When researching this game, I came across some interesting notes.
- Jared Cunningham now has the all-time single season record for steals (74) by a sophomore, besting Gary Payton's record of 72. With three games left to play, and then the conference tournament, he could theoretically challenge Payton's school record.
- Devon Collier has 19 blocked shots as a freshman. He should top Gary Payton's freshman record of 20 in this afternoon's game.
When a team has both a freshman and sophomore in the same sentence with Gary Payton, it's hard to make an argument that a lack of talent is causing the Beav's woes. Stats like this will put more pressure on Craig Robinson if he continues to lose games. Add the fact that OSU actually looked like a DI team when in the man to man, and it is becoming obvious the problem is coaching philosophy rather than talent. Many fans have thought this, but the sample is now large enough where we have numbers backing it up.
I'm only willing to forgive such err if the coach learns from mistakes. Said another way, we better see a heck of a lot more man defense today. The players have lobbied for it; fans recognized zone as an albatross months ago; and, even the media has arrived, albeit unfashionably late, to the anti-zone party. Look, there is no denying zone worked well last year, but that's because Seth Tarver was a disruptive, defensive talent. Omari Johnson is not half the player. Craig Robinson's inability to recognize his roster's strengths and adjust his philosophy to maximize those strengths has become a glaring weakness. His assumption that the team would be in foul trouble (if they played man to man) is just that, while the reality of opponents shooting close to 50% against the zone is also just that.
Could the the guys play a full 40 minutes of man defense and get obliterated? Certainly. This is the Beavers, after all–anything is possible. Playing man doesn't guarantee anything except they won't be playing that horrendous zone, and that's a plus in my book.
Bottom line: what I'd like to see this afternoon is more man defense. In order to salvage what is left of the season, fans need a reason to get excited about the conference tournament and believe the team has a shot at upsets. Playing tough man defense and winning 2 of 3 down the stretch would go a long way toward buoying our spirits and giving cause for optimism come March 9th.
TV: FSN
Radio: KPAM
Totally agree. We need this game today. I am hoping for a passionate crowd to usher out the seniors and help us pull out a big “W”. GO BEAVERS!!
I’m really hoping the Beavers pull this one out today. They can win this game but I’m not convinced they will win. I say Cal wins by 5. The Beavers always bounce back from a big win with a bad performance. I’m hoping it’s changed, but I will believe it when I see it. If Cal doesn’t jump out to a big lead in the first half, I think the Beavers win. We shall see if they come ready to play.
Oregon State’s zone defense is getting shredded. Don’t understand why they aren’t going full time man-to-man. Don’t think we’ve seen man-to-man yet.
I guess it’s asking too much of Craig to actually learn what he’s doing wrong.
Burton nearly killed someone with his pass. Everyone on the Beavers looks pretty good……….except Burton. No shock there
This zone is pissing me off.
What the hell is with these refs? Or is Mike Parker on crack? It’s hard to tell sometimes.
What did we get the T for? I just tuned in.
Camp hit Cunningham from behind, then Jared threw a slight elbow in Camp’s back. Refs gave Cal 4 free throws instead of 2. Sanders-Frison was suppose to shoot a 1 and 1 not 2 automatic free throws. Pac-10 has just awful referees.
Think the league will evaluate it? They do have the new quality control guy, unfortunately he only does football.
The Pac-10 has such incompetent officiating. Beavers would be up 15 if they could do their job at all. Cal had a double dribble and three in the key(more like 10 in the key) that were clear as day to the officials. You have to really try to be pathetic to screw up the calls they’ve screwed up so far.
Not liking how the half ended, looked more like typical Beavs. That was the best shot they could get after a timeout? Overall, though pretty decent half. Lose the zone for awhile. Glad others thought the officiating was terrible and I was not just being a “homer”. I have come to the conclusion that bad teams don’t get any calls in P-10 basketball.
I hope Larry Scott fixes the officials for basketball. Let’s be real, if you aren’t Arizona,UCLA, Washington or Cal I guess, you just are going to continually get worked over by the officials. Hopefully, we see Larry Scott fix that.
I guess Mike Montgomery should just referee also. I would think the refs would blow off “the cheater” and his bellyaching for a least a couple of games, but he seems to be getting his way as usual.
I think we should compile a list of horrible calls and mail them in at the end of the game.
It could take hours to make that list.
I’m having a hard time listening to this game due to the refs. Unsure what to do about it, but I am majorly pissed.
Devon Collier has been horrible on defense all game. Never thought I would say Burton has been better than Collier
Craig has been outcoached by Montgomery. It’s been just an awful coaching performance by Craig. His zones have been getting shredded but he refuses to go man-to-man. I don’t understand that. I’m convinced he’s a terrible coach.
