SAN FRANCISCO – Oregon State guard Sydney Wiese burst on to the college basketball landscape as a freshman in 2013-14, pacing the Beavers in scoring and helping the squad to its first NCAA tournament appearance since 1996. She was a big-time threat from downtown, hitting 42 percent of her attempts. With 112 three-pointers made last season, Wiese is on pace to shatter Oregon State’s all-time made three-pointers list during her sophomore season (she needs 67 to pass Felicia Ragland’s 178).

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As long as she has her headband on, that is. She started wearing a headband when she grew out her bangs in the second or third grade. Now? She can't play without it.

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“I feel like I need it. I feel naked if I don't wear it,” Wiese said Wednesday at 2014-15 Pac-12 Women’s Basketball Media Day, sans orange headband for a change. “It has become a part of me; it's a part of my identity. I was talking to a couple of coaches today and they said 'I didn't recognize you without your headband!'”

Wiese has learned a few tricks of the headband trade over the years, like not wearing her ponytail beneath it, for that would leave a huge knot in her hair. She estimates that her headband collection is at a modest 10; she used to wear wristbands around her arms, but stopped in the seventh or eighth grade after she forgot to bring them to a game. She'll never forget her headband, though. 

“I feel invincible with my headband,” Wiese said.

When you’ve had a career as prolific as Wiese’s has been up to this point, you can't argue with that logic.

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