Maybe Ken Bone is their man. Perhaps Randy Bennett. Or someone else.

Whoever inherits the Beavers will have nowhere to go but up.

The worst season in school history was mercifully ended in the first round of the Pac-10 tournament, where OSU lost 87-56 to Arizona.

The Beavers lost for the 21st straight game, the last 19 of those against Pac-10 opponents.

The university's next assignment is finding a permanent replacement for coach Jay John, dismissed in January and replaced on an interim basis by Kevin Mouton.

The names of potential coaches are flying fast and furious, but Portland State's Bone and St. Mary's College's Bennett -- both headed to the NCAAs -- seem to head the list.

It won't be an easy job. But improving on 2007-08 seems almost inevitable.

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