Oregon State Announcer Mike Parker 'Fine' After Being Attacked in Indianapolis
Mar 30, 2021
Oregon State guard Ethan Thompson (5) passes around Loyola Chicago guard Lucas Williamson (1) during the first half of a Sweet 16 game in the NCAA men's college basketball tournament at Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Saturday, March 27, 2021, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
Oregon State men's basketball announcer Mike Parker said Sunday that he was attacked while walking through Indianapolis on Saturday prior to the Oregon State Beavers' 65-58 win over the Loyola-Chicago Ramblers in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament.
According to Nick Daschel of The Oregonian, Parker said a man attacked him on Canal Walk downtown, leaving him with a torn shirt and abrasions on his elbow.
Parker further elaborated on his condition, saying: "I'm a little sore from the fall, but I'm fine. I had no issues during the game."
The 62-year-old Parker noted that he enjoys walking the cities he announces in, and he decided to do so Saturday just hours before the Beavers and Ramblers clashed for a spot in the Elite Eight.
Parker said he observed a man "probably in his mid 20s, kind of scraggly, talking strangely to an older gentleman," and the man then crossed a bridge and approached him.
The announcer said the man asked him what was in the bag he was carrying. When Parker said it was work papers, the man allegedly continued to press him and asked if there was a bomb in the bag.
Parker said the man ran after him and tackled him, almost causing him to fall in the water. Police officers on bikes in the area and were said to have come to Parker's aid.
The voice of Oregon State men's basketball, football and baseball said he told the officers he didn't want to press charges against the man and is unsure what happened to him.
Parker, who is a graduate of the University of Oregon, has been calling Oregon State athletics for 20 years, and he had one of the biggest calls of his career Saturday.
With their win over Loyola-Chicago, the Beavers became only the second No. 12 seed in NCAA tournament history to reach the Elite Eight.
It also marked Oregon State's first trip to the Elite Eight since 1982 and its first official Elite Eight appearance since 1966, as the 1982 Elite Eight team had wins vacated because of NCAA sanctions.
The Beavers fell short in their attempt to extend their Cinderella run to the Final Four, though, as they lost 67-61 to the second-seeded Houston Cougars on Monday.
Oregon State is the True NCAA Tournament Cinderella We Didn't See Coming
Mar 28, 2021
Oregon State guard Ethan Thompson celebrates during the second half of a Sweet 16 game against Loyola Chicago in the NCAA men's college basketball tournament at Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Saturday, March 27, 2021, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
It's quite rare for a major-conference team to serve as a legitimate Cinderella story of the men's NCAA tournament, but that glass slipper fits beautifully on the Elite Eight-bound and No. 12 seeded Oregon State Beavers.
Prior to last Friday, Oregon State's most recent win in the NCAA tournament came in 1982. But the tournament accomplishments of the "Orange Express" from 1980-82 were later vacated due to impermissible benefits, meaning the program's most recent official tournament victory came in 1975.
That means—as far as the NCAA record books are concerned—both DePaul and Rutgers had been to a Final Four more recently than Oregon State won a tournament game.
Not only is this a Cinderella story by ancient history standards, but even the much more recent history suggests there was no way to see this coming.
Just five weeks ago, the idea of Oregon State making it into the NCAA tournament was borderline incomprehensible.
The Beavers were 11-11 overall with woeful home losses to Wyoming and Portland on their resume. (Portland did not win another road game this season, nor did it win another game against a KenPom Top 200 opponent.)
The only time we even tangentially mentioned Oregon State in bracketology conversations was if we were either pointing out USC's worst loss of the season or mentioning how bad short-handed Oregon looked against the Beavers in its first game back from a COVID-19 pause.
In the quarterfinals of the Pac-12 tournament, Oregon State trailed UCLA 32-16 in the first half, was down by four with less than two minutes to go and was only able to get that game into overtime when Jules Bernard missed what likely would have been a game-winning free throw for the Bruins.
In the Pac-12 championship against Colorado, one of the best free-throw shooting teams in NCAA history went just 12-of-20 from the charity stripe and still had a chance to win it at the buzzer, but McKinley Wright IV's half-court heave was nowhere close to finding its mark.
Even after winning the Pac-12 tournament, Oregon State ended the year ranked 91st in the NCAA Evaluation Tool rankings and 85th on KenPom.
