Roundup: OSU women's hoops' great season comes to an end

Time for a big round of applause for the season that was for Oregon State women’s hoops. The Beavs reached the NCAA tourney for the first time in 18 years and lost in the second round Tuesday night to top-seeded South Carolina 78-69. Gina Mizell gives us three quick thoughts from Oregon State’s loss to South Carolina, while AP writer Tim Booth wrote before the game that Oregon State’s tournament success caps a remarkably quick turnaround. Kudos to Scott Rueck and Co. for a heck of a season.

ICYMI, it was a snub from Kansas freshmen that helped inspire Stanford’s stunning upset, writes Jeff Eisenberg of Yahoo Sports. Also, Myron Medcalf of ESPN says that Stanford will beat Dayton in the most entertaining game of the regional semifinals in his 10 bold predictions for the Sweet 16. And one more thing – let’s watch that Stanford band cowbell player on Jimmy Kimmel Live (dude’s name is Alex Chang).

So Florida is drawing an Arizona comparison from the UCLA players as the Bruins get ready to try to tackle the top-seeded Gators in the Sweet 16.

Arizona has San Diego State on Thursday, and the Aztecs are trying to make history by going to their first ever Elite Eight if they can knock off the top cats in the West.

With a trip to Madison Square Garden up for grabs, Cal travels to SMU for an NIT quarterfinal Wednesday night at 6 p.m. PT on ESPN2.

Now that the hardwood season is over in Boulder for the men’s team (the women are still going strong in the WNIT), Colorado director of basketball strength and conditioning James Hardy is eager to make the Buffs tougher.

Andrew Greif ponders the offseason questions for Oregon men’s basketball, chief among them Joseph Young’s impending decision to turn pro or stay in school.

In WNIT action, the Huskies’ postseason continues with a Sweet 16 matchup with San Diego tonight at 7 p.m. in Seattle.

Moving on to football, Connor Halliday and the Cougs are moving on from the bowl debacle against Colorado State. No need to say more about that game.

In other football news, USC quarterback Cody Kessler is quickly picking up the new hurry-up offense Sark is installing, if you ask Scott Wolf.

Elsewhere, Nick Kelly is vying to win Arizona State football’s starting center job. As of right now, he is in line to do so, but Stephon McCray and Vi Teofilo are some other guys to ponder at that position.

Tough one for Utah baseball Tuesday night, as BYU edged the Utes 4-3 in 11 innings. Gamer courtesy of Matthew Piper of the Salt Lake Tribune.