One of the brightest stars in women’s college basketball, Raegan Beers, has hit the transfer portal. Beers is the latest big-name Beaver to be part of an Oregon State exodus that is impacting all of the university’s sports.
Beers announced that she would be entering the transfer portal on Thursday in a post to X. “My journey as a Beav was a special one and I am grateful for my teammates, coaches, fans, and friends who have changed my life throughout my time here,” Beers said.
The Oregon State’s women’s basketball team is not the only Beavers program reeling from the loss of players. The football program has taken several major losses, and other sports across the board have felt the affects of conference realignment and the death of the Pac-12 Conference.
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Beers, a 6-foot-4 sophomore forward, averaged 17.5 points, 10.6 rebounds and shot over 66% from the field for an Oregon State team that secured a No. 3-seeding in the NCAA Tournament. Her efforts were enough to earn her a second consecutive All-Pac-12 honor in addition to being named a Third-Team AP All-American.
Beers will undoubtedly be a big fish in the transfer portal and is likely to crack 247Sports’ updated top-10 rankings next week. And she’s not alone in leaving Corvallis.
Beers is the fourth Beavers women’s basketball starter and seventh player to hit the portal. This comes as Oregon State prepares to fall from high-major contention and join the West Coast Conference — the Pac-12 crumbled recently, had you heard? High-level players like Beers, Timea Gardiner, Talia von Oelhoffen, Donovyn Hunter and other key contributors to Oregon State’s Elite 8 team are not going to be interested in playing mid-major basketball.
“Expect all of the OSU transfers to be eyeing similar situations where they can go and compete at major programs,” said Brandon Clay, a women’s basketball analyst for 247Sports. “Beers and Gardiner will each be top-5 type of transfer prospects and they have pedigree to pick any school in America as their next destination.”
Clay says Van Oelhoffen and Hunter find their way to situations like North Carolina State or Southern California, programs who are looking for a quality piece or two to run back a run at a national championship.
The Beavers football team also saw several focal pieces enter the transfer portal. On Wednesday, All-Pac-12 running Damien Martinez confirmed that he would enter the portal once the spring window opens on April 16. According to reports, Martinez left around $400,000 in NIL earnings on the table to make this decision which would have made him the Beavers’ highest-paid player.
Prior to Martinez’s decision, quarterback DJ Uiagalelei transferred to Florida State in January. While reports are surfacing citing friction between Martinez and Oregon State’s Dam Nation NIL collective, both his decision and Uiagalelei’s choice to leave could be rooted in Beavers’ football coach Jonathan Smith accepting Michigan State’s head coach position. The subsequent move to become an independent in football and join the West Coast Conference in other sports more than likely further motivated Marinez to test the portal’s waters.
In all, the Oregon State football program lost 13 transfers. Included in that group were quarterback of the future Aidan Chiles, the top-ranked QB in the portal who followed Smith to Michigan State; wide receiver Silas Bolden, who picked Texas; and cornerback Jermond McCoy, who chose Tennessee.
The coaching movement, player exodus and NIL confusion that is plaguing Oregon State is part of the growing pains that accompany college sport’s expanding landscape. While the ACC, Big Ten and Big 12 pillaged through the Pac-12’s Closing Sale for schools, there are established programs (and players) like Oregon State’s women’s basketball team that have become casualties of this Grand Finale.
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