Anyone want to take issue with the amount of 3 pointers? This is killing me, especially wallace. 1-6, how does that happen? That is par for him, he needs to stop jacking up 3’s. We get those 6 shots back and this game might look a little different.
Disagree. They weren’t bad threes in my opinion. Just didn’t go down. Roberto Nelson hardly played at all. I wonder what bs reason Craig has for that. No wonder why is confidence has been so down this year. He never knows when he will actually play.
I am at work, watching the gametracker. The number is 3’s seems ridiculous, even if they aren’t bad, statistically this team doesn’t make them. Especially Wallace, his season average is about 1/6.
Also, how pathetic was that last sequence, sure looked that way on the tracker.
I am glad you noticed Nelson not playing after having a nice game against Stanford. Here is my “consipiracy theory”..CR is pissed about the Dohrmann blog and is punishing Roberton!
haha maybe. OR maybe Craig just has no idea what he’s doing. If he had Michael Jordan as a collegian, he would STILL play Calvin Haynes instead. What exactly were Wallace and Haynes doing that were so great that Nelson couldn’t get into the game? Craig is completely incompetent as a coach. I understand you wanna mix in a zone here in there to throw off a team’s offense, but the whole game of zone?! He played man-to-man MAYBE 5 defensive possessions the entire game. The zones got shredded the entire game, yet Craig never changed defenses. Basketball wise, that’s as stupid as it gets.
Why would he play Daniel Deane a little in the first half and then not at all. I understand not playing him because of issues, but if you’re gonna play him, then give him some more minutes.
I hope nobody defends Craig. He’s awful. I hate the thought process of let’s give a coach 4 or 5 years, why?! You can already tell when a coach is terrible by his third year, Craig would be a good example. If Craig is back next year, which undoubtedly he will be, the team will go nowhere. They won’t break .500. Next year they’ll have talent up and down the team, we couldn’t blame the players for sucking then. I can’t wait until he uses the line “I put them in chances to succeed and did all I could, they just aren’t getting the job done”.
Hopefully, since the Beavers have more talent on this team, Randy Bennett will take a second look and agree to be the coach. His team had a high expectations this year and lost key players, they’re 23-7 this year. They almost beat BYU, losing by a point to a BYU team that looks to be top 5 now. He didn’t come last time mostly to due to no talent. That’s changed now and I think he may take the job. Donnie Jones at Central Florida would be a nice one to go after as well.
I would not be the least bit surprised if Roberto transfers, I know I would. He’s a really good talent and Craig is basically trying to throw that talent away. If they let him stay another year, we may see a bunch of the players leaving, unfortunately.
I thought the part of Dohrmann’s blog where he said Nelson “was unhappy” seemed a bit ominous to me. Nelson played all of 6 minutes yesterday after having a good game against Stanford. Maybe something is going on here already, but Nelson would lose a year of eligibilty, right?
Seems like everything CR does pisses me off lately. Even when he was asked about starting all of the seniors for Senior Day and he said that was “CYO stuff”. I guess Ralph Miller was a “CYO coach” then because Ralph always had all of his seniors out there for opening tip-off, he would pull the scrubs after about a minute, but it was a nice gesture. It is certainly CR’s perogative not to do that, but the flippant quote annoyed me.
The media has plenty of fodder for good, detailed questions about the state of OSU basketball, but just gives him a pass and lets him spout his psycho-babble. I mean even this Deane stuff is at the junior high level. “I’ll talk if he talks”..what? Who is the head coach here? He knows year 4 will be his litmus test. What I like is that we will be able tell right away if anything has changed next year because another crappy non-conference result will tell the tale. He better have the team ready to execute out of the gates next November!
Yeah Nelson would, but getting out of there may be what he feels he has to do.
I don’t have much confidence Craig will have them ready come November. We will still see the pathetic non conference losses.
Refs 1, Beavs 0.
I’d write the Pac-10 about this game (already have, actually). Equally pathetic response follows:
From: Kirk Reynolds [mailto:kreynolds@pac-10.org]
Sent: Saturday, February 26, 2011 5:21 PM
To: angry
Subject: Re: Pac-10 Basketball Referees
We review every game and grade each play.
On Feb 26, 2011, at 4:25 PM, angry wrote:
Do you guys monitor the PAC-10 basketball refs? Who is in charge?
They are really bad. Watch the Cal/OSU game. It is pathetic.
Kirk Reynolds
Vice President, Public Affairs
Pac-10
1350 Treat Blvd., Suite 500
Walnut Creek, CA 94597
direct. 925.946.3791 // cell. 925.330.9594
kreynolds@pac-10.org
pac-10.org
Cal shot 63%. Yup, Craig clearly knows what he’s doing by playing zone. Don’t wanna play man-to-man they might actually stop somebody.
