Can Oregon State Still Make The NCAA Tournament? Here's What Needs To Happen...
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The 2025 regular season was one of the best Oregon State men's basketball has seen since Gary "The Glove" Payton was just starting to become a household name.
This year, the Beavers' first in the West Coast Conference, they compiled a 20-11 record, reaching 20 regular season wins for the first time since the 1989-1990 season.
Oregon State have not reached the NCAA Tournament since a run to the Elite Eight in 2021 and have only reached that tournament twice since that '89-'90 season. Ahead of this year's tournament, the selection committee is practically certain to place WCC regular season champs Saint Mary's, as well as the Gonzaga Bulldogs, into the NCAA tournament. While the San Francisco Dons have the same record as Gonzaga, they aren't as attractive a pick for the selection committee due to their weaker non-conference schedule.
Beyond the Gaels and the Bulldogs, the rest of the league, including Oregon State, have one clear path to the NCAA Tournament, since an at-large berth is highly unlikely...
Win the West Coast Conference Tournament
The Beavers have the No. 5 seed in the WCC Tournament, meaning they will get to skip the first two nights of the tournament. Things officially begin on Thursday afternoon when the Pacific Tigers face San Diego on ESPN+ at 2:30 p.m. PT.
On Friday night at 6 p.m. PT, Portland plays Pepperdine on ESPN+ for a spot in a Saturday matchup with the Beavers. That Saturday game is scheduled for 6 p.m. PT, also on ESPN+.
The quarterfinals and all subsequent tournament games will be televised on either ESPN or ESPN2.
If the Beavers beat the winner of the Portland/Pepperdine matchup, they'll move into Sunday's quarterfinals against the Santa Clara Broncos. OSU went 1-1 against the Broncos in the regular season, losing by one on the road on January 10 and winning by four in Corvallis on January 25.
Winning that matchup would send them to a semifinal game against No. 1 Saint Mary's on Monday night at 6 p.m. PT. A victory there puts them in Tuesday's final against the winner of a matchup between Gonzaga (No.2) and either San Francisco (No. 3), Washington State (No. 6), Loyola Marymount (No. 7), Pacific (No. 10), or San Diego (No. 11), depending on how the other side of the tournament bracket plays out.
So, in order to reach the biggest postseason tournament of them all, the Beavers need to win four more games in four consecutive nights. If not, they'll have to hope for a spot in the NIT, the CBI, or the CollegeInsider.com tournament.
Stranger things have happened. After a record of 18-11 in the 2016 regular season and an exit in the quarterfinals of the Pac-12 tournament, the Beavers earned an at-large bid into the NCAA tournament. Then in the 2020-2021 season, OSU went 13-12 in a shortened regular season before going on a winning streak that won them the Pac-12 tournament and pushed them all the way to the Elite Eight.
The 2025 NCAA Tournament Bracket will be officially announced on Sunday, March 16.
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Joe Londergan joined the SI brand in 2023 with G5 Football Daily. With over 15 years of experience in covering and working directly in college and pro sports, Joe's expertise has been featured in Front Office Sports, SB Nation, and XRAY.FM. He is a member of both the Football Writers' Association of America and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers' Association. Joe holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Louisville and a master's degree in sports administration from Seattle University. Outside of his writing career, Joe enjoys golfing, although he admits that while he hits driver decently, his short game is a liability.
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