WOU at Oregon State

[tsull]

The Wolves play at Oregon State on Saturday and I'm going. Probably a foolish move on my part, I usually don't like these blowout exhibition games. But I'm very curious about who Western Oregon is putting on the floor this year with mostly a new team. I think they brought back four or five from last year's squad.

I go to a few Oregon State games a year and I'm also curious about the Beavers, who lost almost their entire team to the portal. But I really would like to see Western Oregon compete well.

I'll be paying more attention to their approach to the game, instead of the casualness that was displayed in the previous coaches tenure. Will this squad be doing dunk shows in warm ups, cheering on their makes and misses? Or will they be taking their pre-game stuff seriously? Will they play hard defense? Hopefully it won't be like the last few teams. I would just like to see them put forth some effort and have some chemistry and unity, and I really hope the new coach is a good one.

* More than a decade ago, in Wayne Tinkle's first ever game as OSU head coach, he lost to Western Oregon. It was quite an awesome win for the Wolves and Coach Brady Bergeson. Most people I know have forgotten this game except for a good friend of mine whom I went to college with. But he's a huge Beaver fan and he still remembers it well.

[49Mack]

Just looked at the OSU men’s basketball roster. It’s stuffed with players from every continent on the globe!! Maybe Tsulls team sneaks up on em before they have a chance to jell.

[tsull]

Just looked at the OSU men’s basketball roster. It’s stuffed with players from every continent on the globe!! Maybe Tsulls team sneaks up on em before they have a chance to jell.

That would be nice but we're all so breaking in like eight new players, which actually is a good thing since we had a lot of not very good players the last few years. I just think it's a tall order to pull an upset. I'm just hoping they play hard and keep it semi-respectable.

[tsull]

WOU lost by more than 20, but I did see some good things. They played good defense, I thought. Oregon State had a whole bunch of 7-footers or close to 7 ft and the Wolves just couldn't stop those guys inside, but they played hard. It was brick city in the first half, they just could not buy a hoop.

Jadin Penegar was very good for the Wolves, close to 20 points. Took a lot of guys off the dribble and scored on mid-range jumpers. Excellent player, used to be at Seattle Pacific and UT- Tyler. Oregon State really got out and defended and WOU struggled with the pressure. I can't tell if they don't have a point guard this year or no point guard who could play up a level. Got a couple intriguing players, Baumann (JC transfer) and Olson from last year and a couple of guys inside, Best and Kwananji ( who left the program went to Academy of Art and returned after they cut the program), who play hard and rebound.

They played with purpose and effort and I really liked that even with the blowout. It's also not a circus sideshow as they warmed up like a team that takes the game seriously unlike the last few teams who did dunk contests, which was a complete joke. They had a very serious attitude about them and played hard the whole way. I was encouraged.