Guys, go to the Oregonian site and yell at Buker to write expose pieces about these Pac-10 refs. Truly horrible job by them and the conference putting them out there are representatives. I’d like owning a Lexus dealership and hiring a hobo as your top salesman.
By far one of the worst officiated games I have ever seen in person. With that being said CR got outcoached today and that is what cost us the game. It’s no surprise that Cal shot 60%, every outside shot was uncontested because our guys were running around like chicken with their heads cut off in that stupid zone.
Have we ever run a set play on offense all year? Too many times our offense is pass around the perimeter for 25 seconds, then scramble to get it inside, only to throw up a bad shot that leads to a fast break for the other team.
Overall this was a really frustrating game.
They didn’t do the perimeter thing in the first half – got inside and made some cool shots plus the 3s.
I knew once I saw the perimeter passing starting in the 2nd half that the Beavs were doomed. Throw in the refs and that Montgomery and JJ outcoached CR = the end.
When doesn’t Craig get outcoached? It’s sad how he’s always outcoached.
Cal’s Brandon Smith was playing like a punk. With three minutes left Burton hit him with that rough pick and put an elbow into it just to make sure. Smith was asking for it all game long. I wanted to hop off the couch and throw an elbow or two at him a well.
Got to agree the refs jobbed us. Brandon Smith was a bit of a punk but I give credit to Gutierez… kid seems like all class and has great vision on the floor. Smith and Guitierez diced up our D. I am not so sure we have the bigs to match Cal in a man D. Love the look of Solomon, that kid is long and had a bigger impact than his stat line shows. The 1-3-1 with Burton at the point is dumb though. We need what little size we have in the paint verse Cal. Too bad Brandt got in foul trouble… his re-found shooting stroke really spaces the floor on offense. I thought the 2-3 and matchup zones were what came closest to working.
I am not too bummed about this loss. It was disappointing to see them collapse at the end but the team play on offense gives me hope. I really hope Gomis can block a few shots and give us a defensive post presence for 10-20 minutes next year. Burton can get leverage and position but he is so short, Collier can get lost though he is getting it more, Brandt is just not that tough at times (I think he can improve though). Nelson must be in the dog house. Sure he dribbled it off his foot once but if that is going to get you pulled then Haynes should never play. I am cautiously optimistic.
Late comment here:
I was visiting family in Sunriver and they, knowing my Beaverfanship, and after my pointing out a big OSU weekend with bb, gymnastics, and wrestling, decided to indulge me and we made the trip to Corvallis, bad weather and all.
We were surprised ( we all bank online and seldom tote cash and checkbooks) to learn that you can’t buy tickets at the door with debit/credit cards. There is an ATM in the lobby so we did that but there are fees at both ends, the ATM and your bank. Preferably, OSU could put in a surcharge for that kind of purchase. Better them than the bank.
I found it curious that this technologically-advanced university can’t/doesn’t process bank cards at the door at Gill.
It was a good weekend – Stanford bb especially, but heartbreaking to see Roberto Nelson slumped at the far end of the bench during the Cal game.
Who thinks Roberto Nelson is going to transfer?
*Raises hand*
I agree, unfortunately. Roberto is my favorite player on the team but Craig is so inconsistent with his minutes. He always has bragged about how good Roberto was, yet he won’t give him the minutes that “the best player on the team” should be getting. 6 minutes after scoring 12 against Stanford and playing damn well?! Makes no sense. Roberto would have only 2 years of eligibility left, but I think he wants out, especially wants away from Craig.
Dunno – remember this? http://www.buildingthedam.com/2009/8/7/980608/sports-illustrateds-george Roberto thought he would be able to play right away. Of course the NCAA crap intervened but still . . . Remember CR’s comment that he didn’t think Roberto would be with the program long because he was so good and the pros would be looking at him (or something to that effect)? CR’s statement in the Oregonian that he hadn’t read the Ohrmann article was 1) bs or 2) even worse if he actually hadn’t. Every article Ohrmann has written about CR has been spot on, especially saying that after a year of watching OSU’s “defense” other coaches would figure it out.
I hope Roberto can still go to Ohrmann for advice. I think he needs it. Can he play at a non-D1 school right away and still do well, and make a name for himself? I’d hate to see him sit out for another year.
That would be sad if Roberto transferred. I can’t believe that none of our journalistic talent in the state even asked the question or commented on his reduced minutes. I asked Kevin Hampton at the Gazette to find out why, but as of yesterday he did not answer my post. Probably get some BS from CR about match-ups or something anyway!
When has the local media ever asked CR about any of the issues which concern fans? I assume they know what questions to ask (the fans certainly do) – they just don’t. Buker, when the Dohrmann blog came out, made it sound cute. There was no followup to “have you read the article?”
CR: “No, but maybe I should.”
Talk about uncontested shots.