Oregon State Team Report

GETTING INSIDE

The Beavers have a new challenge in Craig Robinson’s second season: Expectations.

That’s something that hasn’t visited Corvallis, Ore., since the days of Gary Payton. But the Beavers no longer are a Pac-10 afterthought. With virtually the entire roster back from a team that won 18 games—most by an OSU team since 1989-90—suddenly it’s a fair question:

How high can the Beavers climb this season?

From winless in the Pac-10 the year before to America’s college hoops darling last season, Oregon State now wants to demonstrate its success wasn’t all some sort of charmed fallout from the presidential campaign of Barack Obama, Robinson’s brother-in-law.

“The entire year was sort of a national media tour, which is a good thing because it’s nice to be recognized for the non-basketball stuff,” Robinson told the Corvallis Gazette-Times. “But it’s even nicer to be recognized for the job that the guys are doing on the court.”

And that’s the challenge this year, when the Obama link is old news and fans will want concrete results. Robinson recruited very well in his first season and his returning players now understand his system.

OSU’s success began on defense, where it allowed just 63.6 points per game, the school’s best mark in 21 seasons. Center Roeland Schaftenaar blossomed as a sort of point-center, and the offense gradually developed, with different players taking on starring roles each night.

The Beavers are projected anywhere from third to seventh in the Pac-10 this season. The players want more, Robinson said, and it showed in their aggressive offseason workouts.

“We didn’t have to be on them. They were working themselves—they want more than they had last year,” Robinson said. “They’re greedy, but in a good way.”

“We don’t mind the expectations,” said senior Seth Tarver. “It’s a lot better feeling than coming from the very bottom—everybody is excited and it motivates us to work hard. We’re confident, and we believe in what we do out here every day.”

NOTES, QUOTES

• Graduated senior PG Rickey Claitt was the club’s only player to start all 36 games last season.

• Junior G Calvin Haynes, the Beavers’ leading scorer last season (13.0 ppg) despite starting only five games, is likely to at least begin the year as the club’s sixth man again. Coach Craig Robinson likes the offensive boost Haynes provides off the bench, and Haynes seems to have accepted the role.

• The Beavers return players who secured 93.1 percent of their rebounds a year ago, tops in the Pac-10.

• In the 60th anniversary of Gill Coliseum, the school has invested $7 million for arena renovations that include a new exterior paint scheme, a state-of-the-art medical facility and new locker rooms, due by next year.

Last Year:   18-18 overall, 7-11 in Pac-10; lost in the championship game of the College Basketball Invitational.

Head Coach:   Craig Robinson (career 48-46); second year at Oregon State (18-18).

Quote To Note:   “I’m going to help (Robinson) in any possible way and get recruits in here and have an elite program. He won’t have to skip from job to job, and if a premier job comes up, he can say, ‘I’m happy right here at Oregon State.’”—Former OSU great Gary Payton on the support he wants to lend Craig Robinson’s program.

STRATEGY AND PERSONNEL

Scouting The Newcomers:   Craig Robinson’s first recruiting class was a winner, a five-man group that Scout.com rated as the 25th-best in the nation. It was a dramatic endorsement of Robinson’s arrival at OSU. Among the five newcomers, three figure to have the greatest early impact. PG Jared Cunningham of San Leandro, Calif., adds quickness and athleticism at the position. He’s also a decent scorer. Australians Angus Brandt, a 6-10 post, and Rhys Murphy, a 6-7 forward, both could get playing time.

Joe Burton, a 6-7, 270-pound post, is regarded as an excellent passer, and SG Roberto Nelson will try to find opportunity at the Beavers’ crowded wing positions. “The new guys are such good players that even the veteran players are excited that they’re here,” Robinson said.

Key Early-season Games:   The Beavers have set up several games against name schools that aren’t expected to be at their best this season. A pretty good scenario for OSU. The Beavers play at the Duel in the Desert at Lubbock, Texas, where they close out the three-game event vs. Texas Tech on Nov. 15. On Nov. 28, they visit George Washington, expected to be a bottom feeder in the Atlantic 10. On Dec. 12 they’re at Nebraska, a second-division Big 12 squad, and on Dec. 16 they go to Illinois, a middle-of-the-pack Big Ten squad.

Program Direction:   Like a rocket zooming through the atmosphere, OSU’s program has taken off in a direction few could have envisioned just a year ago. On the heels of going 0-18 in Pac-10 play and 6-25 overall in 2007-08, Craig Robinson engineered a near-miraculous turnaround in his rookie season. He recruited well for this year and appears to have the Beavers headed to a level of stability they haven’t enjoyed in nearly two decades. The only serious setback they could suffer would be another program luring away their coach.

Probable Starting Lineup:   PG Josh Tarver, SG Seth Tarver, SF Lathen Wallace, PF Daniel Deane, C Roeland Schaftenaar.

Roster Report:  

• C Roeland Schaftenaar (10.5 ppg, 4.0 rpg) actually led the Beavers in both assists (120) and blocked shots (30). Schaftenaar reportedly added 25 pounds of muscle in the offseason without sacrificing quickness.

• None of OSU’s returning players shot better than 36.4 percent from 3-point range, but no one’s numbers are as curious as Seth Tarver. A year after converting 40-for-119 (33.6 percent), he made just 1-for-14 (0.71 percent) last season.

• Craig Robinson’s one committed recruit in the 2010 class by mid-October was Ahmad Starks, a 5-8, 145-pound point guard from Chicago.