Oregon State WBB Picked To Repeat As WCC Champions
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On Thursday, Scott Rueck's Oregon State Beavers women's basketball team was selected as the favorite to win the West Coast Conference in the 2025-2026 season.
The Beavers are hoping to build on their first WCC title in the 2024-2025 season that earned them their 14th trip to the NCAA Tournament.
MORE: State of the Beavs: What Does The Lafayette Win Change For Oregon State Football?
Oregon State received nine of the potential 12 first-place votes. The other three went to the Gonzaga Bulldogs.
Prior to this season's West Coast Conference Media Day Festivities, Rueck said his goal for the season is clear - "reach our potential."
"They hear me say 'every day is game day' all the time. They get sick of it, you know. So that's where I'm trying to keep their minds right now," Rueck noted. "But for me, I have one focus and that's it. It is just for this group to push them, to push the right buttons at the right time so that this group reaches its potential, which I think is going to be special."
The Beavers finished last season with an overall record of 19-6 and 12-8 in WCC play. OSU got hot at the right time, beating San Francisco, Gonzaga, and Portland in the WCC tournament. They fell to the North Carolina Tar Heels in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
OSU were 8-4 at home and 6-9 on the road last season.
Oregon State will open the 2025-2026 season on November 7 against Corban University. OSU's WCC schedule will begin on December 28 on the road against San Francisco. That will be the first day of conference play league wide.
The 2026 Credit Union 1 West Coast Conference Basketball Championship will be held March 5-10 at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
MORE: Scott Rueck Talks Oregon State Women's Basketball Ahead of 2025 Season
2025-26 West Coast Conference Women’s Basketball Preseason Poll
1 - Oregon State (9 first-place votes) - 119 points
2 - Gonzaga (3 first-place votes) - 111 points
3 - Washington State - 94 points
4 - Portland - 91points
5 - Santa Clara - 84 points
6 - San Francisco - 70 points
7 - Saint Mary’s - 55 points
8 - Pacific - 52 points
9 - LMU - 38 points
10 - Pepperdine - 36 points
11 - San Diego - 31 points
12 - Seattle U - 11 points
More Reading Material From Oregon State Beavers On SI
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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