Canzano: Oregon State... America's team
"We’re selfless. We play together. We’re a family."
You had to love it on Friday evening when Talia von Oelhoffen took to social media to shoot her latest big shot.
“Where do we submit our application to be America’s team?” the Oregon State women’s basketball player asked.
We’ve heard a lot about Caitlin Clark this season. ESPN dedicated a reporter to shadowing the Iowa star’s every move during the women’s NCAA Tournament. The four-letter network has given Clark so much of the spotlight she ought to wear sunscreen. And JuJu Watkins and Cameron Brink are often celebrated. And undefeated South Carolina has enjoyed a first-cabin seat all season in college hoops alongside LSU and coach Kim Mulkey.
The Beavers are in the Elite Eight.
America, will you get behind them?
The same team that was picked to finish 10th in the Pac-12 Conference proved it belongs at the top of women’s college basketball on Friday, beating No. 2 seed Notre Dame 70-65.
After the game, ESPN’s post-game coverage was disappointing. It largely focused on the Irish losing the game, not Oregon State winning it. The host and panel on the postgame show blathered on and on about how Notre Dame star Hannah Hidalgo struggled and was told by officials to remove her nose ring during the game.
OSU’s von Oelhoffen must have seen it. She tweeted: “Y’all worried about the wrong type of rings.”
So yeah, America, what do the Beavers need to do to become your team? Because they’re now one upset victory over South Carolina away from crashing the Final Four party. von Oelhoffen was asked at Saturday’s news conference in Albany, New York to present the public case. And she did a terrific job talking up the least-talked-about team in the bracket.
“This team plays so together and we're so unselfish and we love each other so much,” she said. “That might not get views. That might not get clicks. That might not be a headline that pulls everyone in, but it wins games and it’s important between the lines.”
Oregon State is 27-7. Early in the season coach Scott Rueck joined me on my radio show and talked about the feel he had for this team. The Beavers were unranked, and hadn’t started conference play. Rueck told me: “The way this group competes reminds me of the team I took to the Final Four.”
I almost fell out of my chair.
The Final Four team in 2016 had grit and talent. Rueck molded it into a machine that went to Indianapolis and stuck its nose into a Final Four fray with Connecticut. It was something to see. And yet, right on cue, here comes Rueck and his program again this season. He’s matched up in Sunday’s regional final against 35-0 South Carolina.
David vs. Goliath?
On Easter Sunday?
It’s like von Oelhoffen said: “We might not have the big names in the commercials or TikTok stars yet, we’re trying... we’re America's team. We’re selfless. We play together. We’re a family. That’s a story. That’s a headline that I can get behind and I think a lot of people should too.”
Life has been a grind for Oregon State since last August. The disintegration of their 108-year-old conference has left the school seeking buoyancy in the high seas of major college athletics. The Pac-12 will have only two members after June 30. Oregon State and Washington State signed on to play a WCC schedule next season, but the last few months in Corvallis and Pullman have largely featured hand-wringing.
The uncertainty is a downer.
But it has not sucked this basketball team under.
The Beavers have center Raegan Beers, who told me earlier this season that she developed her toughness from her two brothers, one older and younger. They both play football at Florida International University. von Oelhoffen’s father played 14 seasons in the NFL and her mother suited up as a four-year starter in basketball at the University of Hawaii. And Timea Gardiner might be the most understated player in women’s college basketball. She had 21 points and 11 rebounds in the win over Notre Dame and barely got a mention from ESPN.
Freshman point guard Donovyn Hunter is a rising star with a big future. And Lily Hansford, Dominika Paurová, and AJ Marotte are a relentless trio who seem to take turns coming up huge for OSU. I can’t wait to see what this team does next.
A TikTok video?
von Oelhoffen promised on Saturday that the team is working on one.
“Stay tuned for our real application,” she said.
I understand why the national media panders to major markets, large population bases, and big brands. It’s where the money is buried. Iowa and Clark? South Carolina’s perfect season? Mulkey’s polarizing act? Notre Dame’s national brand? ESPN shovels coal, chasing eyeballs and interest. But I cringe when I see coverage veer so far away from a great story.
Oregon State seized the spotlight in March. The Beavers are a terrific tale. They’ve had a rough year, but aren’t ready to go home. They were unheralded in the preseason. But they’re gifted, play hard, and are well-coached. The women’s basketball team at OSU refuses to quit. Rueck’s team fashions itself a true family.
America, surely you can get behind that.
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OSU plays old school. team basketball, that is fundamentally sound. For this basketball 🏀 purist, it is fun to watch. Win or lose tomorrow, it has been a fun ride to watch. Go Beavs! Way to rep the state of Oregon and the Pac12 nka the Pac2.
The plight of being a very small market team in a remote corner of the country, and the victim of the very limited reach of the Pac-12 network's distribution.
Compound that with that while OSU mostly won this year, they were swept by Stanford, swept in LA, and by USC, and have not had the best of tv slots (arguably some of the worst, because the better markets get the better slots) for their 3 tournament games.
It's hard to be America's team when most of America hasn't seen them.
Beat South Carolina, something no one has done all season, and that will get people's attention.