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11 days until the season starts.

Question: do you guys want gameday threads for baseball? Seems like nobody cares and it’s just me, oldbeav, and whisky in those threads. Oldbeav, if people do want it, maybe you can put those up on weekends?

As far as the team, the biggest weakness is pitching. Heimlich and Fehmel will be the 1 and 2 starters. Jake Thompson will probably get the midweek games vs the Portland States of the world. For whatever reason, Pat Casey will always love the awful Jake Thompson. So who is the #3 starter? I’d give a freshman like Grant Gambrell or Dakota Donovan to get a shot over Thompson. I like Gambrell the best of that bunch. I’d make Donovan the long man and (begrudgingly) Thompson the mid-week guy. Casey seems to think Thompson will have a big year for whatever reason.

It’s been a decade now since the Beavs won the World Series. They need a big season (at least go deep in the CWS) before time/perception works against them, and they’re viewed as a fading power (e.g. the snub last year didn’t help).

Let’s hear your thoughts. Curious to hear thoughts on pitching, team speed, team power, and the catching situation.

219 COMMENTS

  1. If baseball is on the radio and I am in my shop, I will put it on. The twitter feed is a good way to follow what’s going on if I am at work or whatever. The game-time thread is ok, but, most of the time I’m not able to listen to games in real time, so a thread is not critical. Seems like the best thing is almost the occasional thread about baseball, post-game if something special happens, ie a no-hitter. Otherwise, just keep up a normal thread of whatever topic interests you and we may occasionally comment OT if a game is on. Don’t feel strongly either way though if you do threads for each game or not.

  2. Game threads aren’t needed until the postseason. Maybe just series threads when conference play starts.

    Agree, Beavs need a big year to show they are a national program.

    Tweedt will be the Sunday guy when conference play starts. Thompson might be the long guy.

    The first 8 games, they will need 4 starters with 4 consecutive games.

    I think it’ll be Heimlich, Fehmel, Tweedt and Thompson the first weekend. Donovan and Gambrell should work out of the bullpen to start. Get some legs under them. If they prove themselves the first weekend, give one of them the start in the second weekend.

    Strength in this year’s pitching staff will be the bullpen. Lots of guys who can contribute. Hickey is back, paired with Engelbreckt make for a good 8-9 punch. It’s easier to name guys who will contribute little.

    If Rasmussen is able to make a comeback during the year, he should be limited to bullpen work.

    • Yeah, series threads may be a good way to go. Too bad the “chat” feature isn’t liked by many here; seems like a lot of comments on previous game threads would have fit that option. Anyway, if game threads are wanted I am glad to put them up.

      I agree about Tweedt and the likely strength of the pen this time around (I’d include Scotland Church there too).
      We’ve often questioned Yeskie’s tendency to over-use arms; that could be a real problem in Rasmussen’s return. Not even a sports psychologist could overcome the physical damage possible by overworking the kids arm. Bears watching.

      Replacing Logan Ice is already a headline story. Adley Rutschman seems to have the physical tools and heart; I expect he’ll get the nod. The leadership and management of pitchers would concern me though, could KJ, as firstbaseman, fill that gap?

      I note some pretty solid undergraduate assistant coaches on the staff: Andy Peterson, Ryan Ortiz, and Kavin Keyes. Scrappers all. Be nice if Andy could be a factor in developing a small ball weapon beyond Donahue.

      A deep run into the CWS better happen, expectations are already being built. As to the snub last year, that trip to the leg humpers place April 13-15 will be closely watched, hope the team can keep emotions in check for that one.

  3. I don’t know the strengths/weaknesses of the roster, but I really like the attitude, aggressive goals and directness of Casey. Not new traits from him, but it sure beats him coasting and demonstrates that he maintains the competitive fire.

    Is there any/many guys that can hit with power this year?

  4. OT – just saw the WBB ranked #9 in AP Poll. Seems a little late(?), but very nice achievement for a squad with youth fulfilling major playing time roles.

    • Funny, I’ve been hoping for MORE playing time for the younger gals. Seems to me Rueck has often been forced to stay with vets since this group continually plays down to the level of the competition.

      Could hurt long term if the likes of Pivec, McW, Tudor, and even Washington and Green don’t gain enough experience this season.

      ADDED: Gina just up with news that the committee has moved OSU to #7 overall which, likely, means they’d avoid the UConn side. I know, lots of time left.

      • I think Rueck is trying to get them into more games and for longer but they can’t seem to pull it off – is it because they know the veterans can come in save the game – perhaps subliminally – because they have less talent, or simply lack of experience? The ucks WBB is losing games this season, but watch out for next year.

      • I think the record speaks pretty well to Rueck’s approach. Is it always pretty? No, but they’re winning, developing youth in a way that I think creates high standards and expectations and will have them relatively “seasoned” early in their careers.

  5. Agree with oneoldbeav. I think individual game threads is overkill but series threads make a lot of sense. I too like the chat feature, but let’s get real: it needs to be “appointment blogging” (if that terms fits). In other words, Angry (or OOB) needs to say, “I’m going to organize a chat during xyz game, join in.” Has to be limited to big games that will be televised on Pac 12 network, like the UW series or whoever else emerges during the course of conference play.

