42-20 overall, 28-14 in Pac-12
-- USC
Football: 5-1 overall, 5-0 in Pac-12 (No bowl)
Men’s basketball: 25-8, 15-5 (NCAA tournament)
Women’s basketball: 11-12, 8-10 (No NCAA tournament)
Totals: 41-21 overall, 28-15 in Pac-12
-- Utah
Football: 3-2 overall, 3-2 in Pac-12 (No bowl)
Men’s basketball: 12-13, 8-11 (No NCAA tournament)
Women’s basketball: 5-16, 4-15 (No NCAA tournament)
Totals: 20-31 overall, 15-28 in Pac-12
-- Washington
Football: 3-1 overall, 3-1 in Pac-12 (No bowl)
Men’s basketball: 5-21, 4-16 (No NCAA tournament)
Women’s basketball: 7-14, 3-13 (No NCAA tournament)
Totals: 15-36 overall, 10-30 in Pac-12)
-- Washington State
Football: 1-3 overall, 1-3 in Pac-12 (No bowl)
Men’s basketball: 14-13, 7-12 (No NCAA tournament)
Women’s basketball: 12-12, 9-10 (NCAA tournament)
Totals: 27-28 overall, 17-25 in Pac-12
Cover photo of Arizona's Aari McDonald by Kirby Lee, USA Today
Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo