It’s not his fault players got injured, are declaring for the draft, or are considering transferring (maybe this one is his fault; we don’t know the story…my guess would be because Malcolm is coming back), but the bottom line is he has whiffed on too many recruits. Players haven’t developed as expected. There is no plan B in place for any of these issues. It’s fine to take high level recruits who are one and done or two and done once you’re established, but when building a really bad program from the ground up you can’t afford to lose guys to the NBA right when they’re hitting peak development for your team.

Some of the recruits coming in seem like players, so maybe the situation will stabilize, but I’m not convinced Tinkle knows how to manage the numbers or evaluate players. Stacy was one of the worst players I’ve ever seen at the D1 level, for example. I was a big Tinkle supporter, but he is showing his flaws. He’s signed through 2022, so we’re stuck with him. This very well could suck for five years. Give me a reason for optimism. I’m all ears.

FSU is not a terrible draw. Should be a good game where the Beavs keep FSU around 60 points. Can they score more than that? That’s always the question. Pivec is the wildcard for me. She’s been slowly stepping up and seems to have nerves of steal. If someone is going to contribute unexpected double digit points, which will be needed to win this game, I think it will be her.

I picked them to be eliminated here, in the sweet 16, but this is a winnable game — with lockdown D, the usual suspects giving their yearly averages in points, and just one player stepping up and giving more (e.g. Pivec).

Go Lady Beavs

Game time is 2:05 pacific on ESPN2.

Let’s use this thread for any subsequent games as well.

On a side note, I mentioned in an earlier thread a content provider wants to put OSU/Pac-12 content on this site. This would entail a 400px video in one of the corners. Give me your feedback on that. Right now I run the site at break even thanks to donations, so it’s an intriguing option. Yet, I, like most of you, like the simple design and don’t like obtrusiveness. At this point, I was considering running a test script during a slow period (after WBB ends maybe) to see how good/bad it is. If it provides useful content, it might be a good thing. If it’s obtrusive and autoscrolls, that would likely annoy me to the point I’d question any revenue it generates. Let me know your thoughts on it. Would you turn off adblock for this site alone to run it? If it provides good content would you actually find it useful? Hit me with feedback, Beavlettes.