Photo by Ethan Erickson.

View full size photo uploaded June 11, 2009

John Canzano's article in Thursday's Oregonian has Beaver fans riled up-- and I don't quite understand why.

Although I wish they weren't true, he makes some valid points. 

Sure, Canzano heavily questioned the hiring of Robinson last April. He said that the 2008-2009 Beavers played like a women's team. And now he's saying that Robinson is the best thing that has happened to Oregon State basketball since Ralph Miller.... and that the relative of the President would fit in Los Angeles at USC. 

And you don't buy The Bald One's recent comments, just because he got it wrong last year?

His dramatic shift on the issue is what it is-- dramatic. But how can you fault him for not telling it like it is? Robinson's hiring seemed hard to comprehend at first. It didn't make a ton of sense. And that's what Canzano wrote. Canzano has openly said on the Bald Faced Truth that he was wrong about Robinson fitting in at Oregon State. Just because he was wrong last April, do you want him to continue to defend his initial position?

Canzano further argues that Robinson should leave Oregon State while his stock is high. I think that's a valid argument, although I'm not sure that other Athletic Directors across the country are seeing Coach Rob in the same light... yet. Robinson still needs to prove that he can win games year-in and year-out, and disprove the argument that he's riding a tremendous wave produced by his move from Brown to Oregon State, the election of his brother-in-law to the Presidency of the United States, and a drop or two of luck. 

Seemingly everything--from the morale of the returnees to the skill-set of the incoming recruiting class-- is pointing in the positive direction for Robinson. But last season, he took an 0-18 Pac-10 team and produced seven conference wins, with the pre-season goal of just winning one. Improvement that drastic will be hard to come by again, but proving this team can fit in the upper echelon of the Pac-10 is the next item on the coach's agenda. 

It's easy to overachieve when nobody expects achievement. Yet, Robinson brought with him from Brown an unorthodox style of play that his players bought into-- even if they did look like women in the process. 

The Craig Robinson phenomenon seems a bit like Jacoby Ellsbury's performance in the 2007 MLB Playofs for Boston. In his first 116 Major League at-bats, "The Kid" from Madras hit .394, mostly because other clubs just couldn't figure out how to pitch to him. Robinson's "Modified-Princeston" offense seems a bit like that to me, and we saw some teams begin to stymie the Beavers even as soon as the second round of the Pac-10 schedule. 

Canzano also argues that Robinson would make a great fit at USC.

Yeah, USC is a mess right now. First and foremost they're a football school, but there are still people who care about the basketball program. They'll at least continue to garner attention as long as O.J. Mayo's name adorns the front page of sports sections-- but they need someone to get them out of the mess. Let's face it-- USC will have a basketball coach this season. Craig Robinson could work there. 

But see, this is something that we're just going to have to get used to as Oregon State fans. Bob De Carolis plucked a great head coach out of thin air. Craig Robinson looks like a gem right now. Robinson, the guy nobody had ever heard of, got the job, and did a better than anyone could have ever fathomed. 

Bill Grier said no. Mike Montgomery, who Coach Robinson beat twice this year, wasn't interested. Ken Bone passed.

Instead, De Carolis and the Beavers decided to differentiate themselves. They brought in Robinson, an Ivy-League scholar who injected the Oregon State locker room with his work ethic, knowledge, and vocabulary. 

Trust me, others are going to want to steal the gem that Oregon State unearthed. 

As a Beaver fan, I feel like we're in a life-sized game of Cubefield. The longer we juke and dodge, the higher our score gets, but it's only a matter of time until we lose out on the deal. 

--Jake (jake.buildingthedam@gmail.com)

As of right now, what's your gut? (Photo by Ethan Erickson)

View full size photo uploaded June 10, 2009

For those of you who haven't heard, Tim Floyd resigned from his position as head coach of USC's Men's Basketball team. 

Floyd submitted a one paragraph letter of resignation to USC athletic director Mike Garrett, which read:

"As of 1 p.m. today, I am resigning as head basketball coach at the University of Souithern California. I deeply appreciate the opportunity afforded me by the university, as well as the chance to know and work with some of the finest young men in college athletics. Unfortunately, I know longer feel I can offer the level of enthusiasm to my duties that is deserved by the university, my coaching staff, my players, their families, and the supporters of Southern Cal. I always promised my self and my family that if I ever felt I could no longer give my full enthusiasm to a job, that I should leave it to others who could. I intend to contact my coaching staff and my players in coming days and weeks to tell them how much each of them means to me. I wish the best to USC and to my successor."

I can only imagine that USC will be the first of many, many schools with men's basketball head coaching vacancies to look at OSU head coach Craig Robinson. 

