Updated 3/19/2021 12:22 AM

Patience, a poet once wrote, “is a companion of wisdom.”

I’ve grown to appreciate Scott Rueck’s wisdom since our paths first crossed more than a decade ago.

It has taken me until this year to understand his patience.

In late January, the Oregon State women’s basketball team was 3-5 and had lost more games to COVID-19 than it had played. Having lost three top players from the previous season to graduation (Mikayla Pivec), transfer (Destiny Slocum) and injury (Kennedy Brown) and dealing with an almost entirely new lineup, it would have been easy for a coach to write this off as a building year and starting thinking about next season.

Rueck’s mind works differently. He maintained full confidence in the group he considers his extended family. He stuck with it. His players stuck with him.

Two months later, the Beavers await Sunday’s 4:30 p.m. PDT first-round NCAA Tournament matchup with Florida State in San Marcos, Texas, with confidence and an ample supply of momentum.

Oregon State (11-7) has won eight of its last 10 games, losing only to national championship contender Stanford (twice) since the world turned to Talia, which we’ll get to in a moment.

It’s the seventh straight NCAA Tournament appearance for the Beavers — would have been eighth had last year’s event not been cancelled — and under the circumstances, perhaps the most fulfilling for their coach.

“This whole last year has been extremely challenging for a teacher and a coach due to constantly changing variables and never knowing exactly what was going to happen that day,” says Rueck, whose OSU teams are 176-47 since the start of the 2014-15 season. “It was hard to get into a rhythm with all the pauses and disruptions. Some days we would practice with seven players. We didn’t have our scout team as regularly as we normally do.

“I always talk about putting the puzzle together. That was nearly impossible for the longest time. At the same time, I loved every day of it. (The players) came into the gym and played hard and gave their best. We just needed time and reps. For a team with a lot of new faces, it was a struggle for awhile. We didn’t have a normal non-conference schedule. When we finally had that opportunity to have some consistency, things came together for us.”

The other part of the COVID-19 issue has been missing out on the home-court advantage at Gill Coliseum.

“I don’t think you can quantify it,” Rueck says. “I don’t know there’s a team in the country hurt more by (COVID-19) than us, just because of the relationship we have with the fan base and the advantage we have at Gill. There’s no place to play like this place. To have that stripped away and turn Gill into just another court has been … well, just sad.

“It impacted all of us early in the season, including me. By now we’ve gotten used to it. I don’t want to get used to it, but circumstances call for you to get beyond it and just play. Still, it’s as depressing as it gets. Those of us who have experienced Gill know how special it is and how much we’ve missed it.”

But the Beavers have persevered. After an excruciatingly tough 77-75 double-overtime loss to Washington State on January 24, they were 3-5, though Rueck saw sunshine through the clouds.

“We lost that game, but for where we were at the moment, we competed really well,” he says. “We just weren’t quite ready yet. From that point forward, this is as much fun as I’ve ever had as a coach.”

Aside from a pair of one-sided defeats at the hand of Stanford, the Beavers have run the table since. They knocked off eighth-ranked UCLA 71-64 at Pauley Pavilion and handled rival Oregon twice in a five-day span.

The run coincides with the addition of the exquisitely named Talia (Taw-lee-uh) von Oelhoffen, whom I’m predicting right now will one day etch her name alongside the pantheon of recent Beaver greats such as Syd Wiese, Jamie Weisner, Ruth Hamblin and Pivec.

She might just become the best of them all.

The 5-11 guard should be in Pasco, Wash., preparing for graduation from Chiawana High. Instead, she is the top reserve — and the No. 2 scorer — for a team headed to women’s college basketball’s Big Dance.

“A fantastic player,” Rueck says of von Oelhoffen, the No. 14-rated prep player in the country by Prospects Nation. “Talia is so comfortable handling the ball. That was the question we had to answer — who would help Aleah (Goodman) with that duty? Until Talia showed up, we were playing wings at the point. When Talia arrived, we had that second ballhandler and playmaker, a girl who grew up with the ball in her hands.

“She has done an amazing job under the circumstances of being thrown into the Pac-12. She took some pressure off of Aleah, but from the others even more. She has been a wind in our sails, no question.”

Talia has great genes. Her mother, Tondi, was national pentathlon (indoor heptathlon) champion in high school and a four-year starting basketball player at the University of Hawaii. Her father, Kimo, played 14 years as a defensive lineman in the NFL for the Bengals, Steelers, Jets and Eagles.

In January, Talia got on the phone with Rueck. COVID-19 had wiped away her senior season at Chiawana. She had the credits necessary to graduate. She was b-o-r-e-d.

“Coach, I’m just sitting here,” Talia told Rueck. “I do school, go to the gym and sit here.”

Talia suggested that she enroll early at Oregon State. Since student-athletes playing this season regain the full year of eligibility, what did she have to lose?

“Good point,” Rueck said. “Might as well get you started.”

Within a few days, Talia had her paperwork in order and was in Corvallis.

“Normally, nobody would burn a freshman season for half a season,” Rueck says. “This year is an unprecedented situation.”

Talia’s first game was the Wazzu loss. She contributed six points and four rebounds in 21 minutes off the bench. Two nights later, she contributed 13 points, seven assists and six rebounds in 22 spell-binding minutes in a 98-68 rout of Washington. Talia had 19 points, six rebounds and four assists in the second win over the Ducks. She scored 20 on 7-for-11 shooting against Cal. She had 19, sinking 7 of 9 shots, against Southern Cal.

In 11 games, Talia is averaging 12.5 points (second on the team behind Goodman), 3.9 rebounds and 3.1 assists in just 24.5 minutes per game while shooting .475 from the field, .467 from 3-point range and .815 from the line.