    Agree with Angry that Beavs need to make Omaha this year to keep the cachet of 2006-07 vital. There’s still some shelf life there, but it needs to be nurtured by 2-3 CWS appearances per decade. so we’re already overdue. I think this year is a promising one, so I bought season tickets.

  6. Cool, the past few years I’ve done series threads, so we’ll stick with that. OldBeav, if I’m not around can you put them up? I almost always miss the midweek games. Those should be Game Threads/General Threads since most people won’t want to discuss a midweek game vs PSU.

    I’ll try to keep Fri-Sun for baseball, then discuss spring practice stuff during the week. Otherwise the baseball thread gets pushed down and people start commenting about baseball in the football threads. But, if something interesting is going on with football I’ll write about that (If you ever see this, oldbeav, you can change the time stamp on the post. If you make the time stamp more recent it will jump the football thread). As readers, if you’re going to go OT, say so, and try to keep it all in that area rather than scattered throughout the post.

    It gets a bit tricky this time of year because people don’t have a lot of interest in baseball and want to discuss Spring football and the two overlap.

    The chat is a good idea, too. I usually encourage that for Duck games, lady Beavs, etc. Things that only have minor interest. But it could work for baseball. Only downside is that there’s no permanant archive like here. The posterity of the comments is nice to look back on sometimes.

    • I like the series threads the best. I try to chat on building the dam but there is hardly anyone there during baseball. So I come here and read what folks are saying about the games in an overall since with sprinkled in instant reactions that are fun to read.

  7. ON TOPIC: Eggers with this about a verbal from a HS soph whose dad took ASU to 4 CWS and says this about Casey:

    “When you stand on the other side of a field from a coach, you get a sense for what he’s all about. It’s who he is as a person first, and then who is as a competitor. I’m very comfortable with my son becoming part of that great tradition that Pat has created at Oregon State.”

    http://portlandtribune.com/pt/12-sports/343756-223850-atlantas-big-mistakes-and-other-notes

    Suppose if Meggs has a son he’d send him to Casey? Would Casey accept?

  8. OT – For a good laugh in a slow sport news period, check out Canzano’s recent column in which he says Taggert needs to “polish his act.” He essentially begins to rightfully question Taggert’s character and sincerity, but hopes that Taggert will return to form he displayed in his first press conference; which Canzano absolutely loved but by all accounts here was insincere and lacked integrity.

  9. The weekend series threads work fine. We will be in Phoenix the second weekend of the Surprise Tourney and will try to get to the Neb. games and troll some Huskers.
    Martinek is the wild card. If he is good to go he could be a force. Did he pitch in a summer league?
    The other player that could really break out is Carey. He had a great swing like Conforto. Hope he is healthy.
    Go Beavs.

  10. Wow. Sarkasian leaves Alabama to become Atlanta Falcons OC.

    Guess the Falcons hated losing the super bowl so much they don’t want to go back?

    Apparently Helfrich and Chip Kelly’s names coming up for Alabama OC, but not sure who is bringing them up; Alabama, or the press rumor mongers.

    • Sarkasian is as bad as Kiffin. The two are so bad yet keep bouncing around. I can’t figure it out. There has to be someone better at lower levels who is worth the gamble over kiffen/sark

      • Real head scratcher. ATL could have done so much better than him. They are primed for deep play-off runs right now and they hire Sarkasian?!?

        • Well, there is a reason they’re Atlanta.
          Good decisions are hard to come by, even at the higher levels. NFL teams constantly make bad hires and bad draft picks that seem obvious to outside observers. The great franchises rarely do that. It’s the difference. I expect Atlanta to be much worse now after Sark.

          • “Good decisions are hard to come by, even at the higher levels. NFL teams constantly make bad hires…”

            Hiring is one of, if not the most, important things an organization does.

            They made a bad hire, but at least they didn’t waste any time doing it. But two days removed from SB defeat….why rush?!?

          • Because they’re Atlanta. It’s like asking a strip dancer why they keep choosing bad boyfriends.

            I think during the telecast they said the only championship ever in Atlanta was the ’95 Braves.

            The Beavs had this problem forever, too. We were the Beavs for a reason, and it wasn’t airports.

    • That would make me hate Alabama to a degree I haven’t experienced before and that hate is a close second to the Ducks. Might even push it over the edge.

  11. OT: Football
    Eggers up with a piece in which he quotes GA saying that Sumner Houston WILL be the starting center going into spring.

    Some discussion of the QB position and Luton; GA at one point, says, “…ability to throw, to read, to think quickly and understand what we want to do — those are all important…
    We need a mature, tough-minded quarterback who is a good leader, on and off the field. They will be evaluated on all those skills, not just on the way they throw or run”

    May be reading too much into that quote, but it is a slight departure from wanting a QB to win with his, “legs, arm, and mind”.
    http://portlandtribune.com/pt/12-sports/343695-222698-osu-puts-focus-on-pass-offense-

    • I’m worried about Sumner Houston. 2 star recruit with a terrible offer sheet, a guy who played nose tackle, etc. I don’t see that working out, but hopefully I’m wrong.