It seems like there are a lot of reasons for Craig to stay. He has a great recruiting class coming in. He's working off the success he had last season. Possibility of taking OSU basketball to even greater heights this coming year... and who really wants to jump into the middle USC basketball mess?

What's your opinion, right now? I'm hoping to see this poll end up as a unanimous "no" vote, but I'm throwing it out to all of you just to check. 

And as always, after you make your poll selection, feel free to yuck it up in the comment section.

--Jake (jake.buildingthedam@gmail.com)

Rivals.com is reporting that Jahii Carson, a class of 2011 point guard, has verbally comitted to Oregon State. Jahii averaged 27.3 points, 8 assists, and 6 rebounds a game during his sophomore year at Mountain Pointe High Shool in Phoenix. He also hit 54 of 156 3-Point shots last season. Jahii is 5 foot 10 and weighs 170 pounds with a 2.90 GPA.

Besides the Beavers, Jahii has gotten scholarship offers from UNLV, California, and Oregon.

Carson also plays basketball for the AAU team, the Compton Magic, and won the "Elite 8 In the Desert" tournament MVP award.

ESPN has this to say about him:

"Carson handles the lead guard position with savvy way beyond his years. Although he's on the "smallish" side he has blazing speed, a smooth handle, and rarely turns the ball over. His passes are impeccable and he's a true point guard in every sense of the word. In transition he advances the ball quickly with the pass, while in the half-court set he is fundamentally sound when feeding the post. In addition, his jump shot is solid (nice rotation) but he does have a low release point. Overall, Carson is an excellent leader despite his youth and if he adds a few more inches to his frame he should develop into a high-major prospect."

You can check out some video of Carson here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6X4IbLeiBE

                                                                                               Go Beavs!

The Oregon State Men's Basketball team will play in the "Dual in the Desert" next season. The Texas Tech Red Raiders are hosting the tournament that also includes South Dakota and Texas A&M Corpus Christi. The tournament is sponsered by Basketball Travelers Inc. The tourney starts on November 13th, and will go through the 15th. The Beavers will play one team each day. All games will be held at the United Spirit Arena in Lubbock. The pairings for the event are still to be determined. Here is the Beavers Itinerary:

Thursday, November 12th-Arrive in Lubbock, Practice

Friday, November 13th-Tournament Game

Saturday, November 14th-Tournament Game

Sunday, November 15th-Tournament Game

Monday, November 16th-Depart for Corvallis

Here are the team's records from last year:

Texas Tech

2008 Record, 14-19

Oregon State

2008 Record, 18-18

South Dakota

2008 Record, 20-9

Texas A&M Corpus Christi

2008 Record, 18-15

This should be a good tournament for the Beavers. It will give them achance to pick up two maybe three wins early in the season.

Here's how the Beavers non-conference schedule looks so far:

@ George Washington

@ Loyola (Chicago)

@ Nebraska

@ Texas Tech

vs South Dakota

vs Texas A&M Corpus Christi

Colorado

Cal State Bakersfield

Sacramento State

Fresno State

Photo by Ethan Erickson

View full size photo uploaded April 27, 2009

This news came across my e-mail last night, so I thought I'd pass it along. 

The Big 12 Hardwood Series continues on in 2009-2010, and will feature 12 games between Pac-10 and Big 12 opponents. The series will be in its third year after starting competition during the 2007-08 season.

Last season, the two leagues split the Hardwood Series outings, 6-6. In all games played between the two conferences during 2008-09, the Big 12 held a 10-7 edge. The Pac-10 holds a 13-11 advantage in the first two years of the Hardwood Series. A season ago, the 12 contests averaged more than 10,000 fans and in two years games from the event have seen 244,029 fans go through the turnstiles.

The Beavers have been matchup up with Iowa State in the first two years of the Hardwood Series. in 2007-08, the Beavers lost 71-64 in overtime at Gill Coliseum. This past year, the Beavers lost 63-50 in Ames, Iowa. 

Drawing a matchup with the Buffalos isn't exactly an improvement for Oregon State. Colorado finished last in the Big 12 this season with a 1-15 conference record, and 9-21 overall. 

View the full Hardwood Series schedule after the break.

--Jake (jake.buildingthedam@gmail.com)

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More photos » by Don Ryan - AP

3 months ago: Oregon State guard Josh Tarver, left, drives against University of Texas-El Paso guard Stefon Jackson during the first half of their College Basketball Invitational championship series college basketball game in Corvallis, Ore., Monday, March 30, 2009. The CBI championship tournament is a best-of-three games series. (AP Photo/Don Ryan)

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Oregon State's post-season run ended just a little over two weeks ago, but I never got the chance to recap the entire tournament in one place. Here's that place.