“What she is doing is mind-blowing,” Rueck says. “She absorbed our system in two practices. The first time she touched the ball, she hit an NBA  3 in a Pac-12 game. It’s ridiculous. She was so ready.”

When I observe that Talia reminds me a little of a player of some repute who played her college ball 40 miles down the road in Eugene, the coach chuckles.

“Talia has some similar qualities as Sabrina (Ionescu),” he says. “She impacts the game that much. She’s subtle and not overly demonstrative, but she has some flash to her game. She has thrown some passes I’ve never seen in our gym.

“I felt she was the best decision-making guard in the country in her class. I don’t know who else has the skill set, the mind and the body. It’s such a nice combination. So there are comparisons. She understands the game and has a feel for the game you can’t teach.”

The other youngster contributing heavily is Sasha Goforth, the 6-1 guard from Fayetteville, Ark., who was plugged in as a starter from opening night. Goforth has been inconsistent with her shot, but she is averaging 11.7 points and 3.6 rebounds and is a better defender than offensive threat at this point in her career.

“Sasha is an amazing athlete and a winner,” Rueck says of Goforth, who was one of five players named to the Pac-12’s All-Freshman team. “I love her defensive impact and accuracy. She loves defense. What she did to opposing guards down the stretch of the season was impressive. She’s long and quick and is able to disrupt. She is a threat at the offensive end, too. She has shot well from 3 (.359) and has a great first step and ability to attack.”

The anchor to Oregon State’s season has been Goodman, the senior guard from Portland’s La Salle High who leads the team in scoring (16.1), 3-point percentage (.494), free throw percentage (.852), assists (4.8) and steals (1.3). Goodman ranks second in the nation in 3-point accuracy and is second in the Pac-12 in accuracy at the foul line. But it’s just as much about the intangibles and leadership she brings.

“From Day 1, Aleah has been our vocal leader,” Rueck says. “Her voice, drive and willingness to say the hard thing at times has been the glue this team needed. She sets the tone in the gym every day. And she has backed up every syllable by playing at such a high level.”

I ask Rueck about one other player who caught my eye this season — 6-1 guard Savannah Samuel of Woodstock, Ga., who hasn’t played much and has struggled with her shot. But she is fluid and athletic, and I tell the coach she reminds me of Gabby Hanson, OSU’s Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year in 2017. Will she be a factor in the future?

“I’m counting on it,” he says. ““That’s exactly who I said she looked like when I was recruiting her. She’s a dynamic player. Offense is the part of her game that is in the developmental stage. We have big plans for Savannah.”

Let’s look to the future of the program for a second.

Next season, Oregon State could have the entire roster back from this year, should the players decide to come back.

“We’ve had no discussions about it yet,” Rueck says, “but I have had no indication from anybody they don’t expect to return.”

The Beavers will welcome back Brown, the 6-6 sophomore center who missed this season following ACL knee surgery. Brown underwent a follow-up second surgery, “which is not unusual,” Rueck says. “Everything is great. She is running now and is right on schedule.”

Joining von Oelhoffen in the 2021 recruiting class is Greta Kampschroeder, a 6-foot guard from Naperville, Ill., who was the No. 8 recruit in the country according to Blue Star Media. She will arrive in Corvallis this summer. They form what ESPN calls the eighth-best recruiting class in the country this year.

“Greta is a shoot-first wing who will remind you a little of (Pivec),” Rueck says.

But get a load out of those high school juniors who have verbally committed to being part of OSU’s recruiting class of 2022:

• Timea Gardiner, a 6-2 forward from Plain City, Utah, ranked by ESPN as the No. 4 in the 2022 class. She is a member of the U.S. U-16 team. The Beavers have never had a national team player before.

• Raegan Beers, a 6-2 center from Littleton, Colo., ranked by ESPN as the No. 10 player in the 2022 class.

• Adlee Blacklock, a 6-foot guard from Lubbock, Texas. I could find no rankings for Blacklock, but she was offered scholarships by the likes of Baylor, Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas and Oklahoma.

Brown, Goforth and Kampschroeder are McDonald’s All-Americans, the first to come to OSU. By the 2022-23 season, the Beavers could have as many as six on their squad.

“That’s insane,” Rueck says. “I said at my opening press conference (in 2010), ‘My goal is for Oregon State to become a destination in our sport some day.’ You look at our roster, that’s forming. It’s really amazing to see.”

The Beavers go into the NCAA Tournament ranked second nationally in field-goal percentage (.406) and have shot .476 overall and .460 from 3-point range over the last 10 games. They seem to have regained the defensive edge that was the trademark of the four straight Rueck teams that advanced to at least the Sweet Sixteen, including the 2016 Final Four. Opponents have shot just .371 from the field against them this season, third in the Pac-12 behind Stanford and Arizona.

Florida State (10-8) is led by Bianca Jackson, a 5-11 junior who had 25 points and seven assists in a 68-67 loss to Syracuse in the ACC quarterfinals last week. The Seminoles do not shoot well — .406 from the field, including .321 from 3-point range, this season. They beat Louisville — then ranked No. 3 nationally — 68-59 on Feb. 21. Morgan Jones, a 6-2 junior, collected 26 points and 10 rebounds in that one.

“That was an impressive win,” Rueck says. “They’ve had their moments offensively, but they pride themselves on their work on the defensive end of the floor.”

If the Beavers win Sunday, they would face No. 1 seed South Carolina in the second round. Then Gamecocks are 22-4 and ranked No. 6. Rueck says the Beavers won’t look past Florida State.

“I expect us to keep doing what we’re doing,” he says. “You have to be confident. You have to be gritty. We’re both of those things. That’s what it takes this time of year. I’m excited to take the court and see what we can do.”

Readers: what are your thoughts? I would love to hear them in the comments below.

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