      • Was curious if he had snapping experience in HS, and apparently did. According to the introductory info on this film, he was a “long/short snapper.”

        http://247sports.com/player/sumner-houston-26148

        It is a little reassuring he has experience, though now 3-4 years in the past. This seems like a risky move, putting an inexperienced player in such an important position. Given their current preference to run shotgun every snap, maybe he can get ready by pre-season. Does he also have the responsibility to make line calls?

        I was hoping we’d see some offensive packages added that include direct snaps from center instead of shotgun every play. Seems like it would be beneficial when you need a yard or two from Nall or a QB sneak, but if you don’t have a set of plays to run out of it you don’t necessarily make it hard for the defense. Would like to see some two back sets with Nall as FB, Nall could get the quick handoff or block…run a wheel route…seems like they could diversify quite a bit with the QB under center. Sounds like big-boy football doesn’t it?

        • He’s a smart kid and was playing on a perennial powerhouse state championship type of team.

          It’s football bro, not rocket science.

      • I got the impression that Garretson had good leadership capabilities. Just….excruciatingly limited throwing capabilities.

        Can’t imagine true freshman walkon Blount demonstrated much leadership though, and this has obviously been a knock on MMM since day 1. Hopefully he can take his good performances ending last year and turn that into confidence.

    • “”I expect it to be a physical and tough spring,” Andersen says. “You better strap it on every day, or it’s probably not going to be a good day for you.”

      Hope he’s referring to a helmet….

  12. Don’t miss Gina’s piece on Cory Hall. I really hope the notion that he may not stay long in Corvallis is incorrect.

    Oh yeah, while you are over at the big O, you may want to read their piece in the uck section on the news that Jimmie Dougherty is leaving for UCLA. Slick Buddha Willie now needs to find two staff members (err…salespersons). And, all these transplants from FL are just now starting to experience the climate here.

    http://www.oregonlive.com/beavers/index.ssf/2017/02/cory_hall_oregon_state_cornerb.html#incart_river_index

  13. Baseball one week away,

    I think the only lingering questions around who’s playing is in the outfield. Quite a log jam out there. Anderson, Elliot, Kwan, Larnach, Nobach. I think they’ll go with guys who are the best offensively. Don’t see much difference defensively between all the guys.

    Donahue will move back to 2B.

    Gretler will likely be the starting catcher with Rutschman backing him up. With spring football happening earlier this year, it benefits Rutschman because he won’t have to be switching between sports for long. The plus is that he’s a kicker so the balancing act won’t be as tough.

    • Donahue at 2B sounds like a pretty sure thing, but I still wonder about the situation at catcher.

      Not that it means much, but Gretler is still listed as an infielder on the roster. If he catches then where do you see Rutschman…………3B? Is Cadyn Grenier gonna see the field much? Figured him or Gretler for 3B.

      If most of the squad lives up to its potential, Casey has an embarrassment of riches. We’ll see. As you said, “I think they’ll go with guys who are the best offensively”. But, if there is a lot of platooning in response to opposing pitching don’t you stand the chance of guys never really getting into “the groove”? (damn, another softball for BG!)

      • Grenier is a plus defender, he will be starting at 3B.

        If Rutschman doesn’t overtake Gretler for C, then I don’t see him playing much beyond the weekday games. I think Gretler starts first because Rutschman has spring football.

        I don’t see a lot of platooning. I don’t recall Casey doing that in the past very much.

    • Harrison will play catcher, too.
      Carey is healthy, right? He could finally be good. I’d like to see him at 1B and Harrison catching some days. Carey has a fantastic swing. Just has to get his head together.

  14. Tinke with another shart. Better see 19 wins next year or ready to cut bait. Really crap basketball being played by Tinks & his guys. 0-18 coming. Jay John looked like Calipari in some years compared to this.

    • Just looked at the stats: USC 12 for 12 from the free throw line. Wow

      Might as well look at some others:
      FG% OSU 32% USC48%
      FG….OSU 11-34… USC 12-27
      3FG% OSU 31% USC 46%
      3FGs OSU 4-13… USC 6-13
      FT% OSU 25% USC 100%
      TOs OSU 5 USC 5

      Shot selection
      Unable to make free throws and shots

    • Considering this will be WT’s first losing season in year 3? I beg to differ. I’d imagine the powers that be feel the same.

  15. Bright spot during the game: I thought Konè had some extra spunk in his step tonight. Maybe having the lighter knee brace helped, but there was some good edge there. I think we’ll all like the guy in a year or two. Also, these guys play with heart and you wouldn’t guess they’re a big goose egg turd with no wins when looking at them.

    • I thought the same though Kone didn’t shoot very well, but did hit some free throws and was active around the basket. USC had a huge quickness advantage which they exploited all night. Plus, they have some players that have some talent shooting the ball where our guys are basically wandering in the wilderness. Nothing spells success like D-1 guards who can’t make shots when they have a step on the defense and are squared up. Reminds me of Olaf last year. I’m not sure having young Tinkle makes much difference in a lot of these games since the talent gap is so large especially off the bench. Is there a dramatic turnaround next year? I’m sure they’ll be better but that’s an awfully low bar.

