The Cardinal entered the Pac-10 Tournament with a No. 6 ranking, looking at a probable No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament later this month.

Connecticut, North Carolina and Tennessee — the top three teams in the country, respectively — had all but wrapped up three of the four No. 1 seeds while No. 4 Rutgers and No. 5 Maryland would battle for the final slot.

Despite beating Rutgers earlier in the year, Stanford was on the outside looking in — if the Scarlet Knights and the Terrapins could finish well in their respective conference tournaments, then the Cardinal would essentially be eliminated from No. 1 consideration.

But Rutgers lost in the semifinal of the Big East tournament to Louisville, and Maryland lost in the semifinals of the ACC tournament to Duke.

These developments cleared the way for Stanford and No. 7 LSU to compete for the fourth and final No. 1 spot. The Lady Tigers fell to Tennessee in the SEC tournament on Sunday, which meant that, in essence, Stanford controlled its own destiny. A win over Cal in Monday’s Pac-10 Final would all but ensure a No. 1 seed; a loss would put the slot back into contention.

The Cardinal won handily yesterday, 56-35, and though nothing will be official until the selection show next Monday, experts, coaches and players alike believe that Stanford has locked up the final top seed.

After her team’s victory over Berkeley, coach Tara VanDerveer was asked whether she felt that the Cardinal deserved a top seeding.

She answered simply: “I do.”

Cal coach Joanne Boyle fielded the same question and, without hesitation, said, “Yeah, I definitely think they’re a one seed.”

Stanford only has three losses on the season, and, while one was to highly ranked Connecticut, two were at the hands of unranked UCLA and USC teams, which hurt the Cardinal’s stock in the eyes of many, despite Stanford’s win over Rutgers in New Jersey and a victory over then-No. 1 Tennessee at Maples.

Senior guard Candice Wiggins felt that Stanford had an impressive enough resume to warrant consideration for a top seed.

“We’ve had a great season. We beat the No. 1 ranked team in the country and did a lot of things that we didn’t do in the past,” she said. “We had a bad weekend in L.A., but we’ve shown where we are now. We played UCLA yesterday, and we showed how much we’ve improved over the season.”

Indeed, the Cardinal’s 78-45 drubbing of the Bruins on Saturday, coupled with an earlier 75-62 win at Maples, showed that the early January loss in Westwood was more of an aberration than anything else.

Stanford is now ranked No. 4 in the nation, and ESPN bracket expert Charlie Creme has the Cardinal slotted as a No. 1 seed.

The placement won’t be official for another week, but there’s a good chance that the Stanford women are looking at their first No. 1 seeding in the NCAA Tournament since 2005.