The University of Washington’s rowing team won the NCAA championship over the weekend. While that might not be huge national news, it did push the Pac-12 to a huge historic milestone.

The title was the conference’s 500th all-time, a number that absolutely dwarfs all other college sports leagues. According to NCAA research, the next closest is the Big Ten with 308, then the Southeastern Conference with 220, the Big 12 with 198 (including titles won by schools that were in the Big Eight and Southwest Conferences) and the Atlantic Coast Conference with 149. (Totals are through May 30.)

It is the best all-around sports league in America, and it’s not close. It is the nation’s greatest Olympic feeder conference. It is a triumph of totality, a place where member schools strive to be the best in a lot of things, not just one big thing.

At a time when many universities fixate on King Football, the Pac-12 is the gold standard for broad-based athletic excellence and diversity. If you believe in college sports as more than just a multimillion-dollar business venture – believe in it as a means of enhancing campus life and attracting a wide spectrum of highly motivated student-athletes – this is your ideal league.

The dozen schools ranging from Tucson to Seattle are good at just about everything, not just the glamour sports. The proof is in the trophy cases.

View photos The Pac-12 has won considerably more NCAA titles than any other conference in the country. (Getty) More

The current smug slogan in the SEC is, “It just means more.” In the Pac-12, they just win more. Washington’s rowing crown is the league’s 12th natty of 2016-17, from seven different schools – both numbers that lead the nation this academic year.

Reaching 500 titles has touched off a celebration within the Pac-12, which is how I wound up talking to Bill Walton this week about the league he unfailingly refers to by its self-bestowed nickname, the “Conference of Champions.”

The 64-year-old Big Grayhead, former Big Redhead and eternal Big Deadhead might as well be the Pac-12’s Assistant Commissioner For Sunshine. The eternally cheery former UCLA and NBA basketball great, now America’s most delightfully unorthodox TV analyst, was more than ready to dish some positive vibes about the league.

(Of course, Walton being Walton, there were many random synapse firings along the way. He held forth on Teddy Roosevelt, Levi Strauss, renewable energy sources and Ducky Drake, the basketball trainer during his days at UCLA.)

“It’s a remarkable accomplishment,” Walton said in his distinctive deep voice. “It brings everything together in this harmonic convergence. All the things I believe in – pride, loyalty, gratitude – are on display in our Conference of Champions.

“We have the ability to deliver a message of joy and hope and optimism and celebration. Far too often the message is fear and negativity and intimidation – that’s the antithesis of what we’re about in the Conference of Champions. What sports means to us in the college setting, where so many people have a chance to chase their dreams and use athletics to help them build a future and to have opportunities they wouldn’t otherwise have, that’s what we’re about.

“One of the things that sets America apart are the opportunities for everyone. And the coolest part of America is the West.”

View photos UCLA basketball legend Bill Walton now serves as a color commentator for college basketball games. (Getty) More

The West is indeed the best when it comes to college athletics, particularly the state of California.

Only three schools have won more than 100 national titles, and all of them are from the Pac-12: Stanford and UCLA have 113 apiece, and USC has 104. All are more than double the fourth-place school (Oklahoma State with 51). And the Pac-12 has a fourth school in the all-time top 10, with California at 10th with 36 titles.

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