A Look Back at 2017-18

The gym had a new feel to it as the Beavers opened practice for the 2017-18 season. Marie Gulich was now the sole senior after the graduation of Sydney Wiese, Gabby Hanson, Kolbie Orum, and Breanna Brown.

"At the beginning there was a lot of unknowns, but there was so much excitement as there is with the beginning of every new season," said head coach Scott Rueck. "It definitely had a new feel, a lot of faces that had been around a long time were no longer there."

From the start, Gulich was determined to build on the tradition of the program she had grown in, and continue the legacy of the players that had come before her.

The young season started off with a bang. Within the first five games the Beavers faced a matchup with eventual national champion Notre Dame and a meeting with Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

"The Notre Dame game was pivotal looking back on the season, even though we didn't come away from it with a win," Rueck said. "It showed us right of the bat that we belonged and that we could compete with the best. The way we competed with the lack of experience was amazing, and I think Mikayla (Pivec) really set everyone's mind at ease with the way she was producing at such a high level."

After suffering a hard-fought defeat at Duke, the Beavers made their annual trip to Hawaii for the Maui Jim Maui Classic -- a chance for the Beavers to put together what they had learned from their early nonconference tests.

"We had a long stretch between the loss to Duke and our trip to Hawaii, and we really worked them hard and they responded," Rueck said. "That was an opportunity to really improve and it showed with the way we played in Hawaii."

After two wins in Maui the Beavers would cap off an eight game winning streak with six at home including two to begin conference play over Washington and Washington State.

"We entered conference with a lot of unknowns still remaining," Rueck said. "We started off against a dangerous Washington team because nobody knew what they were capable of yet and Washington State who a lot of people had looked at as a potential tournament team. In both those games we had slow starts, but great second halves. That second half really became a key point for us and that 'finish mentality' really started that weekend."

Rueck said that opening conference play at home with two wins brought a sense of normalcy to the team, but that would quickly be challenged with a trip to Southern California that brought with it two of the Beavers' four Pac-12 losses on the season.

"We got exposed on that trip," Rueck said. "Those two teams played at extremely high levels and we were not ready to handle the pressure they were able to put on us at that time of the year."

But the Beavers were able to bring it back quickly, with five days in between the loss to USC and the win over Arizona State back at home in Gill Coliseum.

"To regroup after those losses with this young team and close out a gritty ASU team like we did was really important for us, it was the team growing in front of our eyes again," said Rueck.

After the wins over the Sun Devils and Wildcats, the Beavers were set to play a pair of Civil War contests in a span of 48 hours. The first of the two games was another momentum building cornerstone that showed the Beavers what kind of team they could be.

"Everybody will say that it was one of the best games they've ever seen in Gill Coliseum," Rueck said. "It was big shot after big shot on both sides, and our whole team really hit another level that game. We won an overtime game against a really, really good team. We executed down the stretch and elevated our game when it mattered the most."

The next weekend's games would be rematches with UCLA and USC, a month after the only back to back losses the Beavers would have all season.

"To turn around in a month's time and go from not being able to get in an offensive set when we were in LA to having what I thought was our best game of the season communication-wise was huge," said Rueck.

All season long Pivec operated as the main point guard for the Beavers after not playing in the role since middle school.

"It was a really big problem for us early in the season trying to figure out how to get plays on the court with a player new to playing point guard," Rueck said. "Against UCLA she had to get the ball up the court against an elite defender in Jordin Canada and at the same time get the call from me and relay it to the rest of the team and then make sure they're in position. It's not easy at all, but on that night and for the rest of the season we were on the same page."

After a loss to Arizona State in the first round of the Pac-12 tournament, the Beavers looked to regroup and stay focused during the two week break in action before the NCAA tournament would start.

Oregon State knew it would be in the tournament, but not where they would be seeded or who would be in their path. Rueck's plan for regrouping was going back to basics; playing tough defense, pace of play, and playing the Oregon State style of basketball. In a strange bit of foreshadowing he brought the team together to show them a picture from two years prior after the Beavers advanced to the final four by beating Baylor.

His message to them when the picture was up: "You have the same opportunity this team did."

Opening up the NCAA tournament the Beavers would face Western Kentucky in Knoxville Tennessee.

"The way we played against Western Kentucky was just such a great team win to start off the tournament," Rueck said. "We took it at them with five competitive, elite scorers for 40 minutes straight and set the tone for what we were there to do."

Following that win would be a shot at history. Tennessee was undefeated all time when playing on their home court in the postseason, a streak that Gulich and the Beavers were looking to end.

"You're playing for history in as storied a building as there is in our sport, that's not lost on anyone going into it," Rueck said. "This competitive fire came out. It was demanded for sure by the way Tennessee was playing, but it was so special. Marie was unbelievable, and in that kind of game it's going to come down to 'who is going to will their team to victory.' Marie wanted it more than anyone else on that court and that's why we ended up on top."

Advancing to the Sweet Sixteen for the third-straight season, the Beavers would play a Baylor team with just a single loss on the year. But just as they did in 2016 the Beavers pulled off another win and advanced to the Elite Eight.

"At that point we were functioning at such a high level as a group," said Rueck. "We controlled everything we needed to control in that game to win, and once again we had the player on the court that wanted it more than anyone else. We got huge shots all around but that was a team infused with confidence because of the way Marie played and led."

The tournament run ended for the Beavers in the Elite Eight with a loss to Louisville, and with it Marie Gulich's career in a Beaver uniform would end. As she prepares for the next step in her professional career, the Beavers look forward to the next season, just as they have done with previous graduations of tent pole players in the program's history.

"I have no idea how next season is going to play out, just like I didn't a year ago," Rueck said. "Marie leaves a hole just like those before her did, but the returners couldn't have had a better example. They're all going to play with that strength that Marie provided them; that same strength the players before Marie provided to her. To say I'm excited would be an understatement."

Players Mentioned

Breanna Brown

Kolbie Orum

Sydney Wiese

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