During one of the more remarkable postseason runs in college basketball history last season, Oregon State poked a little fun at Pac-12 media pollsters.
The Beavers were picked to finish last in the conference, then finished 10-10 and in a tie for sixth place. But thanks to Arizonaβs self-imposed ban from postseason play, OSU was lifted into a No. 5 seed that received a first-round bye in the Pac-12 Tournament.
The Beavers went on to edge UCLA in overtime in the quarterfinals, then beat Oregon and Colorado to win the Pac-12 Tournament and capture the conferenceβs automatic NCAA Tournament bid.
They were off. T-shirts they sold after the Pac-12 Tournament featured the β2β in β12β Xβd out so it showed only No. 1 remaining.
And by the time the Beavers reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament, there were β12->16β T-shirts, noting how far they were going in the NCAA tournament after that 12th-place conference prediction.
βA lot more of that got played out, and I promise it wasnβt us,β OSU coach Wayne Tinkle said at the Pac-12βs preseason media day. βIt wasnβt supposed to be this big rally cry. We didnβt put it on the outside of our shooting shirt. It was just kind of an internal deal that got blown up.β
But it was fun, anyway, signifying the Beaversβ rise not only from that preseason prediction but a rough early season that included losses to Washington State, Wyoming, Portland, Stanford β¦. and especially Arizona.
The Wildcats crushed OSU 98-64 on Jan. 14 in Corvallis last season thanks in large part to Bennedict Mathurin and Jordan Brown. Mathurin had 31 points on 10-for-12 shooting and eight rebounds in his first career start, while Brown had 25 points and five rebounds off the bench.
The Beavers had an excuse in that they were coming off a week-long COVID-19 pause just two days before UAβs win in Corvallis. But they were still 4-5 overall against Division I teams at that point, showing no signs that they would somehow turn into an Elite Eight team.
OSU somehow regrouped to beat ASU, USC and Oregon over its next three games and, after three straight road losses that included another one to the Wildcats in mid-February, won four of its last six games to pull into a sixth-place tie that turned into postseason magic.
Credit for an assist might go to then-UA coach Sean Miller.
βThe neat thing is, Sean texted me after that (Jan. 14) game and said, βListen, we caught you at a very vulnerable time,ββ Tinkle told Blue Ribbon Yearbook before the season. βIt was β¦ words of encouragement, like, βKeep banging away, you guys are gonna be fineβ kind of deal, but we used that next day in preparation for Arizona State, as a real come-together moment.
βWe had a lot of guys who thought we were going to be this great team and successful, but they didnβt really understand the important pieces needed to make that happen.β
Nearly a year later, Oregon State is struggling to make the same sort of adjustments. This time picked to finish in a fourth-place tie with the Wildcats in the Pac-12βs official preseason poll, the Beavers lost standout guard Ethan Thompson and starting guard Zach Reichle but still had a strong returning core plus a number of experienced transfers..
Tinkle has started nine different players, many of them new. Guard Dashawn Davis came from junior college, guard Treβ Williams transferred from Minnesota, junior forward Ahmad Rand transferred from Memphis and forward Dexter Akanno came from Marquette.
The Beavers also returned several of their postseason heroes, including forward Warith Alatishe, guard Jarod Lucas forward Maurice Calloo and center Roman Silva.
That mix of talent has not meshed well so far. The Beavers have lost seven straight games, including their Pac-12 opener against Cal on Thursday.
They could finish 12th or, who knows, maybe get it all together over the next month and make another postseason run.
You might even say itβs looking like mid-January 2021 all over again for the Beavers.
βOne hundred percent,β said UA associate head coach Jack Murphy, who is scouting the Beavers this season. βThey had lost to Washington State, Wyoming, Portland and Stanford and we got after them pretty good. But after that they went on their big run.β
There wasnβt a big run at Cal, just a 12-0 streak at the end of the first half that pulled the Beavers within a point at halftime. OSU fueled their offense with good defense during that run, but failed to sustain a short second-half run and lost 73-61.
βWe kept telling our guys to keep doing whatβs working and then the same things that have been rearing their heads in all these games (happened) β we get off-page,β Tinkle said on his postgame radio interview after the Cal game. βWe really squandered some possessions offensively. β¦ then they built that thing to double figures, and doubt creeps in. Thatβs whatβs been eating at this team.
β(The Bears) were the more mature, more physical team, more disciplined team. Weβve learned those lessons far too often now. This is seven in a row and in probably five or six of them, itβs been the same thing β guys not trusting to stickβ with it.
So which way will the Beavers go now? After Sunday, OSU faces low-major opponents in four straight games before hosting Utah and Colorado over New Yearβs weekend.
Thereβs plenty of time to fix problems, even if the Wildcats do smack them again Sunday.
βWe know how to build this thing,β Tinkle said after the Cal game. βYes, weβve had some tough ones. But I saw some encouraging things out there and some other things that weβve got to correct but weβre going to correct them. And weβve worked our asses off to get this culture going.
βThe one thing weβre never going to do is compromise. I canβt tell you when but weβll get it turned (around), and weβll stay positive because thatβs our only thing.β