CORVALLIS — Scott Rueck was in the Oregon State Memorial Union on that March day in 1990, a college junior cruising through the cafeteria before settling down to watch his Pac-10 champion Beavers get upset by Ball State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
The man who now leads OSU's top-10 women's basketball program has playfully told Wayne Tinkle that his team could help Rueck finally "get over" that loss. The seventh-seeded Beavers' men's team has returned to March Madness for the first time since that day 26 years ago, opening against No. 10-seed Virginia Commonwealth Friday morning in Oklahoma City.