Canzano: Oregon State never stopped believing
Scott Rueck and the Beavers are in the NCAA Tournament.
You had to love it on Tuesday as confetti blasted from air cannons and the Oregon State women’s basketball team submitted a fresh application for the role of America’s Team.
The Beavers beat the University of Portland, 59-46, in the WCC Tournament championship game in Las Vegas. OSU’s three-game run in the conference tournament included two game-winning shots, followed by a smothering championship effort against a 29-win team in the title game.
“There were lots of reasons to doubt lots of things,” Coach Scott Rueck said afterward.
Is this Rueck’s best coaching job yet?
Serious question. I thought about that as his team cut down the nets at Orleans Arena. The guy has been to a Final Four, a fistful of Sweet 16s, and won more than 500 college games as a coach. Getting to the NCAA Tournament is sort of what he does. But what Rueck just pulled off was a high-wire act amid high winds.
Rueck’s roster splintered at the end of last season. His best players ran for the hills amid the Pac-12’s implosion. He took that team to the Elite Eight, then had to face starting over. Earlier this season, there were more setbacks, including a demoralizing 25-point home loss against the Pilots on Jan. 18.
OSU is back in the NCAA Tournament. The uninvited guests? America’s team? Or just a case of a program determined to prove that great culture is a powerful thing? You decide how to frame it today. I’ll just call it what it looked like this week — unexpected and amazing theater.
“Everything we’ve experienced and faced has been unexpected,” guard AJ Marotte said after the game.
Marotte spurned the transfer portal and told Rueck after last season that she was staying in Corvallis to play for him. That was a positive, right? Three other backup players stuck around, too. But let’s be real about what Rueck’s program just pulled off. It shook off mass defections, made no excuses, refused to feel sorry for itself, recruited newcomers, kept believing, and pulled that all together for an inspiring March run.
“We’re like a family,” guard Catarina Ferreira said.
A month ago, OSU had a 13-14 record.
Rueck’s team is 6-1 since.
How ridiculous is it that the Beavers just won the WCC Tournament? I’ll try to give it some context. Rueck’s son, Cole, is a star college golfer at Boise State. He’s competing in the Bandon Dunes Collegiate Championship this week. The other day, Cole made a “2” on a par-5 hole.
That’s a double eagle, folks.
An “albatross,” as golfers call it.
Golfers who play the sport every day might go their entire lives and never pull off a feat like that. Amazing and rare, right? But, as mind-blowing Rueck family sports achievements go, I’d rank the double-eagle a solid second this week. Cole did a crazy, exciting thing. But his father just bent a tee shot around a grove of redwood trees and scored a hole-in-one from 285 yards out.
How did this Oregon State team do it?
“No egos,” Rueck explained.
“Gratitude,” he added.
“I don’t know why people overlook us,” he wondered aloud after the game.
Oregon State lost eight players amid the uncertainty of conference realignment. That’s 75 percent of the roster — gone. I wrote a column about his four holdover players after the Beavers’ buzzer-beating quarterfinal victory on Sunday. Facing elimination, Rueck put those four players on the court. He went with a “ride or die” lineup because, he said, “it felt right.”
Earlier this season, Rueck said he wrote two words on the board in the locker room: “Keep going.”
Keep going — amid strife.
Keep going — amid setbacks.
Keep going — even when the world of college athletics does you dirty.
“We can not let up,” he told his players, “we have to keep it on.”
At the end of last season, the Beavers didn’t know who would come back and suit up this season. The team didn’t know which conference it would play games in. Oregon State couldn’t have expected how any of it might unfold. There was so much up in the air, just like the confetti in the post-game celebration.
It’s like Rueck said: “Anything’s possible.”
Thanks for sharing the heartwarming tale of a team nobody expected to do anything, after being gutted by the transfer portal. It goes to show you the value of hard work, dedication, perseverance and grit. What an amazing story. Thanks for bringing it to life and sharing with us.
I loved how Rueck stayed on the sidelines at the end of the game and watched the players celebrate with a smile on his face. What a coach, what a team, what a season, what a win. Had me in tears.