A sign that college basketball season is getting closer; ESPN released the schedule for their 24-hour hoops marathon. Yeah, I know college football still doesn’t start for a couple weeks, but screw it!
The Pac-10 was in disarray last season. Included in that mess was Oregon State. Our preview of 99 college basketball teams in 99 days continues with the Beavers. If you missed it last week, I am ranking the 72 power conference teams and top 27 mid-majors. Click here to check out the squads I have already previewed.
By: David Kay
Oregon State Beavers (T-5th, 8-10 in Pac-10, 14-18 overall)
Projected Depth Chart
F/C: Omari Johnson (Sr)/Angus Brandt (So)/Daniel Deane (Sr)/Chris Brown (Fr)
F: Joe Burton (So)/Eric Moreland (So)/Devin Collier (Fr)/Kevin McShane (Jr)
G/F: Roberto Nelson (Fr)/Rhys Murphy (Fr)
G: Jared Cunningham (So)/Lathen Wallace (Sr)
PG: Calvin Haynes (Sr)/Ahmad Starks (Fr)
Gone: F-Seth Tarver, G-Josh Tarver, C-Roeland Schaftenaar, C-Calvin Hampton
2010-2011 Outlook:
Oregon State is coming off a rather strange season that was very Jekyl and Hyde. Predicted to be one of the better teams in a weakened Pac-10, the Beavers began their season with an embarrassing 24-point loss to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and also suffered baffling losses at home versus Sacramento State, at Illinois-Chicago, and a 51-point shellacking at the hands of Seattle U. No, seriously… 51 points.
Now Barack Obama’s favorite brother-in-law, Craig Robinson (no, not the dude from The Office) will try to build off last year’s perplexing outcome without taking a major step backwards. It will not be easy though. The Beavers were pathetic on the offensive end finishing 334th out of 347 Division one teams in points per game. Considering OSU loses two of their top three scorers that is not a good sign. That is their style of play though under Robinson. The Beavers like to grind it out with a slow down style of play while working hard on the defensive end.
Leading scorer Calvin Haynes returns to run the show while a plethora of forwards including UTEP transfer Eric Moreland, will try to find some consistency up-front. Redshirt freshman Roberto Nelson will provide some spark on the offensive end, but Oregon State could be in for a long year in what should be another down season in the Pac-10.
Player to Watch: Roberto Nelson, SG
Nelson was a highly recruited member of the Beavers’ 2009 class. Due to eligibility issues, the 6-4 Santa Barbara did not play in a single game and was not even allowed to practice with the team for a good portion of the season. Nelson ended up redshirting but is expected to be on the floor come November. He will be counted on to make an immediate impact especially in filling up the basket.
Key Non-Conference Games:
12/4 at Colorado
Other 99 in 99’s:
#94. Nebraska
#95. Auburn
#96. DePaul
#97. Iowa State
#98. Rutgers
#99. Iowa