      • You make a good point about the quickness. I think the Beavs must be slow on the court. Even when Eubanks is doubled and he is looking to pass, he can’t find anyone open. If I was coaching this team and granted my experience is limited to coaching 3rd graders, I would figure out a way to get Eubanks 20-25 shots a game. Take that first entry pass and go man! Nobody else can make a shot or understands floor spacing..

        • If Tinkle can’t get a very good JC or Grad transfer guard for next year, I fear it won’t be all that better. The difference in athleticism between the teams last night was astonishing.
          How is it possible that I have a better vertical than ST Jr? His dad could could jump out of the gym, yet he has to rely on every sort of junk/ trick shot to avoid getting snuffed when he shoots. Hopefully his little bro is a better athlete.
          Kone should not have played this year. His upper body posture looks like a stooped over 85 y/o man, not a D1 basketball player.

          • Let’s see…next year they’ll have JQM, ST Jr, Kendall Manuel, Ethan Thompson, Zach R. the kid from Wilsonville, and Stacy, all at guard. 6 players. Is there a good 1 guard in there? They seem stocked at the 2 spot, but an open question on Pac-12 caliber players. This team really needs some size and athleticism in that 6’7″” range to staff the frontline, or keep playing with 3 guard line-ups. But then they’ll continue to get dominated inside and out-rebounded every game. Tough!

          • I’m sorry, but STj does not look like a top 100 player to me . It takes a lot of “shot volume” for him to reach his scoring averages and many of his shots are contested. Not great defensively either. And no excuse for his poor foul shooting. Don’t get me wrong, not a bad player, but not any kind game changer against P-12 talent. Even if TT had played the entire season, how many wins do they have? I kind of doubt they are even a 500 team. Kone injury was bad luck. As many have said, the JC recruits are on Tinks..Dew and Stacy are not P-12 players, what made the coaching staff think they were? That’s what gives me pause. They need to at least get above 500 next season.

  16. If starting pitching is truly the team’s weakness, this team is overrated. I hope we are all pleasantly surprised by the pitching performance this year.

  17. This team will be shown to be overrated — the pitching isn’t there IMO. It is so hard to go wire to wire in the PAC. Nobody picked Utah to win it all last year, so same goes for OSU this year, with all the coaches expecting the Beavs to win. PC’s best teams were under the radar, and got hot at the right time of the year. Every team will be coming at the Beavs with their best this year — sorry guys, I am very pessimistic about winning the PAC this year — think Beavs will likely get 2nd or 3rd.

      • Pessimism based on circumstances and last year’s records:
        1) Rasmussen (Did not play, DNP) won’t be back for a while. Thought he could be a Friday starter guy. He could be rusty.
        2) As many on here commented on — Jake Thompson (3-3) has major control issues. If, and big IF, he gets that going, seems like he is the weakest link, if he is a weekend starter.
        3) Fehmel (10-1), Heimlich (7-4), Tweedt (DNP), Englebrekt (3-3), Church (0-0 in relief role), and Hickey (1-0/4-1) all seem like capable guys, we must remember that the PAC teams have seen all of these guys for a couple of years now, so there is no secret as to ways to beat each one — remember Andrew Moore struggled part of his Sophomore year and most of his Junior year.
        Tweedt seems promising because we was out last year, and should surprise a few teams, but the other argument is that he could be rusty and/or lack of experience in league play, etc.
        Hickey another good one (had some shutout innings against UW and ASU last year….clutch), but will he get better, or get exposed in the league.
        I’m really hoping we get a Jorge Reyes type freshman. He may struggle in league play, but catch fire late in the season, propel the team into the CWS. It may take a while before we find that guy this year — have Verberg, Gambrell, Paul, Eisert, Warren, and Mulholland coming in.

        I expect a season similar to last years, some unexpected highs (sweep of ASU), and unexpected lows (sweep by UA).

        • Good assessment. I think it will all depend how long Casey is stubborn and sticks with under-performers. He has Riley in him and sticks with them too long, historically, which costs the team wins. E.g. “Krhod”, Thompson, Gabe Clark, et al (many more). All clearly bad yet he put them in key roles all season.

          I’d rather see a Freshman with potential than a struggling Jake Thompson. Donovan or Gambrell seem like the most likely to step up into that position. Thompson will probably look good OOC then get killed in the PAC.

          • Agree, the key is “how long Casey…sticks with under-performers”. Or, said another way, how long it takes to evaluate some of the new(er) guys.

            Mulholland and Warren look especially to have potential.

            Warren will be particularly interesting, I’ve been told that OSU backed off on recruiting his brother Brac who ended up with the ucks. It will be interesting to see if Cade turns out to be the better of the two.

            In any event, I fear that Rasmussen will be a non-factor. I suppose the hope could be that he comes on late to help the team get hot at the right time of the year. A longshot in my opnion.

            As Jockitch said in his well thought out assessment, “Tweedt seems promising because we was out last year, and should surprise a few teams, but the other argument is that he could be rusty and/or lack of experience in league play, etc.” I think the upside here outweighs the drawbacks listed.