Round One: Oregon State 49, Houston 45.

Clinching their first non-Pac-10 post-season tournament victory since the 1986-87 NIT, the Beavers surprised the streaky Cougars to advance into the CBI Quarterfinals. Omari Johnson stepped up in a big way for the Beavers during the game, hitting clutch shots down the stretch. He had all 11 of his points in the second half. Daniel Deane also had a big night, as the ball turned to gold nearly every time he got his hands around it. He scored 14 points in the game, on 7-of-7 shooting.

Houston averaged around 80 points per game before playing the Beavers, with Aubrey Coleman accounting for just under twenty points per game.

The Beavers held him to just under ten-- Coleman scored 9 points on 3-of-12 shooting.

"The thing I am most proud of with these guys is their defense," Coach Robinson said. "This is a team that averages 80 points a game, and we got them down to 45."

And, the quote of the game, which I dug up from Buker's game story:

"Hopefully, this will make us feel better about how we finish the season,'' said Johnson. "We think we can win this tournament.''

Round Two: Oregon State 71, Vermont 70 (Overtime)

After scoring just six points in the CBI Opening Round Game against Houston, Calvin Haynes woke up from a nasty slump to drop 19 points on the Vermont Catamounts in Round Two. Not only did he lead the team in scoring, but he sunk the game-winning basket with 6.1 seconds remaining in overtime. The shot was a floater from the left side of the lane. Basically, if Haynes sinks the shot, OSU wins, if not, the tournament ride is over. 

"Basically, if we get a stop, we win the game, and we didn't get a stop,'' said disappointed Vermont coach Mike Lonergan.

The Beavers stumbled out of the gate in overtime, committing four turnovers and missing two lay-ups in the opening minutes. Luckily, the Catamounts struggled as well, as the Beavers actually held a lead for all but 39 seconds in the period.

Quote of the game...

"The whole time, I'm thinking the ride's over. Maybe this is really it,'' said Robinson of the struggles the Beavers went through in overtime.. 

Semifinals: Oregon State 65, Stanford 62 (Overtime)

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More photos » by Eric Gay - AP

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The game has already started, and is nearly out of hand, but if there's anyone who wants to chat about either the game or the bracket contest results (see below), here's the place to do it!

--Jake (jake.buildingthedam@gmail.com)

View full size photo uploaded April 4, 2009

The Basketball season has ended joyously, so it's now time to turn our heads to Goss Stadium at Coleman field to focus on the baseball team. To make this transition from basketball to baseball, let's pretend that the basketball team played baseball. Here's my starting lineup, of which you can see the defensive alignment above:

1. Rickey Claitt - Second Base: Definitely a tough first out for the opposing pitcher. He'll be able to work deep into the count, and I'm thinking Claitt would be able to wreak havoc on the basepaths... not with sheer speed, but by being adept and cognizant of the game of baseball.
2. Seth Tarver - Center Field: I couldn't think of any better guy to move Claitt into scoring position with a bunt or a base hit... Seth will do anything you ask him to. He'll also work pitchers deep into the count if the need be, and has enough power to knock several balls out of the yard per year. 
3. Calvin Haynes - Shortstop: As probably the best all-around hitter on the team, Haynes checks in at #3 in the lineup. He'll likely hit for a high average, but also pick up the timely hits and accumulate RBI's. He may go through droughts where he can't hit worth a lick, but when he's hot, watch out. 
4. Lathen Wallace - Third Base: Talk about power. This man has the ability to set back and launch home run balls all day, making him the logical clean up hitter. Defensively, Lathen should be able to snag balls in the hot corner and fling throws across the diamond all day. 
5. Calvin Hampton - First Base: He may not be the most agile man on the roster, but he should be able to hit it a country mile. He might pop up and strike out a lot, but when he makes full contact, Yahtzee!
6. Omari Johnson - Right Field: His length gives him the great ability to track down fly balls in the outfield, but it also gives him power from the batters box. He'll be proficient at hitting deep sacrifice flies with runners on third, and will occasionally launch a round--tripper. 
7. Joey McConnell - Designated Hitter: Scrappy hitter who can find the gaps and beat out infield ground balls. He may not hit for a high average, but he'll always be there to get the job done. 
8. Daniel Deane - Catcher: Not sure what this guy would look like with a bat in his hands, but my feeling is that he'd be a workhorse behind the plate. He's in the lineup for his defensive prowess, and whatever offense we can get from him is a bonus.
9. Josh Tarver - Left Field: He's the spark any head coach would like to have at the bottom of the lineup. He provides the spark at the end of the lineup. He'll make a great secondary leadoff man in front of Claitt.  

That's my starting lineup. What's yours?

--Jake (jake.buildingthedam@gmail.com)