Oregon State Beavers
Overall Rank: #19
Conference Rank: #4 Pac-12
Oregon State continued its surge as a national player on the women’s college basketball landscape under the direction of head coach Scott Rueck by knocking off Baylor in the Dallas Regional and punching their ticket to their first ever Final Four appearance. The 2016-17 season will be a bit of a reloading process at the beginning of the season, but by March the Beavers will once again be in the conversation for a top 16 seed for the NCAA Tournament.
2015-16 Record: 32-5, 16-2
2015-16 Postseason: NCAA
Coach: Scott Rueck
Coach Record: 122-75 at Oregon State, 410-163 overall
Key Departed Players (starters in bold)
Jamie Weisner, Guard, 17.3 ppg
Ruth Hamblin, Center, 11.8 ppg
Deven Hunter, Forward, 6.2 ppg
Samantha Siegner, Forward, 2.1 ppg
Key Returning Players (starters in bold)
Sydney Wiese, Senior, Guard, 12.8 ppg
Gabriella Hanson, Senior, Guard, 7.8 ppg
Marie Gulich, Junior, Center, 4.1 ppg
Katie McWilliams, Sophomore, Guard, 3.2 ppg
Taylor Kalmer, Sophomore, Guard, 2.7 ppg
Kolbie Orum, Senior, Forward, 2.3 ppg
Breanna Brown, Junior, Forward, 2.2 ppg
Key New Players
Tarea Green RS Freshman, Center
Mikayla Pivec, Freshman, Guard
Janessa Thropay, Freshman, Guard
Kat Tudor, Freshman, Guard
Madison Washington, Freshman, Guard/Forward
Projection
Competition will be fierce for playing time as there are jobs to be won for the Oregon State team. Sydney Wiese and Gabriella Hanson will anchor the backcourt and will be expected to carry a fair amount of the scoring load for the Beavers Wiese averaged 12.8 points per game along with 5.7 rebounds and 5.0 assists. Marie Gulich will step into the center position and will have to fill the void left by Ruth Hamblin, who is now playing in the WNBA. Gulich has the versatility offensively to give some different looks for opposing coaches to deal with as she has more of an inside-outside type of game. The freshmen class features three ESPN Top 100 players led by Mikayla Pivec, who should be in the mix to play a lot at guard. This was a big get for the Oregon State coaching staff as they went right into Washington’s backyard and convinced Pivec to head south to Corvallis. Overall, this Beaver team should be more athletic, versatile and able to push the tempo when necessary without missing a beat at both ends of the court. When all is said and done Oregon State should be peaking around February and be in prime position to make some more noise in the NCAA Tournament once again this season.
Projected Postseason Tournament: NCAA
By the Numbers:
Scoring Offense: 66.9 (117th in nation, 7th in conference)
Scoring Defense: 51.9 (7, 1)
Field-Goal Percentage: 43.7 (36, 3)
Field-Goal Defense: 32.4 (1, 1)
Three-Point Field Goals Per Game: 6.6 (71, 4)
Three-Point Field-Goal Percentage: 35.5 (27, 3)
Free-Throw Percentage: 73.2 (59, 3)
Rebound Margin: 11.3 (6, 1)
Assists Per Game: 15.5 (42, 3)
Turnovers Per Game: 15.3 (126, 7)
Madness 2017 WNBA Draft Rankings:
#9 Sydney Wiese
Madness 2016 Women’s Basketball Recruit Rankings:
#35 Mikayla Pivec
#59 Katharine Tudor
#70 Madison Washington
