Managing Editor
College students and basketball enthusiasts alike were (not so) pleasantly surprised when the men’s Oregon State basketball team unexpectedly beat No. 7 University of Arizona on Jan. 11.
ASU, then ranked at No. 7 in the AP poll, now stands at No. 10.
Although the Beavs performance was undoubtedly a highlight in the season thus far, it is of great interest to reflect upon the Beavs’ preseason performance, or lack thereof, against Western.
Throwback to Jan. 7 when the Wolves (very, very unexpectedly) beat the Beavers 57-47 in an exhibition game at Gil Colesium.
While it’s easy to say that OSU played a bad game or (my personal favorite) the odds were in Western’s favor, the score stands unforgotten. We also remember the Beav’s inability to break 50-points against a Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) team.
The recent unforeseen turn of events raises the very contentious question: is Western capable of beating top 10-ranked Arizona?
Without considering the circumstances, this question seems laughable to anyone. How could a GNAC division II team beat a Pac-12 division I team?
Oh, wait a minute. That did happen.
After a loss to the Wolves, any Pac-12 or division I team would decribe the experience as “humbling.”
I also imagine the Wildcats basketball team would consider their loss to the Beavs as “humbling.”
According to ESPN, the last time Oregon State beat a top-ten team was when the Beavs beat No. 3 Arizona 70-69 on March 2, 2000. I was six years old.
Fifteen years ago.
FIFTEEN.
A loss to Western provided the motivation for Oregon State to perform it’s best at home since their 1981-82 and 1983-84 seasons.
It’s safe to say that the Beavs, predicted to finish last in the Pac-12 for the 2014-15 season, were nowhere near the Wildcats’ radar, who were ranked in the
AP poll top 10 for the past 29 weeks.
However, claiming that Western would be able to beat Arizona based on their performance against the Beavs implies that they would also beat the list of teams the Beavs beat in the season hitherto — in addition to alls division II teams.
Division I prospects like forward Andy Avgi, Jordan Wiley and Devon Alexander who frequent Western and GNAC’s athlete of the week make assumptions like that believable.
Simply said, Oregon State capitalized on turnovers and foul shots in their game against Arizona, much like Western exploited the mistakes made by Oregon State.
Case in point: Avgi recorded 21 points against the Beavs, more than both Oregon State leading scorers combined.
Go Wolves.
In addition, Western beat the Beavers by 10 points where as the Beavers beat the Wildcats by a lay up. With numbers like that, assertions such as “Western can beat Arizona” become credible.
However, there are many factors that impact a game, namely location, level of play and, obviously, the players. Duh.
Without getting into logistics, statistics, starting line-ups or play-by-plays, its important to remember why we love college sports: they are completely unpredictable.
Yes, we expect teams to perform to their ranking and are blind-sighted when our predictions are incorrect. We make a science out of predicting performance based on games past.
Whether you win against a ranked team or lose to an opponent in a different division, people don’t forget.
Both of the above mentioned games have brought to fruition the underlying fear that an underdog team has the potential to rival an otherwise undisputed competitor.
Realistically, we’ll never know. Most importantly, the potential is there and it always will be. The possibilities that lie in the realm of college sports is fickle at best and creates the thrill of uncertainty we collegiate sports fanatics thrive on.
