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This is the Way the Season Ends

80

This is the way the season ends, this is the way the season ends. Not with a bang but with a whimper. 

I knew this team would be bad, but I thought the youth would develop. Morris-Walker shooting .326 and Reid at .273. Victor Robbins a non factor. Just really disappointing development. Highlight of the season winds up being attrition (goodbye Joe Burton, though to be fair he had a decent year).

Cue JackBeav to tell us Winston Churchill, not T.S. Elliot, actually penned, "This is the way the world ends"…;)

80 COMMENTS

    • Robbins got his most minutes the last 3 games of the year and showed improvement and bright spots in just those 3 games, imagine if he would have had more playing time earlier in the year.

  1. I flushed the basketball season in December. I gotta say it was quite liberating. If we aren’t in the NCAA Tourney next season (NIT is NOT good enough) then CR has to go.

  2. Rob needs a couple of new assistants, his offense needs work and his who defensive philosophy needs to be thrown out the window. I got to say for good portions of the season Burton was our best player. Although his game is such an odd mix I could see this team being better without him (Brandt’s shooting, the other centers post defense, more 3 guard lineups).

  3. Maybe Larry Krystkowiak could give CR a few coaching pointers. However, I doubt the Utes will defeat Cal – Monty knows Coach K too well.

  4. Burton was never our best player. Burn in hell lol.

    The team has some talent; Roberto and Moreland are studs and took big leaps this year. But we relied on too many janky role players or young guys that weren’t good enough. Combine that with Rob’s inability to coach, gameplan, or employ an actual offense, and the only reason we won any games were luck and pure talent.

    Replace Burton with Brandt and play Collier at the 4, the team is as talented as anyone next year. But the “Dribble around the perimeter for 30 seconds” offense will keep us mediocre forever.

  5. Long time reader here, I generally enjoy reading the banter rather than participating, but figured I’d pass along some inside information related to basketball. Evidently Moreland won’t be asked back next season and will not be a Beav next season. This information comes from a source inside the locker room. Long story short the team can’t stand Moreland and CR has had enough of his off court issues…. Add chemistry to the list of problems this year. I know some won’t read past the first sentence without calling BS, but figured some may appreciate some inside information.

    • I’m always a fan of insider info of the group dynamics of a team, but I take them with a grain of salt, also. It’d be too bad to see him go, but if he’s toxic to the team, they’ll likely be better without him. I’ve seen that happen on other teams.

    • I am one calling BS on this, as you say. Your first sentence states that you generally enjoy reading the banter rather than participate… I find that very hard to believe. No one enjoys it when we deteriorate into our AB melees.
      And if you respond to this, then you are doubly proving yourself wrong by participating! So 123Beavs, what do you do? Keep silent and prove me wrong, or speak up and prove me right?

        • I would call BS too on Moreland being booted from the team, but I do find the odd snippets about “if Moreland decides to declare for the draft” or “the scouts are talking about Moreland” interesting.

          He’s obviously a very raw talent, but you can’t coach length and it’s no big deal for an NBA team to let him develop at the NBDL level for a couple of years to see what happens. I have no idea about his academics, but I would not be shocked if something did happen.

          Luck O’ The Beavs!

      • Funny.

        There was a story about Moreland blowing up on CR within earshot of people a couple months back. The story concludes with Moreland going to Europe to play pro ball. I didn’t know how much was a heat of the moment thing if true then. I don’t know how much that carried through to the end of the season. But rumors of Moreland leaving early have persisted since then. Even TV announcers have picked up on the rumors to a certain degree. But they usually do it in the context of, “he still needs to develop… NBA scouts are all over him… after next year… etc.”

        Remember that Moreland has been at OSU for a full three years after attending UTEP. If he wants to go to Europe, I think that’s a good fit for now. If he wants to transfer with an exemption, he might be close enough to graduating in order to do so. I’ve never heard he was a great student. But it’s always possible.

        • Yeah, I thought the same thing, Jack. Why were random ESPN announcers speaking so “authoritatively” about Moreland and NBA interest the few times the Beavers were on the mothership. Those things usually are not random.

        • Barbee was hired away to Auburn, and Floyd told him to take a hike.

          I’m hearing the shouting was just a normal dust-up around the time he was suspended, and Moreland has taken a more mature role since then. That’s probably why he’s trusted with the ball at the top (UGH!) and gets a majority of the minutes at the 4. He won’t graduate this year, but he’s on track to do it next year. And he’ll probably look at the NBA at that time.