There has been a lot of chatter in the past week about certain teams (most notably Loyola-Chicago) being under-seeded by the selection committee, but Oregon State's No. 12 seed was much deserved. There's no way the Beavers would have gotten in without that automatic bid.
After beating those long odds just to get into this dance, they keep refusing to go home.
Oregon State's Jarod Lucas
Their tourney journey began with a 14-point win over Tennessee in which their lethal Pac-12 tournament three-point stroke (43.9 percent) found its way to Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Jarod Lucas and Zach Reichle led the Beavers through a 10-of-21 night from distance.
After knocking out a Volunteers squad with two potential lottery picks (Keon Johnson and Jaden Springer), Oregon State proceeded to get a super physical win over Cade Cunningham and Oklahoma State. That OSU-OSU showdown featured 73 combined free-throw attempts, and the Beavers made 91.4 percent of their freebies.
Those free throws were once again critical in the process of beating Cameron Krutwig, Sister Jean Dolores-Schmidt and the Loyola-Chicago Ramblers in the Sweet 16. That game was a rock fight of the highest order, but the Beavers went 18-of-20 from the charity stripe—most of those in the final three minutes to keep the Ramblers from having any chance of mounting a comeback.
After shooting 15-of-16 from the free-throw line against Oklahoma State, Ethan Thompson sank all eight of his tries against Loyola-Chicago. Oregon State's senior leader has averaged 20.3 points, 7.0 rebounds and 3.3 assists through the first three rounds.
But the biggest reason for Oregon State's success has been its defense, which is pure madness if you watched this team try to play defense during the regular season.
In 17 of 29 games played prior to the tournament, Oregon State allowed at least 1.0 points per possession (PPP). In a mid-January loss to Arizona, that rate was 1.38 PPP. In the home loss to Oregon in OSU's regular-season finale, the Ducks scored 1.33 PPP.
The Beavers had, arguably, the ninth-best defense in the Pac-12.
In each of their three NCAA tournament games, though, the Beavers defense has clocked in below 1.0 PPP allowed. All told, it's 184 points on 205 possessions (0.89 PPP), and it's mostly a product of intentionally mucking things up in the paint against mediocre three-point shooting teams.
With big man John Fulkerson unavailable for Tennessee because of a facial fracture suffered in the SEC tournament, Oregon State basically begged Tennessee to settle for long jump shots, and the inconsistent Volunteers obliged that request. Same goes for the game against Oklahoma State, and those first two opponents shot a combined 13-of-53 (24.5 percent) from three-point range.
Against Loyola-Chicago, Wayne Tinkle unleashed a zone defense designed to A) keep Krutwig in check, B) eliminate the backdoor cuts that the Ramblers used to destroy Illinois and C) force them to settle for threes instead of their preferred two-point buckets. It worked to perfection. The Ramblers shot just 1-of-13 from distance in the first 30 minutes, and it was too little too late when those shots finally started falling.
Loyola-Chicago had not faced much zone defense during the regular season, and it took the Ramblers a long time to figure out how to navigate it. They ended up scoring 58, but they were held to 24 for the first 28 minutes.
Because of that savvy decision by Tinkle, the Beavers are improbably on their way to the Elite Eight. They join 2002 Missouri as only the second team in NCAA tournament history to reach a regional final as a No. 12 seed or worse.
Why stop there?
Oregon State could certainly win Monday's game against Houston. Like both of the Midwest Region's Sweet 16 matchups, it's probably going to be a "race" to 60 points. If the Beavers can keep the Cougars from dominating on the offensive glass, they could keep this wild ride going for one more weekend.
Because of Oregon State's conference affiliation, most will refuse to view this run as unlikely as the Final Four runs of No. 11 seeds George Mason (2006), VCU (2011) and Loyola-Chicago (2018). Nevertheless, the Beavers are one win away from the unlikeliest Final Four appearance of all-time.
If they get it done, I'm confident I speak for everyone in hoping that the 6'10" Tinkle dons a pair of very large glass slippers to coach that national semifinal game against the winner of Arkansas vs. Baylor.
Kerry Miller covers men's college basketball and college football for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter,@kerrancejames.