          • I’d rather not rely on the element of surprise with pitchers. Take Wetzler. Shaky for a few years, then dominant. You want that. It means the pitcher figured something out rather than tricked the league with a novelty act. I think Luke can be that guy this year. He has the moxy and ability and finally is physically (i.e. was supposed to be a HS senior his first year in college) on par with the league.

          • I was reading “surprise” wrt Tweedt to mean that his absence last year would make him less familiar to the opposition than if he’d played.

          • I gotcha oldbeav, but how is that not the same as what I’m describing? Because he didn’t play he’s a surprise. That’s a bit of novelty. I’d rather the pitcher figure out the league than the league not yet figure him out. Big difference.

          • That’s a great phrase “…figure out the league rather than the league not yet figure him out”. I’d put it up there with some of Casey’s stock stuff. I think I get your point now.

            To me, the “not yet” does allow for the league to eventually figure him out; I’m thinking Tweedt’s year off delays the ability of the league to figure him out this time around and more than offsets any possible rusty-ness. Legitimate question though to ask if he has figured out the league.

          • Larnach, Grenier, and Kwan seem to be those guys that get a fair chunk of starts but haven’t produced at the plate hitting below 240 BA. You could even say Harrison underachieved with a 265 BA, but at least he’ll get it out of the park to meet the bottom-line. If PC overplays one of these guys after they haven’t contributed, that’ll be cause for frustration. Really need have a solid line-up where guys don’t disappear for two or three games at a time.
            Hopefully they bat smarter, and don’t swing on a struggling pitcher, or 3-0, or even 3-1 its gotta be their pitch.
            They don’t have to hit to get on base (MoneyBall — OBP Billy Bean style of play) — there are seven ways to get on base and I get frustrated with how Casey’s teams have gotten away from the small details during at-bats: hit, walk, error, fielders’ choice, hit by pitch, dropped third strike, and defensive interference.
            If this team plays smart, they’ll go very deep, good chance of going to a Super regional IMHO.

          • Yes… never swing on a 3-0 pitch.

            Nothing good ever comes from that.

            In fact… continue to not swing on that first pitch regardless of the opposing pitcher’s style.

            That makes sense too.

  18. Gina’s on-going series of coaches interviews continues and today’s sketch with Telly Lockette contains this gem of his: “you’re starting to get a lot of guys that you recruited in the building . . . so you’ve got all the guys you want to complete.” This is further proof, if any was necessary, that it was going to take a couple of years to wash out the Riley ethos. Relatedly, over on Scout, new recruit Onesimus Clerke, asked why he chose OSU over Boise State talked about Corvallis as “the best college town” etc. The message is getting through.

    • Somewhat concerning he views Jaylynn Bailey as the 3rd back. Nall is always banged up. So he’ll play if he’s #3. TJ Green couldn’t have left for depth chart reasons. Our depth chart isn’t deep if a walk on is the #3 back and the #1 back is always hurt.

      • >Somewhat concerning he views Jaylynn Bailey as the 3rd back.

        There’s nothing to ‘view’, we have two scholarship running backs on campus, so a walk-on pretty much had to be 3rd string for spring practice. I’m guessing Calvin Tyler quickly beats him out when he gets on campus and BJ Baylor will be 4th or 5th after he gains some weight.

  19. Mark Masari was on the second hour of the Joe Beav show today and shared some insights on future football scheduling and stadium expansion. Regarding the latter, the west side will not mirror the east because to do so they’d have to avoid playing in Corvallis for a whole season, which I agree is impractical. They do have some preliminary drawings on how to mass the structure, one interesting facet of which is the new new-side would have both athletic department and more general administrative space built into the base.

    On the scheduling front, they decided to keep the game in Reno in 2018 even though Nevada bought their way out of the return game. They liked the Northern California propinquity factor, and drove hard for a high number payment to OSU. They are committed to one Big Sky team a year, with Portland State every 3 or 4 years. But they won’t bring in Montana. Masari seemed to intimate something is in the works with Texas schools, but wouldn’t announce until Barnes starts works next week. Announcement within a fortnight.

    • How did they build the East side without interrupting a season if it can’t be done? Makes me think it won’t be that architecturally pleasing if it does not mirror. I suppose they can go for a Portland Timbers feel of their Key Bank side. That is the best we can hope for if they are going the cheap route. I disagree with Massari as at worst it seems like they could build the 4 towers the year before the main build. What is built also will stand for 60 or more years. Would rather have one year with 27,000 at the games and then be set with what we want for the next 60-70.

      Main thing I think Beaver Nation will miss is how cool it would be for fans of one upper deck to look across to fans of the other upper deck and the initimdating cavernous atmosphere it would create.

      • Agree 100%, but open to hearing the other side. Piece-meal is Reser’s problem, so to do more of it b/c of one year playing elsewhere is short-sighted and typical Beaver. It’s why the Beavers are the Beavers.

      • The east side didnt have a giant covered grandstand/pressbox to dismantle, prior to re-building. They constructed the support towers while leaving the old seats in place for a season. Then, the next offseason they constructed the east side grandstand with much of the work already completed ahead of time.