          Haven’t heard anything about him being disliked by anyone, let alone the team.

          • I wondered if things were resolved and maybe these are outdated rumors. Guys seem to stay in CR’s dog house until they shift their attitude. I don’t think he would’ve started if he wasn’t out of it. He also seemed to maintain, if not give increased effort over the last 4 weeks or so, even with the team losing. To give that effort, he either recommitted to the team, or maybe was just committed to any scouts that were watching.

          • He got in trouble when CR realized that coded among the montage of tats where the messages; CR is a MoFo suck wad coach, and Michelle O is my big ass Ho.

  6. The failure really begins with the system Robinson employs. Certain players are not the type of players who flourish in a princeton style offense (Burton, Starks). Too many guys with no jump shots. Burton should never have handled the ball that much ever but it didn’t seem like CR had a choice when Brandt went down. Barton kind of stepping up was a positive. Not blaming injuries because this team should have been able to win much more.

    I really don’t think this team is that far off. The roster still has talent and potential to fill. They really could’ve given up but didn’t. They played pretty bad but the fact that they kept playing knowing the season would end badly is credit to them.

    Here’s what I would tell each player for next year in the exit interviews.

    Starks – Your time as starter is over. Coming off the bench to provide a spark should be your role next year. If you come out hot, you stay in. Miss a bunch, you sit the rest of the game.

    Collier – What happened to the mid range jump shot you showed early? Practice that shot all off season. I would love to see you face up defenders then drive and kick/finish. You should be a 15/8 type of player.

    Nelson – Help your teammates get better. You’ll need them to be percieved as a threat on offense if you want more quality loooks. Sometimes I wish you would try to take over a little more. Demand more from the guys setting screens for you.

    Barton – Just be confident in your game. At times when you slash to the basket, you really do look like a good d1 player.

    Brandt – Show how a real screen should be set. No third grader would have respected Burton’s screens on the perimeter. Help your guards get loose and unload 3’s when you get an open look. Make the other team’s bigs come out to defend in space.

    Moreland – Your game depends on everyone else’s games improving. You won’ be successful if Collier doesn’t get a jump shot or Brandt can’t get his defender out of the paint. You could be All Pac12 and into the nba if somehow you developed a 10ft jumper

    Schaftenaar – Practice contested 3’s all year. Practice faking 3’s to get defenders in the air and take a step in for an 15-18ft jump shot. You’re from Europe! that should be in your game.

    LMW, Reid, Robbins – Work on everything.

    Rest of team – just make everyone better because that’s the only way you’ll see the court. In blowouts.

    New frosh – Push to get on the court. If you see guys ahead of you just going through the motions, take their spot from them.

  7. I’d be happy with the NIT next year since the roster won’t be great. Should have a solid starting 5 (well maybe not if Moreland is gone) but more bad D and no depth. Need some game changers on the recruiting front and haven’t signed any. CR is living off past recruiting efforts and once they graduate next year it’s pretty scary. That’s why the lack of development is the most concerning thing about the 2012 season. I thought 2013 would be better, but I also thought Reid and LMW would be players by season’s end.

    • I would be happy and hope that the line in drawn at .500 or better in league play. Sadly, that would be a considerable achivement for OSU basketball since it hasn’t happened in 23 or so years.

    • My youngest son took an Atlanta Falcons sticker that he wasted a hard earned 50 cents on in some trinket machine and stuck it to the back of my car seat. I was mildly annoyed, but now I take it has a positive sign! Go Falcons!

          • Jackson was back a few years ago. Did the promo for the intro video and spoke to the team during spring practices that year.

            But since then, I think a lot more guys do make the trip back. It definitely shows a stronger connection to alumni than in years past. Good for the program to have pros come back and work out with the team in the off season. Prob won’t do much for recruiting but it’s nice to know that people want to come back and help current guys.

      • It starts off fine, then he jimmies the conference records to make his stupid-ass political point?

        Granted, he doesn’t do it by much. But Jaynes has always been an ass who thinks he knows something about sports. And he just doesn’t. He’s a hack who should be relegated to snarky comments on O-live.

    • I don’t see what’s so outrageous about that post. There’s no debating that the Pac 12 overall has been weak as of late and aside from the obvious White House connection I don’t see any other reason to keep Robinson around/why he was awarded that contract extension.

      • What’s outrageous is the conspiracy theory bent. The dipshit gets paid for this garbage when he should get paid the same scale as an Art Bell guest.