No. 12 Oregon State Beats No. 8 Loyola-Chicago, Advances to Elite Eight
Mar 27, 2021
Oregon State center Roman Silva (12) fights for a rebound with Loyola Chicago guard Tate Hall (24) and center Cameron Krutwig, center, during the first half of a Sweet 16 game in the NCAA men's college basketball tournament at Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Saturday, March 27, 2021, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
The 12th-seeded Oregon State Beavers are Elite Eight-bound after beating the No. 8 Loyola-Chicago Ramblers 65-58 in the Sweet 16 of the 2021 NCAA men's basketball tournament on Saturday at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
Officially, the Beavers are heading to the Elite Eight for the seventh time in program history and the first time since 1966, as their trip to the Elite Eight in 1982 was vacated because of NCAA sanctions.
Oregon State gutted out a defensive battle by holding Loyola to 33.3percent shooting from the floor and 21.7percent shooting from beyond the arc while also forcing eightturnovers.
Meanwhile, the Beavers shot 41.2percent from the field and 38.5percent from long range in the victory, which was the Pac-12 tournament winners' sixth in a row.
Lucas Williamson, G, LUC: 10 PTS on 3/11 FG, 7 REB, 3 AST
Thompson Stars Offensively in Beavs' Win
Saturday's game was primarily about locking down the opposition defensively, but one player did stand out on the offensive end in Oregon State senior guard Ethan Thompson.
Thompson led all scorers with 22 pointsand was the Beavers' go-to guy whenever they needed a big basket.
He even showed off his playmaking skills, including this beautiful cross-court pass, which led to a three-pointer by Tariq Silver in the opening half:
Thompson got the job done on defense as well, with this charge helping spur the Beavers to an 11-0 run to close the first half and enter the locker room up by eight:
The Los Angeles native had 10 of Oregon State's 24 points at halftime and was receiving plenty of praise from those watching a game that didn't have a ton of offensive highlights.
Among those who spoke highly of Thompson were Alex Crawford of KOCI, Julian Mininsohn of KEZI and Bobby Reagan of Barstool Sports:
I love how understated of a star Ethan Thompson is.
Thompson continued to show off his impressive skill set in the second half, and he was the biggest problem for Loyola-Chicago's normally suffocating defense.
He caught the Ramblers napping with just under 13 minutes remaining in regulation, catching a long pass over the shoulder and slamming home an emphatic dunk to extend the Oregon State lead to 13:
Things did tighten up after that as Loyola started making more field goals down the stretch, but the Beavs continued to lean on their star.
Thompson was unquestionably the biggest difference-maker for either team Saturday, and he is primarily why Oregon State is moving on to the Elite Eight.
If Thompson continues playing at the level he did against Loyola, Oregon State may have a legitimate chance to go the distance, which is something nobody expected as recently as a few weeks ago.
Loyola Loses at Own Game in Defensive Struggle
Loyola-Chicago's modus operandi is shutting down the opposition defensively and dominating in the half-court offensively, but neither thing happened for long stretches Saturday.
After the Ramblers imposed their will on top-seeded Illinois in the second round of the NCAA tournament, it initially looked like they would be able to do the same against Oregon State.
Loyola seized a 9-3 lead and Round of 32 hero Cameron Krutwig looked good early as well, going to work in the paint:
The Ramblers led 16-13 with just five minutes remaining in the first half, but things went south in a hurry.
As noted by Pat Forde of Sports Illustrated, Oregon State went on an 11-0 run to end the half and shut Loyola down on the defensive end during that stint:
Oregon State 24, Loyola 16 at halftime. Ramblers scoreless last 5:45. Beavers finish half on 11-0 run.
Most of Loyola's damage was done at the free-throw line in the first half, as the Ramblers had more turnovers (five) than field goals made (four). Their 16 points were also a season low in any half.
Loyola struggled against Oregon State's zone, but the Ramblers started to come to life and hit shots in the second half.
Most notably, Lucas Williamson, who struggled from the field, finally canned a three-pointer with about eight minutes left to bring Loyola within six:
Loyola had opportunities to tie the game or take the lead, but its vaunted defense couldn't stop the Beavers in big moments down the stretch.
A trifecta by Jarod Lucas with 1:12 remaining extended the Oregon State lead from four to seven and essentially put the game out of reach, leaving the Ramblers to wonder what could have been had they gotten some timely stops and performed better offensively in the first half.
What's Next?
On the heels of their big win Saturday, the No. 12 Beavers will face either the No. 2 Houston Cougars or No. 11 Syracuse Orange on Monday.