        What I dont understand is why they would have to move out of reser for a full season. Seems like they could construct the lower bowl first on the west side, and then spend the next year constructing the upper deck. Sure, they’ll miss out on some seats for a year (no upper deck yet), but it’s not like Reser sells out regularly.
        The media would be displaced for a year without the press box, so maybe move them to the deck above the terrace, inside valley?

        • There are always solutions to “impossible scenarios”, you just need creativity and maybe a few more bucks. They need to make it look the same cosmetically.

          • Creativity is a highly underrated attribute for an engineer. A project engineered without creativity will cost way too much and/or sacrifice functionality. Sadly most engineering firms gravitate towards cookie-cutter solutions.

          • As much as I would like to agree, the one aspect of engineering that has annoyed me most in the past four decades is that they fancy themselves designers.

            They’re not.

            But they can troubleshoot. Pretending to be designers diminishes that value.

        • Nicebeaver is correct. The stated complicating factor on the west side, not present with the construction on the east side, was the press box. The only way around that, it seems to me, is to displace some high rent customers in the new loge and suites. That’s probably a hard bullet to bite. The important thing isn’t the design, but he commitment to finish the stadium one way or another because it’s current configuration is obviously holding the program back.

  20. Oregon State set to be worst team in 116 year program history. Worst yet they are now expected and on track to be worst P5 program in the history of the NCAA:
    http://www.buildingthedam.com/2017/2/7/14541494/oregon-state-a-shot-at-being-the-worst-team-in-116-year-program-history-ncaa-basketball-tres-tinkle

    Scott Barnes better be doing some preliminary research and phone calls. Worst in NCAA history over more than 120 years of NCAA Basketball at the P5 level. Total crapfest.

  21. Don’t want to sound too negative here, because this team should do pretty well, but they had a 9-11 road record last year….and have the following teams on the road:
    ASU, UW, OR, and Stanford. Baseball is not as predictable as football (UTAH is best example from last year) but need to come out of those four series overall with a winning record coupled with a sweep or two at home to have a chance at the league title.

    • UCLA is on the road too.

      So ASU and UCLA will be jacked-up to get at us for sweeping them last year. This will be a tough year on the pitching, but hopefully the bats step-up and get into the 6-7 run per game avg.

      • Good points, a 6-7 run avg would be sweet!
        I’m not concerned with winning the PAC, it’s getting hot (and staying that way) at the right time that would lead to Omaha.

  22. OT: WBB vs condoms, 8pm PAC12

    Looks like a trap game to me. Brings up something related to our discussion of baseball and “getting hot at the right time”……..is there any positive to a loss tonight? Would it focus the team for the stretch and give Rueck specific teachable moments?

    Chat anyone??

    As said before, this team seems to play down to the level of the competition and hasn’t (IMHO) had many opportunities to get experience for a number of bench players who will have to be starters next season.

      • Been coming for a long time, TO’s and poor FT%, reliance on Syd. No reason for overconfidence now, gotta learn from this one. Maybe even shoot mid range when open?
        UCLA Sunday looks to be a WAR!

          • I think it was the USC wbb coach (don’t know if it’s still the same coach) who said a couple of years ago that the Beavs don’t handle pressure well (altho I’m not sure what that means, really) Rueck later said that wasn’t true.

          • At this point in any hoops career, press break is not a learning thing. It’s a doing thing.

            If a team is not breaking a press, they are simply not doing what is an easy thing to do.

  23. Like I said in the last thread…time for them to lose so they can re-focus and get ready for the NCAA tourney. Just didn’t figure they would tank so badly.

    • Golly, that was an unexpected L for the young women! I’d rate their blowout loss as a C+. They’ve gotta get back to work and bring their lunch pails if they’re gonna achieve my levels of tanking. I know I’m at Huskerville now, but I’ll send Rueck film of my Sacramento State and Washington 2013 masterpieces so he can inspire the ladies. hashbrown NiceGuyMike

    • That was a real bad loss and the kind that can lurk in a team’s psyche in a negative way. It’s one thing to take a loss like that when its early in the season, another when you’re contending for a league title and a run n the post season. We’ll see what happens Sunday, but won’t be surprised if UCLA takes another from them.

      • Yeah, Sunday will be a real test of both coaching and team moxie. With UCLA coming off a somewhat exhausting game as well, we will see who can “dig deep”.
        From Syd, as per Gina this morning:

        “I think the past couple weeks, we may have been going through the motions a little bit. We’ve been trying to fight that, but I think this loss really shows us that we have a lot to improve at and we have to stay on our toes and stay in attack mode.”

  24. Anyone know info on the OSU women’s rowing scandal?
    The head coach, Emily Ford, was apparently fired, along with Associate Head Coach Vita Scaglione, and possibly an assistant.
    I’ve heard many stories about this coaching staff and inflicting eating and exercise disorders on the girls. The coach herself has a problem.

