Oregon State women’s basketball March Madness bracket predictions for 2024 NCAA Tournament
Following a run to the Pac-12 tournament semifinals, the Oregon State women’s basketball team is all but assured to host the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament as an at-large team starting next week.
The Beavers (24-7, 12-6 Pac-12) will officially find out where they have been seeded by the selection committee, and who and when they will play, at 5 p.m. Sunday on ESPN.
Until then, here's where the Beavers stand in the latest bracketology projections and how its resume stacks up against others.
How Oregon State women's basketball's resume stacks up against the field
Having run undefeated through nonconference play and finishing fourth in the best conference in women’s basketball, the Beavers have one of the best NET rankings in the sport heading into the tournament.
OSU ranks 17th in the NET – which measures a team’s strength by its schedule as well as its adjusted net efficiency.
Oregon State’s seven losses have come to No. 6 UCLA, Washington, twice to No. 3 USC, and three times to No. 4 Stanford. The Beavers have wins against UCLA, and two against both No. 18 Colorado and No. 20 Utah.
The Beavers finished the regular season and Pac-12 Tournament ranked No. 12 in the AP Poll.
Where experts expect the Beavers to land come Selection Sunday
All three national outlets that release weekly bracketology predictions – The Athletic, Her Hoop Stats, and ESPN – project OSU as a No. 3 seed, which means the Beavers would host the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament in Corvallis before potentially advancing to the Regional Final site – either at the Moda Center in Portland or MVP Arena in Albany, New York.
As of Saturday, The Athletic projects the Beavers to play Rice in the opening round and if they won would advance to play either No. 6 Ole Miss or potential No. 11 seeds Marquette or Miami. The Athletic put Oregon State in the Albany region with No. 1 South Carolina, No. 2 Ohio State, and No. 4 Kansas State.
Her Hoop Stats has the Beavers playing in the same position, as the No. 3 seed in one of the Albany regions with South Carolina. The website has the Beavers playing in the Corvallis pod with No. 14 Portland, No. 6 Baylor and either Mississippi State or Marquette at No. 11. They list No. 2 Ohio State and No. 4 Virginia Tech as the other top seeds in that region.
Charlie Creme of ESPN, like The Athletic and Her Hoop Stats, has Oregon State as a No. 3 seed in the Albany region with South Carolina. Creme predicts the Beavers will play No. 14 Portland in the Corvallis pod and would play the winner of No. 6 Louisville and No. 11 Auburn if they got past the Pilots. The other top seeds projected by Creme in that region are Ohio State and Virginia Tech.
Though none of the three outlets project it, it is possible the selection committee could place the Beavers closer to home if they advance past the second round and put them in a Portland regional.
Following the selection show Sunday, the First Four will begin Wednesday, and the first round will be played on March 22-23, with the second round from the March 24-25.
The Sweet 16 and Elite Eight rounds begin March 29 in Portland and Albany, and the Final Four and championship game will be played in Cleveland on April 5 and 7, respectively.
Alec Dietz covers University of Oregon football, volleyball, women’s basketball and baseball for The Register-Guard. You may reach him at adietz@registerguard.com and you can follow him on Twitter @AlecDietz.
This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Oregon State women’s basketball 2024 March Madness bracket predictions