        • Remember this is the dolt who suggested Thomas Tyner re-opened his recruitment because he was going to be paid to go somewhere else. It’s not uncommon for him to say and write this shit.

          He’s a low rent excuse for a writer.

    • That article is a lower-tiered O-live comment. The missing “h” in the title shows about how much thought went into it.

        • Hey, that one stings. Our excuses are youth, no shooters, and lame recruiting classes in 09, 10, and 11. Now I’m hearing the second favorite repeated phrase “wait till next year”. The most repeated across all teams is: “Man, if that guy could just develop a nice 10-12 foot jumper”.

          • I don’t think our recruiting classes are lame. They’re not the #1 and #2 classes in the country like UCLA and Zona, but lame?

            Nobody to shoot the ball isn’t a problem? Still, perimeter shooting is less important than size… which we didn’t have.

            You can wait until next year, but I’m going to a game tomorr… wait… never mind.

            The youth card is interesting. I’m willing to bet off the top of my head that the youngest team is UCLA, followed by OSU… then Zona, Wazzu and Utah. And I wouldn’t doubt that CU might be young also given how much I respect Boyle as a coach. I would guess the oldest teams to be Cal, Nikegon, USC and Stanford (though Brown’s injury really killed SU). And I’m thinking UW and ASU are closer to the older teams.

          • Just to clarify, my post was about Purdue. But there are some interesting parallels between the two, such as fans lamenting “we’ll never get top recruits to West Lafayette” “too many fans accept mediocrity” “the AD has his head up his ass” etc.

    • This isn’t new stuff for Jaynes. A couple weeks ago, he piggy-backed off a Greg Crawford article to snark his squealing spew also. He just twists and twists until his babble is the complete opposite of what Crawford wrote.
      http://www.csnnw.com/blog/dwight/craig-robinson-likely-two-term-coach

      Interestingly, Crawford does write a decent article on the subject. The LaTech coach he, “will make you look him up,” is Michael White, the coach I’ve mentioned a couple times. I don’t know why any self-respecting NCAA hoops fan needs to look his name up, especially since it’s, “probably the greatest story in college basketball this year.” But that’s picking a nit. What i find interesting is that he suggests CR should be beating the White House angle to death instead of ignoring it on the recruiting trail like he does.

      That’s possibly a better conversation. Should CR use every single tool at his disposal and do it with impunity? Should he put aside pride and independence to just do what all the morons out there think has been done for his entire tenure?

    • I don’t know Jack. The article has more truth to it than most of the actual articles on O-live. I think it is interesting how little press has come from Robinson’s coaching. Where is the pressure on the administration to win. Granted, not a well written piece.

      I think Robinson was a much better coach his first two years when he didn’t have quite as much “talent”. The key is that he had to truly game plan for each game. He also had to keep on top of those guys, aka DISCIPLINE. Starting last year, he made a significant change. You could hear it when he spoke to the press. He focused on offense and was always talking about how now he could open it up. He also changed from the 1-3-1 to more man Defense. But, when he made the change, he loosened up the discipline (at least it looks that way from the outside). Basketball is an interesting game. Maybe CR needs to spend more time down at Dixon. I always found it funny at Dixon that five players that were willing to play hard and as a team could often beat a team of 5 superior athletes that were looking to show off their individual athleticism.

      I agree that CR makes some game management mistakes, but the main problem with this team is lack of discipline. You can’t just turn that on at the end of games, and this year showed that over and over. The difference between a team that wins close games and the team that loses close games is discipline. And discipline will not be helped by a new assistant coach. CR either needs to find what he had those first two years or he needs to go. I agree with Angry on this one, NCAA’s or bust for next year.

      • See… you just wrote something thoughtful and analytical. I don’t see hatred for short form birth certificates in your post or tinfoil hats or even a wholesale hatchet job whining about just the final tallies.

        I think you’re correct about discipline. But discipline can also be a derivative of experience, depth and ability… and I think leadership also. We did have a bunch of guys trying to find their roles this year. And they had to do it while finding their games within a markedly improved conference slate. You’ve heard that it’s hard to beat a team three times? Well that’s because of experience. You learn subtleties and tendencies of opponents, coaches and refs when you play them. That’s why you start to get the benefit calls from refs as you gain that experience. That’s why you look like a smarter, tougher player from one year to the next.

        So while I fully expect that discipline to take a leap forward next season, I’m also in the “fish or cut bait” camp.

