Over the 32 days leading up to college basketball season, we’re profiling 32 different teams who could be in the NIT mix, aided in this effort by those who know them best (or the closest we could get). Today, Andy Dieckhoff responds by email to our questions about Oregon State.
Andy Dieckhoff is an editor for Heat Check CBB and The Almanac, two of the deepest sources of college basketball coverage on The Internet.
Here’s the full list of 32 for 32’s published so far, with links:
- Auburn, with the Sickos CBB Committee
- BYU, with Mitch Harper
- Cincinnati, with Zach Fries
- Dayton, with Tyler Cronin
- Duquesne, with Tristan Freeman
- Indiana, with Matt Cox
- Iona, with Sam Federman
- Iowa State, with Joe Stunardi
- James Madison, with Bennett Conlin
- Loyola, with Ky McKeon
- Michigan, with the Sickos CBB Committee
- Missouri, with Jim Root
- North Texas, with Harry Miers
- Northwestern, with John Templon
- Notre Dame, with Stuart McGrath
- Ohio State, with Mark Titus
- Oregon State, with Andy Dieckhoff
- Penn State, with DJ Bauer
- South Carolina, with Brian Rauf
- St. Bonaventure, with SBUnfurled
- St. John’s, with the Sickos CBB Committee
- Syracuse, with the Marshall Street Podcast
- Texas, with NIT Stu
- Utah, with Andrew Crowley
- Virginia Tech, with Ken Pomeroy
- Washington State, with Dave Andersen
- Wisconsin, with Cole Amundson
The Barking Crow: Oregon State did not have the best 2022–23 season (though they did beat infamous NIT disrespecter Andy Enfield, for which we are grateful). They only won eleven games, they lost to Portland State twice, and they scored fewer than 50 points five separate times in conference play. What are expectations this year in Corvallis, and what needs to happen within this team to make NIT contention a possibility?
Well, I would point out that those 11 wins are nearly four times as many as Oregon State had the year prior. And while I grew up in Corvallis and spent some time studying at OSU, I’m a Portland State graduate, so please leave them out of this. But for the real question — expectations for the Beavers in 2023-24 — my earnest answer is that I’m expecting some meager improvement, but with similar results in the win-loss column. That said, Jordan Pope was a revelation as a freshman and should continue to grow in his role as the leader of the team. On the other hand, the Beavers didn’t bring in any new transfers this cycle and instead lost four. As a result, OSU ranks in the bottom 25 nationally for returning experience (per Bart Torvik), so everyone would need to take a considerable step forward for this team to be in real NIT contention.
TBC: The Beavers haven’t won an NIT game since 1987, and they’ve never made an NIT Final Four. What would a deep NIT run, this year or in a season soon to come, mean to the Oregon State program?
It’s funny, the Beavers’ last NIT win came just months before I was born, and their last NIT berth came just months before I graduated high school. I wasn’t around for the ’87 team, and instead I grew up watching the program flounder under Eddie Payne, Ritchie McKay, and Jay John. So I remember just how excited I was for the 2005 NIT berth, my first postseason experience as a Beaver fan, and the utter disappointment that followed when the Beavers lost in the opening round. A deep NIT run would be great for the program and its fans. I went to Game 1 of the 2009 CBI finals at Gill Coliseum when OSU beat UTEP, and the atmosphere there was such a distant cry from the sad, empty Gill of my childhood. The buzz around the program’s recent Elite Eight was incredible, too, but the team hasn’t capitalized on that momentum whatsoever. An NIT run might be just what the doctor ordered.
TBC: Not to be disrespectful, but Wayne Tinkle is 14–49 over the last two seasons, which is the kind of thing that makes us, at least, wonder how confident the Oregon State athletic department is in its perennial competitive chances in men’s basketball. What is this program’s ceiling, and what’s a reasonable annual expectation at Oregon State?
As I alluded to above, this program got used to being bad during the 1990s and 2000s. OSU got a small taste of success under Jay John, and a bit more under Craig Robinson, but Wayne Tinkle was the one that took the team back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1990. He is the first Beaver coach since Hall of Famer Ralph Miller (1970-1989) to last this long in Corvallis. The NCAA Tournaments earned Tinkle a lot of leash — and a strong contract extension/buyout that looks less palatable in the post-Pac-12 world. On that note, it’s hard to discuss this program’s ceiling any further than this season given all the uncertainty around its conference affiliation. For this year, the NIT feels like a very tall ceiling and I wish them luck in the climb.
TBC: Sticking with Tinkle for a moment. The NIT Final Four is at Hinkle Fieldhouse this year. To your knowledge, have the Tinkle at Hinkle shirts been printed yet, or should we get on that?
I don’t recall shirts being made (or else I’d own one), but the “Tinkle at Hinkle” phenomenon happened back in the 2021 NCAA Tournament when OSU beat one of the other OSUs. I mostly just remember a lot of good tweets, but no shirts. So yes, get on that. If things don’t work out, throw an “Est. 2021” at the bottom, and suddenly you have vintage apparel. Can’t go wrong.
TBC: Five years ago, Washington switched from Nike to Adidas, a pivot which appeared reasonable coming from one of the biggest rivals of Phil Knight University down in Eugene. Has there been any talk of Oregon State making a similar swap? Which do you think would benefit the Beavers more, in men’s basketball and across all sports?
I am completely unprepared to answer this question, other than to say that I don’t know of any plans to switch away from Nike. But I think Phil Knight has been generally good to OSU despite his allegiances to Oregon, so I’m fine with remaining a Nike school if it means some stray benevolence rolls our way now and again. Not sure any other company can throw an in-state philanthropist into the deal.
TBC: I know the Oregon State football stadium makes good use of chainsaw noises at key moments. Does that happen with basketball as well? More generally, how intimidating is the environment at Gill Coliseum?
I don’t really remember much use of a chainsaw (whether noises or the genuine article) in Gill Coliseum over the years, but I may be mistaken. Certainly not as iconic as it is for football, regardless. I wouldn’t necessarily call Gill intimidating. There’s definitely work to be done in this space, although I’m certainly not the one to do it. Maybe the answer is as simple as “more chainsaw noises.”
TBC: Dare we dream of an Oregon State NIT title?
After 2021, we dare dream of anything. That team was picked to finish last place in the preseason, and they ended up playing in the Elite Eight — a fate that never happens if UCLA’s Jules Bernard knocks down his free throws in the Pac-12 tournament quarterfinals. Sometimes the breaks go your way, and sometimes players step up and gel in ways that you didn’t quite expect. A small run of momentum can pick up speed and turn into a full-fledged fireball. So, as we stare down another last-place prognosis in 2023-24, dreaming is all we really can do.
