2019-20 Pac-12 preview: Oregon atop a deep conference

The Oregon State Beavers and their guards are back

What happened last year?

The 26-8 Beavers finished third in the regular season with a 14-4 conference record. Things got a little dicey down the stretch, though.

Oregon State lost to Arizona State, then squeaked by Arizona in a 5-point game to end the regular season. Then, they went to Vegas and lost their opening game to 11th-seeded Washington–a team that won only two conference games–in the Pac-12 Tournament.

That seemed to light a bit of a fire under coach Scott Rueck’s team. The Beavers advanced to the Sweet Sixteen before bowing out to Louisville.

Key losses

The only losses for the Beavers were center Joanna Grymek and guard Katie McWilliams. McWilliams started all 34 of Oregon State’s games, while Grymek was a key contributor off the bench who also started in eight games.

The two seniors were the team’s fifth and sixth-leading scorers with McWilliams accounting for 7.4 ppg and Grymek for 7.1 ppg. McWilliams was one of five Beavers who shot at least 36 percent from beyond the arc, while Grymek was one of three with at least a 62 percent field goal percentage. Grymek was also the team’s third-leading rebounder with 4.6 rpg.

Key returners

While Rueck talked highly of his new post players at Pac-12 Media Day, the heart of the team will still be the guards. The Beavers return their top four scorers and their top rebounder, all of whom are guards. All four of them shot at least 36.8 percent from 3-point range and scored at least 10.4 ppg last season.

Senior Mikayla Pivec was the second-leading scorer on the team last season with 15.2 ppg. She was also the leading rebounder with 9.2 rpg. She trailed only fellow senior Kat Tudor in 3-point field goal percentage, shooting 41.7 percent from outside.

As for Tudor, she played 13 games last season before being injured. In her limited time, she was third on the team with 12.3 ppg while shooting an incredible 46.5 percent from distance. Rueck says that she is able to participate in drills right now, but she is still working her way back to full health.

It was junior Destiny Slocum who led the team in scoring, though. Her 15.4 ppg were paired with 4.5 assists per game, both team highs. She also shot 36.8 percent from 3-point range.

Last but not least, the Beavers return junior Aleah Goodman, who was the Pac-12 Sixth Player of the Year last season. Goodman was the fourth-leading scorer on the team with 10.4 ppg.

Key additions

ESPN HoopGurlz ranked the Beavers’ incoming class as No. 17 in the country as well as getting the services of a highly ranked 2018 recruit who redshirted last season.

At 6-foot-9, redshirt freshman forward Andrea Aquino will be one of the two tallest players for the Beavers. The Paraguayan didn’t start playing basketball until she was 15, but she came in as the No. 7 recruit last season after a high school career in New Jersey making her the highest-ranked recruit to ever sign with Oregon State. However, as of Pac-12 Media Day on Oct. 7, she had not yet been cleared to play.

Two U.S.-based players and one international player will join Aquino in their debut seasons.

That group is led by Kennedy Brown, who is the first McDonald’s All-American to sign with OSU directly out of high school. She joins Slocum as current Beavers who played in the game, although Slocum was a Maryland recruit when she appeared.

The Derby, Kansas native joins Aquino as needed size. Brown is 6-foot-6 and displayed traditional post skills in high school. One talent evaluation after another speaks of her agility, back-to-the-basket skills, and talent as a shot-blocker.

Those skills landed her among the top 4 post prospects and No. 20 player overall in the 2019 class according to HoopGurlz. Rueck will have to decide whether it’s a good thing or not that Brown doesn’t want to be “stuck” in the post.

Continuing the “you can’t teach size” theme, Rueck also brought in 6-foot-4 post Taylor Jones. Jones is the No. 9 post prospect according to HoopGurlz as well as the 43rd overall player in the 2019 class. Prospects Nation rates her even higher, placing her at No. 2 among posts and No. 13 in the class. Wherever she’s ranked, she put up a double-double in every game her senior year in high school.

Like most Pac-12 schools, the Beavers also went international, bringing in Jelena Mitrovic from Serbia. She’s the third of the triple towers in the 2019 class, coming in at 6-foot-9. Along with Aquino, she will be one of the tallest two players on the roster.

Outlook for 2019-20

The Beavers will still be a guard-oriented team, but they also bring in quite a bit of size. Last season, their top rebounder was Pivec.

It would probably be better OSU if their 5-foot-10 guard wasn’t carrying that load, although the team was able to rank in the top 25 in rebounding even with their star guard pulling in the most boards.

Junior guard Taya Corosdale averaged 7.8 rpg last season. She will take some of that responsibility again this year, but the Beavers could also use some help from their youngsters.

Regardless of the play inside, OSU will once again have players who can shoot the lights out from outside. That will likely be the bread-and-butter of this team again this year after ranking 11th in the country in 3-point field goal percentage last season.

The national pundits often suggest that the Pac-12 has three potential Final Four teams with OSU rounding out that group. Meanwhile, the conference coaches believe the team may have difficulty maintaining third place in their own league. In the preseason poll, the coaches placed the UCLA Bruins behind the Beavers by a mere six points.

Are their four teams who have what it takes to get to the Final Four?