Oregon State Women’s Basketball: Taking a Look at the Women’s Basketball Schedule

With the announcement of their Pac-12 schedule last week, the Beavers officially have a full schedule for this season. It’s going to be one of the most exciting seasons the Beavers have ever had. They’ve been consistently rated a top six team, and have some of the most promising recruits in the country.

We’re a little over a month a way from the start of play and we decided to take a look at who they’ll be playing this year. Here’s a quick rundown.

November 9th - November 17th: The Preseason WNIT

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The Beavers will host at least one game of the WNIT, with their first match being against UC-Irvine. Pacific and Kansas City round out the Beavers’ group, giving Oregon State a pretty open path to the semifinals. Things get a bit more interesting there. Oklahoma is the biggest name in that quarter of the bracket, which includes Prairie View A&M, UAB and South Alabama.

The Sooners have an NCAA Tournament pedigree, but last year’s team was pretty miserable finishing the season 8-22. Should the Beavers manage to get to the finals, they’ll face one of either Depaul, Miami (OH), Drexel, Davidson, Boise State, Portland State, Missouri State or Texas A&M Corpus Christi.

Depaul is the big name to watch for there. The team has been to every NCAA Tournament since 2003, and has been to the Sweet Sixteen four times in that span. Last year the Blue Demons cruised through the Big East with a 25-7 record before losing by one point to Missouri State in a first-round upset. Depaul has lost a few starters but still looks to be a strong team.

They’ve got a chance for a rematch in the WNIT semifinal as the Lady Bears are also in the bracket. Missouri State had a heck of a run through the NCAA Tournament last season, after their upset of Depaul, they took down third seeded Iowa State before falling short in the Sweet Sixteen against Stanford.

Of the other squads, Boise State made the tournament as a #13 seed and Portland State as a 15 seed. Miami (OH) and Drexel both had excellent seasons before losing in their conference tournaments and heading to the postseason WNIT.

There’s some talent in this bracket, but without a doubt Oregon State is the premier team in the tournament.

Non-Conference Play

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• November 21st - Southern Utah
• November 29th - at Miami
• November 30th - Liberty (in Miami, FL)
• December 6th - Hawaii
• December 14th - Utah State
• December 18th - Northern Arizona (in Lahaina, HI)
• December 19th - BYU (in Lahaina, HI)
• December 29th - CSU Bakersfield

There’s a few big names to take a look at here. Miami was a four seed in last year’s NCAA Tournament and advanced to the second round before falling to Arizona State. They remain a strong team, and return one of their best players with senior Beatrice Mompremier.

BYU won the West Coast Conference and took down Auburn in the first round of the NCAA Tournament before falling to Stanford. None of the other teams reached the postseason.

Two big games and the Beavers will be on the road for both of them. These will be the next big tests of the Beavers’ season, but they’ve got an excellent shot at getting through non-conference play undefeated.

Pac 12 Play

• January 3rd - Utah
• January 5th - Colorado
• January 10th - at Arizona
• January 12th - at Arizona State
• January 17th - California
• January 19th - Stanford
• January 24th - at Oregon
• January 26th - Oregon
• January 30th - at Colorado
• February 1st - at Utah
• February 7th - Arizona State
• February 9th - Arizona
• February 14th - at USC
• February 17th - at UCLA
• February 21st - at Stanford
• February 23rd - at California
• February 28th - Washington
• March 1st - Washington State

We’ll have a full look at the Pac-12 later, but let’s just say that things start tough and don’t let up. The Beavers thankfully get to start with home series against Utah and Colorado, but after that the team takes a trip to Arizona, where they have struggled in the past. The Sun Devils in particular look to have a very strong team this year.

After that comes possibly the toughest stretch of the year. Home against Stanford, at Oregon, home against Oregon. The Ducks and Cardinal are two of the best teams in the country, with Oregon a consensus preseason number one, and Stanford only a spot or two behind them. There’s going to be another tough stretch in late February, when the Beavers take a four game road trip through California that includes trips to UCLA and Stanford.

It’s a tough schedule, but the Beavers have a great chance of at least splitting with Oregon, Stanford, and UCLA. A sweep is possible, if not probable, for the rest of the series. That said, there aren’t going to be any easy weekends, but there will be plenty of exciting ones.