Phoenix Mercury players, coaches reflect on NCAA conference upheaval

College athletics has been through upheaval over the last year and it has only become more prevalent with the demise of the Pac-12 this past week.

Only four programs remain committed to what has been the Pac-12, after eight announced they will leave for a future in the Big 12 and Big Ten in 2024. The decisions have centered around football, but all sports within the Pac-12 are affected by the changes.

The Pac-12 has often been a strong conference for women’s basketball and the Phoenix Mercury roster reflects that in forwards Michaela Onyenwere (UCLA) and Kadi Sissoko (USC), along with interim head coach Nikki Blue (UCLA, Arizona State) and assistant coach Charli Turner Thorne (ASU).

“It’s sad. We all kind of knew things were coming, especially with the USC and UCLA departure. But I never ever would have thought it would have happened this quickly,” Turner Thorne said. “I thought, Oh, it’s back to the Pac-10. We were the Pac-10 for decades and it was still great with 10 schools. I kind of heard that Oregon and Washington were still talking to the Big Ten, so that was worrisome.”

Turner Thorne has deep roots in the Pac-12 after becoming the winningest coach in ASU women’s basketball history following 25 seasons. She is second all-time in career wins (488) by a Pac-12 coach, finishing behind Tara VanDerveer, who coached her at Stanford.

Turner Thorne retired in 2022 and worked with Pac-12 Networks as an analyst last season.

“It’s football-driven and everybody knows that it’s all decided by football, not even by men’s basketball,” Turner Thorne said. “You take football and do what you want to do with football and leave everybody else out of it. If it’s not broken, don’t fix it. The quality of the experience now impacts student-athletes, but also the fan bases and all the alumni where the Pac-12 has been a huge part of their life. And now, it’s not and it’ll just be a memory.”

Onyenwere and Sissoko have fond memories of their time in the Pac-12. Onyenwere spent four years at UCLA and recalled how tough each conference game was regardless of records. Seeing UCLA and USC announce a future move to the Big Ten in 2022 surprised Onyenwere.

“To see that disperse, it was interesting for me,” Onyenwere said. “I try to see both sides and the perspective of why because I was confused as to why it was even happening. It’s definitely interesting and I don’t know if it’s in the best interest of the student-athletes, but I hope that the move will be, hopefully, positive for everybody.”

For Sissoko, transferring from Minnesota to USC provided her with her favorite season of college basketball. Now, for some of her teammates, they will get a taste of her past in the Big Ten. Sissoko played against stiff competition in the Big Ten like Iowa’s Caitlin Clark and enjoyed the basketball culture.

“The culture over there is very intense so I liked playing against them because you could actually see how good we can be,” Sissoko said. “It was always like March Madness because they’re always dancing every year and it’s a good challenge every time we play there.”

ASU, Arizona, and Utah will move into the Big 12, while Texas and Oklahoma will move to the SEC in 2024. Guard Sug Sutton played at Texas and is excited about the move.

“It’s kind of crazy to think about it because we were really big in the Big 12 and were one of the top teams in the Big 12 for years," Sutton said. "It’s weird to see that they’re moving to the SEC, but I feel like it’ll be really good for Texas at the competitive standpoint."

Sutton added that the best places to play in the conference were all the Texas schools, including Baylor, Texas Tech, and TCU.

Extensive travel and welfare for student-athletes have been a point of concern for many. The nonconference schedule typically includes different time zones, but for conference play to have that will be a bigger challenge. The new BIg 12 will stretch from Arizona and Utah in the west to Florida and West Virginia in the east, with most schools somewhere in between.

Onyenwere recounts that a nonconference game for UCLA at Seton Hall in New Jersey took a toll on her body.

“I just know for me when I traveled in long flights, my ankles would be swollen and I would be way more tired and things would be more inflamed,” Onyenwere said. “Physically for athletes, that’s probably the one question mark I would have on how that would affect the performance. I feel like flying is an efficient way of travel, but it’s not great on your body when you’re playing every few days.”

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: What's next for Pac-12? Phoenix Mercury players, coaches share reactions