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LOCATION: Corvallis, OR
CONFERENCE: Pacific-10
LAST SEASON: 13-14
CONFERENCE RECORD: 7-11 (t-7th)
STARTERS LOST/RETURNING: 0/5
NICKNAME: Beavers
COLORS: Orange & Black
HOMECOURT: Gill Coliseum (10,400)
COACH: Eddie Payne (Wake Forest '73)
record at school 39-72 (4 years)
career record 198-181 (13 years)
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ASSISTANTS: Leroy Washington (Montana '88)
Rich Wold (Oregon State '90)
Chad Forcier (Seattle Pacific '95)
TEAM WINS: (last 5 years) 9-4-7-13-13
RPI (last 5 years) 122-203-190-180-130
1998-99 FINISH: No conference tournament.
ESPN.com Clubhouse
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Unraveling the mystery that is Oregon State is a matter of knowing which clues to follow. The evidence on the Beavers can lead you in opposing directions.
For instance: Oregon State was the only team in the Pac-10 to achieve wins over the league's three top teams_Stanford, Arizona and UCLA. All three were ranked in the top-10 at the time, no less.
The Beavers return all five starters for the first time since the 1989-90 season, which also was the last time they reached the NCAA Tournament.
The returning cast boasts a total of 167 career starting assignments, and accounted last season for 97 percent of the club's scoring and 98 percent of its rebounding.
All good, no question. But what of the flipside?
The Beavers were the league's most anemic offensive team, scoring eight points per game fewer than the next lowest.
Then there's the substantial issue of playing on the road in the Pac-10. For the Beavers, it's simply meant defeat. OSU was 0-9 in conference road games last season, and has won just once in 36 games away from Gill Coliseum during the last four Pac-10 seasons.
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Blue Ribbon Analysis |
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BACKCOURT B+ BENCH/DEPTH C+
FRONTCOURT B INTANGIBLES C+
Arizona's Lute Olson predicts, "Oregon State could be a big surprise," but even coach Eddie Payne isn't sure exactly what that might mean for his team.
Asked about possibly reaching the postseason for the first time since 1990, Payne said, "It would be a great step. It's not an unrealistic goal, but I don't think it's something you've got to hang your hat on, where you've GOT to accomplish that."
Payne is more of a means than an ends type of coach. In other words, he believes if his team approaches its work properly and puts itself in position to have success, the tangible rewards will follow. But he's concerned that the players maintain the proper order.
"The definition of success is improving day by day, and our kids did a great job of that last year," Payne said. "I think (the postseason) is more realistic than it was a year ago, but you're not going to see us running around, talking about it."
The Beavers' experience alone makes the goal attainable. Deaundra Tanner is among the most productive and versatile players in the Pac-10, Jason Heide is a solid college center and Brian Jackson is the wild card, potentially good enough to win Pac-10 Freshman of the Year honors.
But the Beavers cannot be seduced by what no doubt will be greater outside expectations. As Payne noted, this is a team that will still have to pursue success within its own boundaries. If they try sprinting with Arizona or UCLA, the Beavers will run out of gas.
But if they understand what defense did for them a year ago, and develop the moxie to win on the road now and then, perhaps they can fulfill Olson's prediction.
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Frankly, coach Eddie Payne doesn't expect his club to be markedly more productive on offense. But he believes one critical factor_experience_will help heal the Beavers' road woes and allow them to possibly compete for a spot in the league's upper division.
"There's a little more comfort level with our club because we have some stability, we have a little more experience," Payne said. "We have players who've had success at this level.
"All those things give you a little bit of a nice boost in terms of understanding we've gotten ourselves to a point where we have a chance to be more competitive on a regular basis. There's some optimism and motivation that goes with that, and hopefully we can take another step forward."
A season-ending victory over Stanford surely was a terrific boost, sending the Beavers into the offseason with momentum. Payne noted there were some regrets, too, because a loss two nights earlier to Cal may have cost the team an NIT bid.
It's easy to get greedy at a place like Oregon State, where fans have watched in frustration through nine straight non-winning seasons since Gary Payton's senior year. The Beavers' share of seventh place in the Pac-10 last season equaled their highest finish since 1990, and the bar of expectation has been raised again.
No one wants success more than Payne, but he understands it doesn't all come at once.
"I don't see us becoming a team that's going to play like the UCLAs and Arizonas of the world," he said. "In spite of the progress, we're still not as athletically talented as those people. We still have to understand who we are and what we have to do to be successful."
That means the Beavers will have to continue to embrace a defensive style that has helped them pull in the reins on the league's elite, and is especially effective in front of the home fans.
Oregon State ranked second behind Pac-10 champ Stanford in all key defensive categories, allowing just 64.6 points per game and limiting opponents to .398 shooting. It wasn't always poetry, but it was a system that got results.
"I would hope we don't abandon our defensive progress," Payne said.
"We won't change a whole lot there in terms of our approach. Hopefully, we can run and be a little more opportunistic with some transition on offense."
The central figure in the Beavers' plans is 6-2 junior point guard Deaundra Tanner (15.8 ppg, 5.1 rpg, 4.7 apg, .319 three-point percentage, .786 FT percentage). Tanner joined UCLA point guard Baron Davis as the only sophomores on the 10-man All-Pac-10 team last season, and is among just three returnees from that list.
