CORVALLIS -- As competitors, Oregon State's players can't wait for the bright lights and future big games against women's basketball bluebloods such as Duke, Stanford and Notre Dame.
But for fun, it was hard to top brunch with the No. 8-ranked Beavers, an 11 a.m. tipoff at Gill Coliseum, where elementary, middle and high school students from 42 Willamette Valley-area schools attended OSU's 89-33 win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff.
A crowd of 8,828, made up mostly of shrieking children ages 6 through 14, watched Oregon State (2-0) roll to the easiest of wins. Afterward, the players and coaches spent 15 minutes talking and signing autographs with their young fans.