What a wild ending that we witnessed to the 2020 Oregon State Basketball season. Capped off with a game-winner from freshman Jarod Lucas, the Beavs will return to Corvallis and start preparing for next season.
The 2020 season was cut short due to the spread of the COVID-19 virus as a rubber match Civil War game was slated to be played just hours after the announcement came down that the tournament had been suspended. The Beavers were trying one final push to earn a spot in a relevant post-season tournament in college basketball, which was most likely a NIT birth that saw the Beavs playing on the road in round one.
We all came into the season with high expectations for a Beaver squad returning two of their leading scorers from last season in Tres and Ethan, as well one of the nation's top shot blockers in Kylor Kelley. I addition we saw the return of Al Hollins and Zach Reichle who were poised to have big years after accumulating solid experience in the past two seasons. and finally, we were all on our seat to see how the new comers, Jarod Lucas, Gianni Hunt, and Sean Miller-Moore, would improve the squad by adding depth.
Looking back on these expectations, obviously we, as Beaver Nation are a bit disappointed as it seemed the Beavers could never really find their groove and struggled to play at high level consistently throughout the entirety of the season. The season started and ended on high notes with the thrilling Power-5 non-conference dub over Iowa State and the three game streak to close the season over would be tournament Stanford, as well as Cal and all capped off with Lucas' buzzer beater over Utah.
The season was full of ups and downs that Beaver fans have come to be so accustomed to. Just enough highs to keep you intrigued and engaged, and just enough lows to break your heart. But it's these feelings that make being a Beaver, being a Beaver. The season had some major highlights that i'll discuss a bit here before talking about the lowlights and what is to come for the Beavs.
Highlights
The top highlight of the season has got to be beating Pritchard and the Ducks on Ralph Miller Court at historic Gill Coliseum for the third consecutive year. The Civil War basketball game in Corvallis truly feels like Christmas for all of Beaver Nation. The line for students wraps around the block, down to Dutch Bros as the rest of Beaver Nation lines up out front rushing to get in and create a world class atmosphere for college basketball that Payton Pritchard, Dana Altman, and the rest of the Ducks just can't seem to be able to perform in. Reichle's dunk, followed by the three pointer about blew the roof off of Gill Coliseum and all was capped off by Ethan's dunk after Tres poked it loose from Payton Pritchard in the waining seconds of the 10 point victory for the Beavers.
Of course, we will never be able to discuss this season without acknowledging Tres Tinkle's accomplishment of becoming the all-time leading scorer in Oregon State history, passing Gary Payton. To accomplish the feat inside Gill Coliseum, from behind the three point arc seemed like it was the only way that it could be achieved from one who will go down as an all-time player not only at Oregon State but also in the Pac-12 Conference. Tres also claimed the records for the most free throws made in a career.
Lowlights
For me, this season was riddled with lowlights that came periodically throughout the campaign and left Beaver fans with a feeling of what could've been. The first lowlight came early in the year in the PK Tournament in Portland as the Beavs were coming off a big win at home against Iowa State and were now faced with another Power 5 non-conference matchup in the Oklahoma Sooners. and they got blasted. There seemed to be a lid on the basket as Oklahoma stretched out a huge lead early in the second half and the Beavers were never able to recover.
The other big disappointment in the season came later on in the year when hosting Tad Boyle's Colorado squad at historic Gill Coliseum. The Beavs were fresh off of Civil War win, and a home drubbing of Utah and it seemed like maybe the Civil War win sparked something in the team and that they were starting to figure it out. The Beavs came out and got smoked by the Buffs. Scoring a season low 47 points on 1-17 3pt shooting and 8-17 from the charity stripe and it appeared that there was nothing the Beavs could do to stop Tyler Bey who seemingly made every shot he attempted.
What's Next?
With Tres and Kylor for sure on their way out, we can only hope that Ethan chooses to stay over entering the professional ranks, and that we see some growth out of the first year guys who showed a lot of promise with their minutes this year. I want to see Dearon Tucker get more minutes on the floor early next year as I thought he showed great amounts of potential down the stretch playing as an athletic and physical big man. A combo that we haven't seen since the days of Drew Eubanks. My ideal starting 5 for the next season would be Gianni at PG, Ethan at SG, Reichle at SF, Hollins at PF, and Tucker at C. This would be a lot new faces to the starting lineup, but Gianni may also be the first true PG on the team since GP2 and if Tucker can develop and learn the system a bit more could be a huge player for the Beavs. Antoine Vernon and Jarod Lucas both have more than realistic chances of cracking the starting 5 next fall and it will ultimately come up to the coaching staff to decide. But speaking of the coaching staff, will it look the same as this year, or have we seen the last game coached by Wayne Tinkle in his days at Oregon State?
In my opinion, Wayne should not be fired. This was something that throughout conference play I found myself on the fence with but looking back after the fact, I don't think he has done enough to warrant his dismissal from the program. I think if he was going to take the Beavers back to the big dance in March, this season would have been his best shot, and unfortunately for Wayne I don't think he will have the squad to do so next year. In my eyes, barring a top 5 finish in the Pac and a NIT appearance or better, Wayne will be on his way out as coach of the Beavers. Personally, I love Coach Tinkle and I would hate to see him go but it seems that the program is currently stuck at a level of mediocrity and under his control has never been able to win the necessary games throughout the season to make the tourney. It will be interesting to see how the team functions next season without Tres, and I know I speak for all of Beaver Nation by saying that we can't wait to be back in Gill and find out.
Please leave a comment with your projected starting 5 as well as your thoughts on Coach Tinkle, and what actions, if any that AD Scott Barnes should take.
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