        However, that doesn’t stop the morons from blaming it all on Michelle Obama for choosing her siblings without their counsel. They just find opportunity in the final record to ooze the contemptuous idiocy they’ve always silently believed. While some of us joke about some of the same stuff, it’s sarcastic and free. When you get paid to be one of us on our snarkiest day, then you’re worthless.

    • The last two columns are useless. The % against ranked teams is a more viable stat, but it’s still only a partial qualifier for having any real meaning. And even if they did have meaning, they’re unfair for Valenti, who coached in years (except his last) when only the top ten were ranked (not 20 or 25). I guess that means they’re unfair for Miller also since he only coached when they ranked 20, not 25 teams.

      Also, do JJ’s numbers include Mouton’s interim tenure… as they rightfully should? I get the feeling they do since Mouton isn’t listed, but the numbers just don’t look low enough. But they don’t look high enough if Mouton’s 13 games aren’t counted. He must be including Pac Tourney losses as well. That would make it 30 wins in 102 games? Still, that’s a .294, not a .282. JJ should be 30 wins in 115 games, making him .261 against Pac teams, including Pac Tourney games. And that should propel his overall record below .400.

      • Yeah… .426 is regular season without JJ’s final 13 losses. He should be .396.

        I can’t find any numbers which crunch down to a .282 for JJ in league. Looking at just JJ’s regular season losses in league (and without his final 13 losses… which he does deserve), then he has a .292 percentage… which might make it just a typo after arbitrary numbers are applied?

        But that makes his numbers just weird. So I started actually looking at them. CR has a .356 in-season, in-league percentage and an even .360 including the post-season.

        Now it’s not a good table.

        • Check that… CR has a .344 in-season, in-league record and an even .350 including post-season.

          If you take Dwight Jaynes’ jimmied CR numbers, you get a .341 (.34066) record, which is closer to the .340 he has posted.

          But I wouldn’t accuse the most bumbling and embarrassing Beav fan in the world of being as big an ass-wipe as Jaynes.

        • It’s all the same pile of shit repeated and rinsed since Ralph downed his final tumbler of Scotch and stamped out his last More extra long and headed out to Black Butte.

    • Good for his long term health and NFL prospects. He was very pleasant surprise last year. Not just a fat blob. He may get to an NFL camp as a 3-4 tackle.

  8. Lindsay Schnell ?@LindsayRae19
    Riley just told me the one & only Lyle Moevao has been added to the @OSUBeaversFB roster again, this time as a grad asst. Will work with RBs

    Cliff Kirkpatrick ?@CliffGT
    Lyle Moevao said he is supposed to be one of the new GAs.

    • Lyle was instrumental in recruiting a very influential beaver, my wife. He coached at the Beaver women’s football camp several years back and effectively cemented her as a supporter of the football team. With the lady attendees he mixed in the perfect amount of flirting, easy passes, barking snap-counts in a manly voice, and allowing them to take snaps from him to boost basf donations significantly.
      She’s been to every game I have since, and insisted we have covered seats so who was I to argue. Way to go Lyle!!

      • So you are telling us she stuck her hands under his ass by his package. Did she get a flag for illegal contact? You are one easygoing sumbitch and a sly one at that.

        Seriously, great get by MR. That one block where decleats the guy on the reverse is one of the best plays ever in Beaver history. Perfect guy to get players to play with passion. The lack of a big problem between Canfield and him is a testament to the high class of both of them. Fantastic to have him back involved with the Beavs. Jason, I’m sure Lisa can’t wait to grab his crotch for old times sake LOL.

    • Oh my… the stupid gets funnier in the comments.

      I had to read through the gobbledygook at least three times slowly in order to piece together what I think dude meant when he was just throwing out terms he clearly had no idea meant anything before he got a hold of them.

      But that’s not a typical of someone who claims Austrians have thoughts.

      Heh… I made an Austrian “School” funny.

      Now I need to go make fun of creationists.

      Same difference.

      • If the hidden message was that Austrians are shitty at sports, I would tend to agree. Although, I think they are decent equestrians. Otherwise, it was way over way head and caused me to spontateously drool and long for a mixed sex/sports double-entendre from Gopher.

  9. Luck o the ducks very different from luck o the beavers. UCLAs #2 guy Adams breaks his foot shortly before UCLA advances to meet Oregon in Pac12 final. Easy path to become Pac12 champs and an automatic bid to NCAA tourny. Pac 12 is so awful this year…..again. I wouldnt care if Oregon was a good team, but ive watched them play enough to know they are not.

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