The Beavers Are Dancing
March 13, 2016 | Men's Basketball
An overflow crowd at the Club level at Reser Stadium erupted with cheers, handshakes, hugs, high-fives and even a few tears on Sunday when Oregon State was selected to play in the 2016 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament.
The announcement that the Beavers (19-12) would face Atlantic-10 regular-season champion VCU (24-10) in Oklahoma City at 10:30 a.m. PT (12:30 p.m. CT) on Friday in an opening-round West Regional matchup ended a 26-year tournament drought.
Moments later, OSU's raucous celebration was broadcast over a CBS broadcast feed for the entire nation to see.
“I couldn't be more proud,” said second-year coach Wayne Tinkle, surrounded by his family and team in thanking everyone involved for their contributions to the two-year turnaround. “We love you.
“I couldn't be more proud. We're excited and we're not going to stop now. Let's keep rolling.”
Sunday's announcement capped a meteoric rise for the Beavers under the charismatic Tinkle, hired away from the University of Montana in May, 2014, to restore a once-powerful OSU program to its former glory.
Last season he held walk-on tryouts to fill his roster. This year the holdovers from that team, bolstered by an impressive freshman class, started 10-2, slumped to 12-8, and then battled through injuries and other adversity to win 7 of their last 11 games.
“This team is special,” Tinkle said. “A year ago we had open tryouts and added six or seven walkons. We had no seniors. The [players] committed to doing things a little differently, really appreciating the opportunity they have at Oregon State, and understanding that winning can't take place unless you handle your business every day and make your team a lot larger” by involving the entire campus community
“These guys bought into that, and we did some incredible things” that carried over into this season. “Roles changed, we added recruits and everybody really kept their eye on the prize. We stayed focused through some low times and some high times to put us in this situation.”
It will be OSU's first NCAA appearance since 1990, and its 17th overall. The Beavers are the No. 7 seed, VCU the No. 10 seed; the victor will face either second-seeded Oklahoma or 15th-seeded Cal State-Bakersfield in the second round.
OSU was thought to be a bubble team as recently. However, a victory at UCLA to end the conference campaign, and a win over Arizona State in the opening round of the Pac-12 tournament solidified OSU's hold on a coveted NCAA berth and resulted in a higher-than-anticipated seed.
“How about that, we're not only in but we're a seven seed!” Tinkle told the cheering throng, moments after OSU's selection. “I want to thank everybody for coming out to share this incredible, incredible experience.
“What an incredible family we have” in Beaver Nation, he added. “We are honored and blessed to do something we all know hasn't been done in a while. We are very excited.
“We are surrounded by great people. I got a text from [OSU great] Brent Barry congratulating us on this day. It's easy to do great things when you are surrounded by incredible people.
“It's incredible the family we have at Oregon State and we are excited to be part of it.”
The Beavers were one of a record seven Pac-12 teams to make the 68-team tournament field.
The women's team, which repeated as Pac-12 champions and won its first Pac-12 tournament title, will learn its NCAA tournament destination and opening-round opponent at 4 p.m. Monday afternoon.
TICKET INFORMATION
Sunday night – Season Ticket Holders can order by phone and online (BeaverTickets.com -- use your season ticket holder account login). Phone lines (800-GO-BEAVS) go live at 2:30 p.m. and will stay on until 6 p.m..
Monday – Season Ticket Holders can order online (BeaverTickets.com -- use your season ticket holder account login) or by phone (800-GO-BEAVS, with exclusive priority until 5 p.m.
Tuesday – Our Beaver Nation donors can order online (BeaverTickets.com) or by phone (800-GO-BEAVS), with exclusive priority until 5 p.m, if inventory remains after Season Ticket Holder priority.
Wednesday - 9 a.m. remaining tickets go on sale to public if inventory remains.
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