Thompson’s rise helps Beavers into Sweet 16
Ethan Thompson understood the moment. Maybe that’s why he couldn’t stop smiling.
Oregon State’s senior guard had just led the Beavers to a spot in the Sweet 16, the latest milestone for a team picked to finish last in the Pac-12 Conference at the start of the season.
“We knew it was in us, this success,” Thompson said, the smile plastered on his face. “We pictured it from the beginning.”
No. 12 seed Oregon State will face eighth-seeded Loyola Chicago today in the Midwest Region of the NCAA Tournament. The winner earns a spot in the Elite Eight against the winner of the game between second-seeded Houston and No. 11 Syracuse.
The Beavers are one of four Pac-12 teams in the Sweet 16, joined by sixthseeded USC, No. 7 Oregon and No. 11 UCLA. The Trojans face the Ducks on Sunday in the West Region, while UCLA meets second-seeded Alabama in the East. The Pac-12 hasn’t won an NCAA title since 1997 — the longest drought for a major conference.
But the Beavers are perhaps the most surprising of the group.
They earned an automatic berth in the tournament by beating Colorado 70-68 in the Pac-12 Tournament championship game. Then they downed fifthseeded Tennessee 70-56, their first NCAA Tournament victory since 1982, before an 80-70 win over
No. 4 Oklahoma State to set up the game against the Ramblers.
“I’m so grateful for this,” Thompson said. “I just got a feeling that I don’t want it to stop.”
This is Oregon State’s first tournament appearance since 2016 and only the second since 1990. The Beavers have twice made the Final Four, in 1949 and 1963. The victory over the Volunteers snapped a seven-game tournament losing streak.
For Thompson, this is sort of destiny. He comes from a basketball family. His dad, Stephen Thompson, is an assistant on Oregon State’s staff, and his big brother is a Beavers alum who currently plays in Italy.
The elder Thompson played at Syracuse and was on the 1987 team that played Indiana in the NCAA championship game.
Except for perhaps the Beavers, few foresaw the success they’d have this season. After the dire prediction by the Pac-12’s media, Oregon State dropped early games against Wyoming and Portland — which went just 6-15 this year.
Thompson, named to the All-Pac-12 first team, averaged 15.3 points and 3.6 rebounds in the regular season, but he’s upped his game in the tournament, averaging 19.5 points and 8.5 rebounds.
SHAKA SMART LEAVES TEXAS FOR MARQUETTE >>
Shaka Smart is leaving Texas to return to his home state to coach Marquette. Marquette announced the hiring on Friday.
It comes a week after Marquette fired Steve Wojciechowski and Smart’s Texas team was upset 5352 by Abilene Christian in the first round of the NCA A Tournament. Smart went 109-86 with no NCAA Tournament victories at Texas.
This marks a bit of a homecoming for Smart, who went to high school at Oregon, Wis., just outside Madison.
Women AURIEMMA BACK TO LEAD UCONN, BUECKERS AGAINST IOWA, CLARK >>
UConn’s Geno Auriemma will be coaching in his 27th straight Sweet 16 today, but his first game in this women’s NCAA Tournament.
Auriemma spent the first two rounds back home in Connecticut, self-isolating after being diagnosed with COVID-19.
The Hall of Famer returns to San Antonio just in time to get a close-up view of today’s battle between the nation’s most heralded freshmen, UConn’s Paige Bueckers and Iowa’s Caitlin Clark.
Clark, the nation’s leading scorer at almost 27 points per game, has put up a total of 58 points in the fifth-seeded Hawkeyes victories over Central Michigan and Kentucky.
“I’ve known Caitlin since really young middle school ages and she’s been doing this her whole life,” Bueckers said. “I mean, scoring 30 points in one half. It’s surprising to a lot of people, but that’s just the high standard she’s been living up to her whole life.”