Tanner was among the club's few dependable offensive options early in the season, and was unafraid to take on the responsibility. The tradeoff was he became the target of opposing defenses, and his shooting percentage suffered.
"Dino was the only guy coming back with any experience, and he was the guy who really had to score early in the season," Payne said. "The more ideal situation is you'd like your point guard to be a setup guy. We're hoping he has the opportunity to do that, which will enhance his learning curve and enhance our team.
"The biggest thing for him is to create shots for other people."
That may be more possible from the outset this year, given the development of 6-4 junior shooting guard Josh Steinthal (11.9 ppg, 2.6 rpg, .373 three-point percentage, .755 FT percentage) and 6-10 junior center Jason Heide (10.9 ppg, 5.6 rpg, .540 FG percentage) as more consistent scorers.
Steinthal averaged 13.6 points in Pac-10 games, shooting 40 percent from beyond the three-point arc. He was superb in two games vs. Stanford, scoring 20 points in a road loss, then 19 in the season-ending home conquest.
"He's an intense kid, he's gotten stronger and he's worked hard to improve his ball handling and passing," Payne said. "He gives us a lot of emotional energy."
Heide, meanwhile, was one of the Pac-10's most improved players. A year after averaging just 3.6 points, he scored in double figures 12 times, including four times in the final eight games after securing a permanent spot in the starting lineup. He logged a career-high 21 points at UCLA.
"He developed into a player where he drew special attention from opponents, and that really helped us offensively. It created more space for the shooters," Payne said.
The other two returning starters are 6-3 senior wing Ramunas Petraitis (6.4 ppg, 3.8 rpg, .333 three-point percentage) and 6-8 senior forward Clifton Jones (5.0 ppg, 6.4 rpg, .571 FG percentage).
Petraitis, a native of Lithuania who is engaged to OSU women's basketball player Reda Kakeranaite, joined Tanner as the only players to start every game last season. He provides the Beavers with toughness and a defensive mindset, and has improved his shooting.
Jones, a year removed from junior college ball, has added strength and should continue to be of greatest benefit under the boards and on defense, where he equaled a school record last season with six blocked shots in a game against Oregon.
The Beavers added four newcomers, and expect a particular lift from 6-9, 235-pound freshman forward Brian Jackson (28 ppg, 13 rpg, .670 FG percentage at Knappa HS/Knappa, OR) and 6-5, 230-pound junior forward James Jones (16.5 ppg, 7.0 rpg at Compton JC/Los Angeles).
Jackson is one of the most heavily recruited players ever to sign with the Beavers after leading Knappa to state 2A championships his junior and senior seasons. The Loggers were 29-0 last season, and Jackson repeated as the state 2A Player of the Year. He finished his prep career with 2,515 points, the second-most in Oregon history.
A first-team member of the Orange County Register's Fab 15 squad, Jackson eschewed the major summer all-star camps before his senior season, preferring to play ball with his high school teammates.
"He's a product of his small-town environment, a kid who did things with his family and his immediate community," Payne said. "He's got kind of a throwback mentality."
But there's no doubting Jackson's ability.
"A lot of the talk about him is fueled by the fact that he's a little bit of an unknown," Payne said. "All the scouting service guys haven't seen him, so the legend grows."
Arizona coach Lute Olson, the only out-of-state coach to seriously attract Jackson's attention, was impressed. "He's the real deal," Olson said.
But Payne hopes fans don't expect too much, too soon.
"Brian's got enough size and enough skill to do a lot of things. He can shoot the ball in three-point territory, put the ball on the floor, play down low," Payne said. "Now he's got to make the transition from (high school) 2A basketball to Pac-10 basketball.
"Some people are getting carried away with how effective he's going to be right away. He hasn't come across the middle yet, thinking he's made a nice little move and had Jerome Moiso come on and throw it away. He hasn't seen that yet. But I'm confident he'll be all right."
Jones is a versatile player who caught Payne's eye primarily because of one undeniable resume item.
"Basically, his greatest asset is his demonstated ability to win championships," Payne said. "He's not overpowering in one particular area. He's just interested in winning."
Jones' Compton JC team won the state crown his freshman season, and he helped lead Compton-Dominguez HS to three straight California large-school prep titles. In Jones' senior season, he helped Dominguez defeat Tanner's Inglewood HS team in the finals.
Among four other returning players is 6-7 senior forward Iyan Walker (4.3 ppg, 3.0 rpg, .489 FG percentage), who started 13 games last season and scored a career-high 14 points against Cal.
The Beavers will look for help off the bench from 7-foot, 250-pound senior center George von Backstrom (3.2 ppg, 2.3 rpg, .536 FG percentagae, .844 FT percentage), a native of South Africa who started 15 games a year ago before Heide locked up the position.
OSU gets veteran reserve play in the backcourt from 6-4 sophomore Adam Masten (3.4 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 1.9 apg) and 6-1 senior walk-on Josiah Lake (2.5 ppg, 1.3 rpg, .550 FG percentage).
Rounding out the squad are freshmen guards Mike Cokley and Jimmie Haywood. The 5-10 Cokley (17.5 ppg, 7.5 apg at Knappa HS/Knappa, OR) was a prep teammate of Jackson's and a three-time all-league selection in football, basketball and baseball. The 6-2 Haywood (22 ppg, 6 rpg, 4 apg, 4 spg at Franklin HS/Seattle) scored a career-high 42 points in one game and twice was an all-tournament selection in the Washington 4A state tournament.
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