What's Up With The Pac-10?

After the Beavs disposed of the Cardinal last weekend with relative ease and UW pulling out a controversial win against Arizona, things are much more interesting in the Pac-10.

Team    Conf.  Pct.  Overall Pct.
Oregon    3-0  1.000  5-1  .833
Stanford   3-1  .750  4-2  .667
USC    2-1  .667  4-1  .800
Oregon State   2-1  .667  4-2  .667
Washington   2-1  .667  3-3  .500
Arizona State   1-1  .500  3-2  .600
Arizona   1-1  .500  3-2  .600
California   0-2  .000  3-2  .600
UCLA    0-2  .000  3-2  .600
Washington State  0-4  .000  1-5  .167

With the pre-season Cal and UCLA had, I challenge anyone to say they would have predicted this 1-9.

Since OSU has a bye this week, we get to sit back and see what happens.

Ted Miller of ESPN has blogged about the importance of this weekend in the Pac-10 - "Desperation and separation in Pac-10 games this weekend"

So what's up with Arizona? They looked great at times against OSU and UW, but let both back into the game at the end and could have been beaten by both (or won both). Are they a contender?

ASU is under the radar like OSU right now. Are they good or not? I don't know.

Can Oregon run the table? They look really strong right now. But who knows if Costa has to continue as the QB.

USC looks vulnerable, but they are clearly still very good. It feels like they might have one more loss in them though.

Stanford could pull it together, but I can't see them as a upper-tier bowl team right now.

Can UW be the surprise of the season? They are right now, but aren't they one Locker injury away from being Wazzu?

Cal and UCLA? I have no idea what they are right now.

OSU? I don't think the defense is as dominant as last season. However, as the season wears on, OSU gets better.

Wazzu? Fogettaboutit.


Basically, I know enough to know what I don't know. And all I know is that this is going to be a very interesting weekend for Pac-10 football.

Do the 2009 OSU Beavers Baseball Team Have What It Takes To Make It To The College World Series?

I ran a baseball postseason poll a few weeks ago and the overwhelming winning of the poll was that the Beavers would make it back to the College World Series. 62% of the poll takers believed that at the time. Wow, talk about confidence/expectations.

Lets take a look at some numbers to see where we compare with the rest of the Pac-10:

Pac-10 Baseball 2009 Stats (through May 17th)

Batting:

Team                   AVG SLG%  OB%  2B 3B HR RBI  BB HBP  SO SB-ATT
Arizona.............  .319 .494 .392 127 32 40 350 163  66 346 68-91 
Arizona State.......  .305 .508 .422 100 28 64 387 305  60 342 90-122
California..........  .299 .488 .375 111 17 63 305 182  46 376 61-91 
UCLA................  .289 .447 .388 103 12 51 294 229  68 396 52-87 
Stanford............  .284 .425 .368  92  7 48 295 206  43 382 45-64 
Oregon State........  .278 .380 .390  73 12 21 291 248  55 305 42-56 
Washington State....  .278 .422 .362  80 11 49 286 158  78 367 37-55 
USC.................  .274 .406 .361  80 17 38 250 202  45 382 54-90 
Washington..........  .268 .439 .361  80 15 63 262 210  52 463 42-72 
Oregon..............  .229 .305 .298  50 12 16 133 124  37 333 59-80 

Clearly not a great hitting year for the Beavs. If it wasn't for the Oregon Ducks, the Beavs would be last in the Pac-10 in HRs, doubles, and slugging %. However, there are some bright spots. OSU is efficient in the running game at a 75% steal rate. The Beavers are tough to strike out, they take a lot of walks, and they drive in a lot of runs despite their low power output. A .278 BA and .390 OBP is respectable.

Pitching:

Team                   ERA    IP   H   R  ER  BB  SO  2B  3B  HR B/Avg 
Arizona State.......  2.76 463.2 404 187 142 131 474  67   8  24  .235 
Oregon State........  3.81 420.0 374 204 178 173 356  67   5  30  .242 
USC.................  4.07 464.1 458 276 210 213 409  80  12  26  .260 
UCLA................  4.27 459.0 452 276 218 178 482 103  11  43  .261 
Washington State....  4.38 441.1 484 270 215 157 378  90  12  38  .282 
Washington..........  4.66 453.2 481 281 235 183 365  82  11  44  .273 
Oregon..............  4.98 439.0 455 292 243 214 321  94   7  40  .272 
Stanford............  5.07 456.0 455 278 257 193 358  74   6  45  .268 
Arizona.............  5.59 441.1 522 333 274 201 345 103  28  35  .297 
California..........  5.74 442.0 500 335 282 239 401  86  14  43  .286

