The Beavers have their only chance to make the NCAA tournament this week. Wednesday at noon in the opener of the Pac-12 tournament, Oregon State will face Utah. The Beavers are the eight-seed and Utah the nine-seed. The winner will play the #1 seed Oregon Thursday at Noon.
The Beavers have clinched a fourth winning record in the six years of the Wayne Tinkle era and have a chance to get an invite to the NIT but will probably need a good showing at the Pac-12 tournament. The Utes and Beavers split their series this season. Utah winning by 12 in Salt Lake City and the Beavers winning by 19 in Corvallis. One thing the Beavers have is some emotional momentum after Tres Tinkle passed Gary Payton on the all-time Beavers scoring list. Plus they enter the tournament on a two-game rolling sweeping Stanford and Cal. Add to it the emotional game ball presentation to Tres after the win over the Cardinal.
Mike Parker will call the action Wednesday. The pregame show begins at 11:30 am with the tip at Noon.