Bracketology: Who Will Oregon State Be Facing in the NCAA Tournament?
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Oregon State has had a few days to celebrate winning a West Coast Conference Championship, but it won't be long before they have to start focusing on what's next. We'll find out on Sunday who the Beavers will face, but we should be able to narrow down the possibilities before hand.
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A lot of tournament prognosticators had Portland penciled in for the WCC's berth, and many of them haven't updated their predictions since the Beavers' upset. The publications that have mostly have the Beavers around a 14 seed. That feels fair; the Beavers are an automatic qualifier with an unexciting regular season record, and all of their biggest wins came against other WCC schools who will be sitting out the tournament.
One thing to look at when trying to pin down the Beavers seed is where they stand compared to other automatic qualifiers. Oregon State has a NET ranking of 126. Not great, but still ahead of some other AQ teams. The Beavers NET rankings puts them ahead of 5 other automatic qualifiers, and with several other conferences still waiting to crown their champions, that list should probably grow.
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That should take the Beavers safely out of 16 seed territory, and probably 15 seed territory, unless the Beavers end up right on the border. 13 seems possible, but perhaps a stretch, some upsets in this weekend's tournaments would help. It's also possible the Beavers get a bit of a boost because of their tournament history, but that's not something to count on.
So a 14 seed feels like the safest bet, which means the Beavers would be facing a three seed in the first round. ESPN has the Beavers facing LSU. The Tigers, currently ranked 10th by the AP, would be a tough first round match up for anyone. Coached by the legendary Kim Mulkey, they won an NCAA title just two years ago, and this year have a player of the year candidate in forward Aneesah Morrow.
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The most interesting potential 3 seed for the Beavers to face might be the 11th ranked Oklahoma Sooners. The Sooners leading scorer is a name Beaver fans should recognize, Raegan Beers. Beers was the best player on the Beaver team that went to the Elite 8 last year, before transferring to Oklahoma last spring. A match up against the Sooners is sure to bring out a lot of emotions.
There's a couple other big names that the Beavers could face as a 14 seed. Duke is ranked 7th nationally, but is getting penciled in as a 3 seed be several prognosticators. They just won an ACC title, so a 2 seed feels more appropriate, but the top of the field is very competitive this year. Kentucky, ranked 13th, is also an option, and this is who HerHoopStats has the Beavers facing.
Those are some of the biggest possibilities for Oregon State's next opponent. We'll find out more this Sunday. The Selection Show gets started at 5 PM PT.
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Having grown up in Pocatello, home of the Idaho State Bengals, John Severs is a lifelong fan of small schools that don't always deliver a lot of wins. Prior to writing for On SI, John covered the Beavers for SB Nation's Oregon State blog Building the Dam, with a focus on baseball and women's basketball. When he's not watching college sports he spends most of his time reading, playing video games and annoying cats.