The Beavers are 2nd in the Pac-10 in Pitching. For all the wrangling over lead-off walks and giving up early leads, the pitching is quite good. Remove the ERA portion and the Beavs compare nicely to ASU who has a very good staff. Their walks are high, but giving up way less than a hit an inning is great. Their WHIP (Walks + Hits / IP) is 1.302 whereas ASU's WHIP is 1.153. That's an OK number for the Beavs with the difference being in the extra walks given up. For comparison, the 3rd place pitching team, USC, has a 1.445 WHIP. So that's a baserunner and a half every inning. Tough to keep scores down when that gets that high.

The Beavs are 2nd in fielding (.976) and only have 44 errors on the season. That helps the pitching out a ton.


What about comparing the 2009 Beavers with the great teams of the past?

Batting

Team            AVG  G   AB   R   H  2B  3B  HR RBI  TB SLG%  BB  SO  OB% SB-ATT 
2009 (6th)...  .278 47 1572 323 437  73  12  21 291 597 .380 248 305 .390 42-56  
2008 (7th)...  .292 52 1828 352 534 103  15  37 320 778 .426 257 367 .391 46-57  
2007 (7th)...  .287 67 2297 456 659 128  14  46 404 953 .415 328 448 .387 76-98 
2006 (5th)...  .302 66 2264 463 684 125  31  36 412 979 .432 315 401 .399 79-104
2005 (2nd)...  .320 56 1936 418 619 106  11  39 389 864 .446 275 329 .417 82-113
2004 (6th)...  .293 53 1849 374 541  82  15  48 325 797 .431 270 361 .398 54-74

Pitching

Team            ERA  W-L   G    IP   H   R  ER  BB  SO  2B  3B  HR  B/Avg 
2009 (2nd)...  3.81 31-16 47 420.0 374 204 178 173 356  67   5  30   .242 
2008 (7th)...  5.29 28-24 52 460.2 467 327 271 241 397  96  13  38   .264 
2007 (1st)...  3.48 49-18 67 600.2 542 253 232 193 477  83  12  34   .243 
2006 (1st)...  3.41 50-16 66 585.1 509 261 222 237 461  99  12  35   .236 
2005 (1st)...  3.08 46-10 56 499.0 410 219 171 186 451  61   4  30   .223 
2004 (2nd)...  4.65 31-22 53 466.1 509 308 241 192 344  72   5  51   .281

Clearly our best seasons hinged on good to great pitching. We've never really needed to be a powerhouse hitting team to be successful (including National Championship years). My only concern hitting-wise is the lack of extra base hits period. Not just HRs, but look at the doubles. Not since 2004 have we have a double total this low. And this is the first time our slugging % has been below .400. I love the low strikeout total, but we will have to address the hitting in the coming years.

The pitching is clearly getting close to the level it was at from '05-'07. So last year's horrendous pitching appears to be an aberration. That good for the future, and very good for our chances this season.

Overall, our pitching will carry us as far as it can this season. Hopefully that can be to a super regional or maybe even as far as the College World Series like the fans want.

First things first though. We have to take care of business at Stanford and win that series. Baseball America writer Aaron Fitt has said that if we win that series we are a shoo-in. There's even talk of a regional (reserve that scaffolding now :) ).

Go Beavs!

Pac-10 Football High School Recruiting Maps for 2009

The Beavers must have racked up some frequent flier miles over last year. Perhaps by necessity, but definitely by design the OSU coaches now recruit to the south, southwest, mountain west, california, and the northwest (of course). After seeing the wide area that Oregon State got their recruits, it got me thinking. What do other schools in the Pac-10 do? What is the Pac-10's effective recruiting area?

This is the conference as a whole (excluding JC guys who mostly come from somewhere else but go to school in Cali):

Data is coming from ESPN - Pacific-10 College Recruiting

Pac-10 Football High School Recruiting Map for 2009:

ST Total
CA 94
AZ 18
WA 13
TX 11
HI 8
OR 7
CO 5
UT 5
GA 3
NV 3
MT 2
IL 2
NJ 2
ID 2
FL 2
OK 2
NY 1
MD 1
WI 1
AK 1
AL 1
NE 1
VA 1
Canada 1
Tot 187

Clearly, if anything happens to California the Pac-10 is screwed. Every team recruited California heavy. Only Arizona St. had a state other than California at the top of their list.

