Oregon State Basketball

The Beavers men's basketball team has stumbled out of the gate. There are some encouraging things in the first few games, but the results haven't been great. I've watched one exhibition game, one home game, and the Fresno St. game on BSN last night. I think the football team has infected the basketball team here early. Turnovers are killing them. Many of the turnovers are due to the heavy defensive pressure but many are very preventable mental mistakes. Like picking up your dribble too soon, jumping without knowing where you are going to pass, and just bad passes.

There have been some nice surprises. The key is that the guys who are stepping up here early in the year cannot fade in the Pac-10 season. Cuic is starting off great again. Hurd is much better on the offensive end. Marcel Jones looks like he will be a nice offensive option. And Chris Stephens is back.

Unfortunately, a few guys haven't been able to really contribute like last year. I'm not sure if Nick DeWitz is hurt, but he's not nearly as explosive as last season. He is passing up 3's he would stroke last season. He needs to get on track. Jason Fontenet needs to start looking for his shot a bit more. He can stroke the 3, but hasn't really been shooting much in the first few games. He should shoot at least four 3's each game. And Jeffers is hurt. That hurts on the front line. Oh, and what happened to Angelo? Is he in the doghouse? Not only is he not playing much, he's not shooting much.

If we can keep the guys going who are playing good going strong and get the big scorers from last year going, then we should be ok. But if this is a bunch of streaky guys, then we could be in store for a step back. A few guys have to bring it every night and be consistent or else this team won't know where to look for points down the stretch.

I like this group of guys and hope they pull together and have another good season. We've got to keep the momentum rolling.