Beavers Men's Hoops Win First Game

I went to the Oregon State Men's basketball game last night against Portland and I figured I'd respond to Matt's request for some thoughts on the game.

I was a bit surprised by Seth Tarver starting at shooting guard. I thought Wes was the starter, but I glad he got so much playing time. I think Seth is just a bigger guard and gives them more flexibility defensively.

Early on the team relied heavily on Sasa Cuic to score inside. Other than his fitness, he's in good form already. They did a good job getting offensive rebounds and converting on those. Josh Tarver was confident and looked good. He looked to score more than Hurd ever did and is big so he can guard and rebound like Hurd. He did have a few unforced turnovers, but they were mostly when he was trying to make plays.

Midway through the first half they had a nice stretch of steals and layups while applying a half press. Overall the first half wasn't that impressive, but OK.

The second half was much better as the D started to clamp down and they Beavers were stealing and fastbreaking a lot. I think they can do that a bit this year if they really concentrate on dominating on defense. They should matchup well with most teams defensively. Of course UP couldn't throw the ball in the ocean in the second half and the Beavs were rebounding pretty well. So they pulled away and probably could have won by an even bigger margin if they played better in the first half.

Cuic will be the go to guy. He is the #1 option clearly on offense. I think Jeffers could help inside a bit more but Cuic will get 75% of the looks inside. Marcel was almost non-existent in the first half, then got going in the second with fast breaks, offensive rebounds, and a long shot or two. He may be our solid #2 option.

Josh Tarver will be a good supporting scorer IMO. He looks confident and looks for his shot. And he can shoot the three. He won't hit seven 3's in a game anytime soon, but he's got a good shot. He hit a 3 off the dribble that was sweet. Seth looked a little tentative on offense. A non-threat. But he had flashes. He moves and looks like a player so I think as he gets experience, he will become a threat. Looked good defensively and pretty good passing too. He has a high basketball IQ from what I could tell.

The good thing is that the bench looks as good as its been in a long time. Jack McGillis, Wesley Washington, and Angelo Tsakarakis can all provide instant offense. The new freshman, Shaaftenar, was big and moved well. Not a threat offensively, but he played well offensively and seems to know the game well. Oh, I was impressed with the new backup point guard Silvar. He was quick and looks injects energy into the game when he gets in. I think he could will be good. Calvin Hampton didn't get as much PT, but had a great move inside at the end of the game. I think he should play more. I was disappointed Liam didn't get in, but he'll probably play as the weekend goes on. Unfortunately, I won't see any of those games.

Well, that's it. No season predictions yet, but we should be competitve. The burden will be on our young guards to get the ball to the bigs and play off them when they are guarded well. If they improve quickly, it could be a surprisingly good season. I'm hoping for better than last year.

Go Beavs