  25. Oregon State should go for it and try to get Gonzaga’s Coach. We should be able to easily outspend them and bring a quality coach into the Pac-12. Tinkle’s offense is currently ranked #961 in the nation. That means you could have something like 18 P5 leagues of 65 teams and OSU would be the worst team of all of them. Beyond that they are worse than any FBS, FCS, Div 2 or Div 3 offense essentially. Have to drop down to Div 4 programs and then only a few in the entire country have a worse offense than Oregon State. Tinkle’s team this year being the worst in NCAA History at this level says it all. Absolutely horrendous team. Barnes better have a dog collar on Tinkle’s neck next year. This shit don’t cut it. Deserves to be paid in McChicken’s only for this year. Guy is making enough for a new Escalade every month while producing at a level a toddler might actually do better than this year. Serously would rather have Sara Jean Underwood as coach.

    • Few has been courted by some of the best programs in the nation, and still won’t leave gonzaga. What makes you think he would even talk to our AD about this job? I have a felling the phone call would include hysterical laughter and then a dial tone.

    • Few? Fuck that! He’s small potatoes. A powerhouse with such basketball tradition as Oregon St should be going after Tom Izzo, Roy Williams or Bill Self.

      Never mind that Altman was like Oregon’s 15th choice. And you don’t even know the Gonzaga coach’s name. Pud

    • This may be the first intelligent thing you have ever said.

      I say that having only read the first two sentences… which is 1.75 more sentences of yours than I usually read. I liken the idea to getting Pete at UW.

      Zags is an awesome team this year. And I’ve watched them play excellent ball like this… only to peter out in the end. It will happen again. Coach Few needs to upgrade.

      • Your argument against all who say it’s impossible wuld be to point out that our last best coach came to us after taking his team to the final four.

  26. FFS will some please wrap bill Walton’s head in Saran Wrap?!?!? No one watching a college basketball game gives a fuck that the Grateful Dead wrote a song about rowing a boat. Lay off the hippie lettuce.

  27. GYMNASTICS: After knocking off #8 (now #16) Auburn, the gals whipped #4 Utah yesterday in front of 3876 at Gill. May sneak into the top 10 this week.

    WBB: PAC12 at 1pm vs Bruins…….lots of questions to be answered in this one. There wasn’t much interest in the chat for the last game so maybe just keep it here to close out this thread?

    Hmmmm, was the chat idea bad mojo vs condoms? Naw, just bad BB.

  28. I don’t know…the gals are on track for 20 TO’s again. Weise is having another off game shooting. She sure is a streaky shooter, hot when she’s on, but when she’s off its pretty brutal. I don’t know why Rueck lets Gabby shoot threes? Her range is the the lay-up–which she has a good touch at–but not much beyond there. Pivec, Weise, and Hansen are combined 6-22 from the field.

    Beavs by 3 at the end of the 3rd, but the 4th quarter has been their bane much of the season. Anybody’s game now.

  29. Weise has had at least five. In WBB they still call it a mid-range jumper but they don’t seem to jump – at least the Beavs don’t.

  30. Well, the gals pulled out a strong 4th quarter and outscored UCLA, which hasn’t happen much in the 4th this Pac-12 season. Weise just a bit shy of a quadruple-double in points, rebounds, assists, and turnovers. She had 9 assists and 8 TO’s to go with 10 pts and 11 rebs.

    Beavs survived 21 TO’s altogether. Still its a win. Too bad there was the USC train-wreck, or they’d be sitting pretty darn good in the conference race.

    • UW beat ASU at home, so now again a three way tie at the top of the conference. UW has to play at UCLA next weekend, so potential upset there–maybe– and IF OSU gets past Stanford at Gill then OSU wins the regular season conference title provided there are not any USC-like games lurking there.

  31. When pressured she over dribbles with her head down and goes right into double teams.
    Their dribble handoffs are also a problem with quicker teams. That brings the double team right to the ball handler.

    • Interesting you would mention Wiese’s “head down” syndrome. During the uck/USC game one of the announcers said that Ionescu always has her head up.

  32. 1) OK, did this game answer any questions about these BWB’s?
    2) What is the likely future for this season?
    3) And for next season, how are the Beavs gonna stack up vs the toilet seat crew?

    1…………70% FT today, 66% for the season so, the 48% vs SC was certainly an outlier, but excessive TO’s is a real characteristic of this group. Pivec is a freshman mystery, has had some good games and MAYBE will get hot down the stretch, big maybe.
    2)…………No guarantee of hosting NCAA tourney, doubt they make it to the elite eight.
    3)………..Uck ladies seem to be coming together as a team, off court chemistry is the wildcard IMHO. Rueck emphasizes character and compatibility in recruiting…….is he the one who said, “Men have to win to be happy; Ladies have to be happy to win”?

    Thoughts?

    • Not sure, this weekend was a bit of a mystery. I watched both the games they played in AZ and thought they were pretty ragged, and really pretty fortunate to have won them both. After the USC debacle, I was not going to be surprised if they lost this one, though would have expected a close, down to the buzzer game. A bit lucky for them that Canada was out the last half though they may have won anyway. Let’s see if they can win both on the road, then take care of business when the Bay schools come.

