One of the things I was most looking forward to when we made it to the sweet-16 is that it’s always a national marker of excellence. Raises reputations, helps w recruiting, etc. The exposure is huge. Teams that get this far when it matters get national attention and either (1) credit for being really good, or (2) credit for being Cinderella- plucky fighters who overcame the odds. After perusing every article I can find from coast-to-coast, I can only conclude that our program and school is getting royally screwed. To wit:
ESPN article re-ranking the sweet-16 field puts us 15 of 16, merely says says “OSU’s wins defy logic”
CBS sports article on how the PAC-12 is dominating the tourney, literally doesn’t mention us once, spends whole thing talking about how great Oregon and UCLA are. Our wins are a credit to the conference but not to us, apparently.
Wilner (Pac-12 writer, Mercury News) keeps talking (on Twitter and in print) about how if UCLA’s Bernard hadn’t missed one late free throw against OSU in the PAC-12 tourney, this whole Beavers run would never have happened... essentially dismisses all this as crazy luck. No mention that we missed six free throws in that game, any of which would have made Bernard’s miss irrelevant, but whatever- hypotheticals only count against the Beavers.
We crush Tennessee in a dominating performance, lead for the last 30 minutes, and game announcer Brendan Haywood congratulates “The Oregon State Ducks”....
Multiple sports outlets check our season stats and conclude that we’re only winning because our 3 pt % has been much higher than our season average- so we “just got hot”. No mention that the stats show our defence has been stifling, holding opponents WAY under their season shooting percentages... only stats that discredit the beavers are important, stats that reflect our strengths or effectiveness do not.
No mention anywhere outside Oregon that we’ve been astoundingly clutch, and won 5 straight elimination games all against tourney teams, showing an incredible mental toughness.
No mention that our victory roll includes double-digit wins over 5-seed Tennessee, 4-seed OK State, and wins vs two teams (UCLA and Oregon) that are now in the sweet-16. In the last two weeks no team in the country has a similar slate of wins vs top teams... but apparently, we’re not Cinderella, we get no credit for being a good team, we’re just lucky.
In short, the national media coverage of us has either been totally dismissive, or fails to mention us completely...
. If a team makes the sweet-16 forest and the media doesn’t make a sound, did they really make the sweet-16?
I’ve unfortunately come to the conclusion that the only way OSU will get any credit they’ve earned from this run is to beat Loyola-Chicago and crash the elite-8. It sucks, but the reality is we need the win Saturday to get credit for what this team has accomplished.
Time to stick it in Sister Jean’s face and crash the party.
ESPN article re-ranking the sweet-16 field puts us 15 of 16, merely says says “OSU’s wins defy logic”
CBS sports article on how the PAC-12 is dominating the tourney, literally doesn’t mention us once, spends whole thing talking about how great Oregon and UCLA are. Our wins are a credit to the conference but not to us, apparently.
Wilner (Pac-12 writer, Mercury News) keeps talking (on Twitter and in print) about how if UCLA’s Bernard hadn’t missed one late free throw against OSU in the PAC-12 tourney, this whole Beavers run would never have happened... essentially dismisses all this as crazy luck. No mention that we missed six free throws in that game, any of which would have made Bernard’s miss irrelevant, but whatever- hypotheticals only count against the Beavers.
We crush Tennessee in a dominating performance, lead for the last 30 minutes, and game announcer Brendan Haywood congratulates “The Oregon State Ducks”....
Multiple sports outlets check our season stats and conclude that we’re only winning because our 3 pt % has been much higher than our season average- so we “just got hot”. No mention that the stats show our defence has been stifling, holding opponents WAY under their season shooting percentages... only stats that discredit the beavers are important, stats that reflect our strengths or effectiveness do not.
No mention anywhere outside Oregon that we’ve been astoundingly clutch, and won 5 straight elimination games all against tourney teams, showing an incredible mental toughness.
No mention that our victory roll includes double-digit wins over 5-seed Tennessee, 4-seed OK State, and wins vs two teams (UCLA and Oregon) that are now in the sweet-16. In the last two weeks no team in the country has a similar slate of wins vs top teams... but apparently, we’re not Cinderella, we get no credit for being a good team, we’re just lucky.
In short, the national media coverage of us has either been totally dismissive, or fails to mention us completely...
. If a team makes the sweet-16 forest and the media doesn’t make a sound, did they really make the sweet-16? I’ve unfortunately come to the conclusion that the only way OSU will get any credit they’ve earned from this run is to beat Loyola-Chicago and crash the elite-8. It sucks, but the reality is we need the win Saturday to get credit for what this team has accomplished.
Time to stick it in Sister Jean’s face and crash the party.
