Oregon State Women’s Basketball: Beavers Start at 14 in AP Preseason Poll

The Associated Press has released their first preseason poll before the start of the 2021-22 Women’s Basketball season, and the Oregon State Beavers once again cracked the top 25. The AP has OSU ranked 14th to open the season, slightly improved from last season’s #17 start.

Oregon State is one of 5 Pac-12 teams to make the top 25. Stanford, last year’s NCAA champion, is third overall, and Arizona, the runner-up, is in at #22. Oregon is just ahead of the Beavers at #10, and UCLA rounds out the Pac-12 representation at #20. Washington State received votes but didn’t crack the top 25.

At the top of the poll is the team that ended Oregon State’s NCAA Tournament run earlier this year, the South Carolina Gamecocks. South Carolina was also ranked #1 in last season’s preseason poll, and was regarded as one of the top teams in the country for most of last season. Their season ultimately ended in a loss to Stanford in the Final Four.

We’re just weeks away from the start of Beaver basketball. Oregon State gets things started on November 6th with an exhibition match against Western Washington, before welcoming Loyola Marymount to Corvallis to start their nonconference schedule on November 12th.