Strengths/Weaknesses: Tres Tinkle

As the son of head coach Wayne Tinkle his advantage shows as he understands how to play the game. He is often in the right position to make plays, though his best asset is his ability to carve into space and get into the body of defenders. He leads the Beavers with 66 foul shots, the next closest is GPII with 41. That leads us to one his primary weaknesses though, as while he is good at drawing contact he has trouble finishing through it.

When he gets banged, and there have been some good bumps, he has trouble with the strength to power through it. In contests like the Valpo game they were calling it loose and the hits that might have normally been shots leading to the charity stripe turned into mangled lofts to the hoop.This is largely a youth issue as Tinkle is only a year removed from high school and will undoubtedly get stronger as he continues his Oregon State career.

The only other issue with Tinkle's game is that he is not a superior athlete. A good one, but it is not an advantage he can press on opponents. It is certainly not a hindrance either, he is able to compete and use his creativity and energy to create opportunities. That creativity is primarily what makes him a very good player, being a coach's son pays dividends when it comes to seeing the game. The play that comes to mind is his between the legs fastbreak pass for an assist, but the way he drives into areas others wouldn't to create contact is the greater demonstration of it.

He really has a great all-around game though, a good outside shot (although it is not falling as often as it looks like it should), a good handle with the ability to create, good rebounder (2nd on the team with 56), and an okay defender. Another part of what makes his game impressive is how much he has been called on to make plays. When you are 3rd on the team in usage rate (24.9%) and only behind the star GPII (25.4%) and Stephen Thompson (27.3%) you are doing a lot of work.

Usage %	Players
27.3	Stephen Thompson Jr.
25.4	GPII
24.9	Tres
18.2	Langston
18.1	Duvivier
17.9	Eubanks
14.8	Olaf

With the large workload he is still delivering pretty good returns, which is exciting for this year, but even more exciting when considering his future as he continues to grow and fill out. All said good player this year, but his understanding of the game should lead to him becoming an excellent college player by his senior year.