I thought it was because he could recruit to Corvallis, a town that is "impossible to recruit to", or that upon being hired he objectively noted that the talent he inherited wasn't good enough.

But,  that's only part of it.

The bigger reason is because 90% of athletics is confidence and psychology. Robinson recognizes this better than any OSU coach. Period.

Listen to his weekly press conference: http://www.osubeavers.com/sports/m-baskbl/sched/orst-m-baskbl-sched.html

Highlights:

• He's getting nitpicky about little things/details
• Not taking playing well for granted
• The importance of closing out games/not getting bored. Mentions not boxing out during PSU. Flat out says it wasn't good enough.
• Admits they're an okay team, wants it to be a great team. Just needs to cut down mistakes to do that.
• Continue to give max effort and get better even during blowout wins.
• Tells players "you can't get away with this in the conference" when they perform poorly/sloppy, etc.
• Doesn't want the conference games to be a "surprise"…so need to treat OOC games as learning experiences where they give max effort and attention to detail.
• Put together the schedule to go 8-3/build confidence.
• Etc.

Just watch the interview for yourself. It is highly impressive and shows a guy who understands how to straight shoot (without being a jerk or Mr. Nice Guy), and understands the importance of detail, psychology, etc. So, not only do I love this coach because he recruits great talent to a place fans say is impossible to recruit great talent, but even more so because he "gets it."

Jack

I don’t know what to write about this game. To tell the truth, I was disappointed to see it on our schedule. I knew Coach Rob wanted to get back to Chicago this year. But Chicago State? It couldn’t have been Valpo? DePaul? Loyola? Even Notre Dame or Northwestern?

With all the politics of hoops scheduling, I guess it’s what we get.

Maybe next year?

The only thing good about this game is that some prospects in the Chicago area will get to see the Beavs play… and Ahmad will get to go home. I don’t gamble, but I have to imagine there is no line on this game. The Beavs are just expected to win big, and if they don’t they look bad.

Second year head coach Tracy Dildy’s team consists of two returnees, two frosh and eight transfers.

And they’ve been playing like it.

Dildy has been a good recruiter and was an associate head coach for UIC when the Beavs had a foot problem in the closing seconds of a loss there a couple years ago. He has a nice new arena to show off to prospects, and he has a lot of area connections. So he could have CSU on the road to success in the future. But he’s facing more than an uphill battle this year.

Suffice it to say, this should be a blow-out of the 100-50 variety if our boys remain focused and play with a purpose. I don’t know how they do it, but I’m going to assume they don’t have a let down at this point.

Why stop now?

Angry

This game is about one thing: the Beavs fine tuning for conference play. They need to treat Chicago State as if they're Washington. Areas that need improvement before December 29th: boxing out, free throws, rebounding.

Jack brings up a good point regarding Chicago recruits, but that will take care of itself with a good showing. The focus needs to be on refining their game. Want to see the Beavs in a good mental place for that first conference game.

Tipoff is a bit earlier: 5pm.

I don't think there's any TV or streams for tonight's game, so it's either the whining napkin-eater or Game Tracker.