      I think this team is good enough to win its NCAA games at Gill, so they at least get to the Sweet Sixteen, but I agree probably lack the firepower to go beyond that unless they get a good draw. They seem to be missing a cog that would lead to a deep tourney run. I also hate to say it but the Uck girls are probably going to be spanking Beaver over the next few years. They’ve got a great freshman class that is going to carry them to the top of the conference by the time they’re juniors, maybe even next year. OSU is going to be pressed to compete.

      • Sabrina I is a program changing recruit for them. Their other freshman are also outplaying ours at this stage. Pivec has had a bad stretch where she seems to be afraid to shoot. Hopefully she and Tudor can step it up. I agree that the quack women will at least reach parity with us next year and will have a very formidable team.

  33. Starting to feel like the Beavers should just eliminate the athletics department or petition to drop a level of competition across the board. I don’t see sustained success as a possibility in any of the sports. Instead, focus on being an elite research facility, and end the inevitable futility that all of the teams will face.

    • Then imagine how the Ducks must feel. They’re only better than OSU at a couple sports, football not being one of them. Since they can’t beat us, they would also have to move down. And they wouldn’t have the benefit of being an elite research university, as OSU has become.

      So OSU can go to the MWC, since their football team is viable. And the Ducs can get rid of football and become the second or third best hoops team in the WCC.

    • No billionaire here to buy championships….sorry lil sister, look elsewhere.

      Come back when you have a year when no Shmuck coach or player gets arrested, so you can talk with no egg on your face, or in your mouth.

      • Sleep it off. Go easy, Leonard.

        I’m saying that we just don’t have what it takes to compete at the level of this conference, across the board.

        And watch your mouth with the duck sh*t you morons.

        A friend of mine dated a duck once, but then dumped her because she was an idiot. I work with a few other idiots with 0’s on their cars. That’s the extent of my duck allegiance so piss off.

        Be honest, do any of you see ANY of the sports ever winning anything relevant? Look around, athletics is CLEARLY not exactly our strong suit.

        Football : beat the worst Duck team in a long time after losing for nearly a decade. ended with 4 wins. Not a good season.

        Basketball: currently 4-21, horrible team. Seriously WTF. Embarrassing.

        WBB: has been competitive during the past few years in a weak pac12. Future doesn’t look great with recruiting vs other p12 schools and wonder if the coach would take a “bigger” job– he did when he came here.

        Baseball: consistently competitive. Best program on campus, and it’s not close.

        Softball: Zero chance. Ever.

        Wrestling: occasionally marginal.

        Track and field: do not even compete in most events, let alone be competitive.

        Even the cheerleaders are bad. Pat Casey retires or starts having bad seasons and we’re left with a big pile excrement.

        • football – better than the Ducks and on an upward track
          hoops – beyond sucking
          whoops – weak Pac 12? How many Pac teams were in the tourney… and final four? Who was the last team to beat UCONN?
          softball and vball – you care?
          wrestling – already in a non-power conference… but they continue to win said conference
          gymnastics – kicking ass this year
          T&F – I hate Lynn Snyder.

          You don’t have a runny case, let alone a solid one.

          • I honestly never understood cheerleaders. They’re just people who block the view.

            And I blame them for destroying the O-S-U chant. We used to do that chant as one whole arena/stadium. And it would be overwhelming in its unanimity. Now they play three sides against each other, and it’s just contrived boredom.

    • Who needs to apply? There’s one thing that can improve the game day experience for me. Run the damn ball. Then once you run it, try again to see if you can run it better than anyone else. If you fail at the latter, keep doing the former.

    • Its good they’re asking. But if they’re spending money, I’m curious how they will intake, organize, and publish results and use it to inform change. How will they measure change?

      Both the in-person and the viewer experience should be included, the latter so they can take something to Larry Scott…

    • “We are……Ped State. We are…….Ped State…….”
      Probably abused by the dad. What a sad disaster. But ask any fan, Joe Pa had no clue. Sure.

    • An adopted child of Jerry’s?
      Man, somebody better keep an eye on the rest of Jerry’s other kid. Looks like growing up with a sexual deviant isn’t a great environment to be raised in.
      Whoever allowed Jerry to adopt, seriously failed those children

      • Man, that sucks. This man is totally responsible for his actions, don’t get me wrong, but that cycle of abuse proves to be true. This guy never really had a chance in that environment and now a web of others have been seriously affected.

        • The affidavit said Sandusky told the alleged victim in texts in March that “it’s not weird because he studied medicine” and instructed her “to not show these texts to anyone.”

          The girl’s mother told investigators that when she confronted Sandusky, he told her “he knows it was wrong and inappropriate,”

          Case closed, I have no remorse for what happens to chimos in prision. The child rapists like his daddy need to be culled. It may sound harsh, but I’ve seen first hand what that does to a kid.

      • Actually, it sounds like they have a hoarding issue. They just have the means to spend excessively for inventory management… and storage space.

        It’s all a swirling mess of blech. But I will give Phil Knight credit for not having to gild everything as his base design. Everything he does is a base industrial with anomalous embellishments. They would be fine as stand alone units. But together they look like a hodgepodge of space-eating stuff. There’s nothing organic or sustainable about how the school is trying to grow.

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