Here's the Pac-10 broken down by school:

Oregon State Beavers:

ST Total
CA 8
OR 5
AZ 2
OK 2
WA 2
AK 1
HI 1
MT 1
TX 1
Tot 23

The Beavs had the only Alaskan. Its pretty clear the Beavs are casting a wide net looking for players. That said, they are really holding down Oregon as well. Seems like a pretty good formula to me. Dennis started it years ago and Mike and the staff has kept it going.

Oregon Ducks:

ST Total
CA 14
OR 1
HI 1
GA 1
NV 1
AL 1
NE 1
Tot 20

Wow. One player from Oregon? They are definitely going national too, but a different way. Going up against the SEC, huh? Curious that they got two top 10 kickers. Seems like that might artificially inflate their total "power ranking"...

Washington Huskies:

ST Total
CA 8
WA 2
HI 2
Tot 12

Oh how the mighty have fallen.

Washington State Cougars:

ST Total
CA 9
WA 7
HI 1
ID 1
UT 1
CO 1
CAN 1
Tot 21

This must be a pretty standard class for the Cougs. Good job getting those local players from the Huskies. Unfortunately, they only got one player in the top 50 at their position.

USC Trojans:

ST Total
CA 9
FL 2
AZ 1
HI 1
GA 1
NV 1
UT 1
Tot 18

Most schools barely have more than a few players in the top 50 at their position let alone the top ten. USC only has one player above the top 50 at their position. What? The dynasty continues...

UCLA Bruins:

ST Total
CA 17
HI 2
NV 1
UT 1
VA 1
Tot 22

Nice class for the Bruins. Keeping it local and with a lot of good players. UCLA could be on the rise under Slick Rick and Norm over the next few years.

Stanford Cardinal:

ST Total
CA 8
TX 4
AZ 2
GA 1
WA 1
ID 1
CO 1
NY 1
MD 1
NJ 1
WI 1
Tot 22

The pull of a Stanford education certainly must have done something because they went national and quite good. They need a lot to restock the cupboards, but if they keep getting classes like this then watch out. Next question: will anyone go to a game?

Cal Bears:

ST Total
CA 6
CO 2
UT 2
TX 1
WA 1
NJ 1
OR 1
Tot 14

Small class with some quality.

Arizona Wildcats:

ST Total
CA 7
TX 5
AZ 4
IL 2

Tot 20

Good quality at the top, but not spectacluar.

Arizona State Sun Devils:

ST Total
AZ 9
CA 8
CO 1
MT 1

Tot 19

Dennis is following a similar pattern to some of the OSU years. Getting the best local kids and going from there. Looks like a decent, if not spectacular, class.

Pac-10 "Officials" Are Led By An Idiot

Can you believe that the Pac-10 director of instant replay, Verle Sorgen, would actually say something like this:

...in response to a question about the replay official being benched for the rest of the season: “It wasn’t that egregious. Unless you are an Oregon State fan.”

What the hell is that supposed to mean? Oh, I see, nobody in the Pac-10 office actually cares about getting calls right! And that's why the Pac-10 continually has the worst officiating in the Pac-10. It starts at the top and I can see that Verle is more interested in protecting "his boys" than his is about doing the right thing.

EVERY highlight show I saw after the game had the EXACT same comment about the play. "That's not a fumble." And that was with one, maybe two TV camera angles. And there was a ref standing 4 feet away! What the HELL was he thinking? Maybe the refs had been tailgating with some Husky boosters before the game and were a little sleepy. You can't blame them, it was a long game.

After the game I made the comment that if the Beavers lost that game the refs would have had to get out of there in a helicopter, because the alternative would have been an ambulance. The crowd wanted someone's head and was going to get it.

This was reiterated by Bob DeCarolis:

DeCarolis pushes buttons - Cliff Kirkpatrick Blog

“God forbid we lost that game. We would have riot on our hands,” De Carolis said. “It would have been like a soccer game at a third-world country. That’s how dangerous it was being at night, alcohol, and the frustration of the mismanagement of the game. That’s something the conference is not taking into account. You had to be there.”

I agree whole-heartedly. The crowd was rowdier than normal and ready to do something. Thank goodness we didn't have to find out what.

Tom Hansen and Verle Sorgen need to be fired. From TV contracts, to bowl agreements, and the officiating, the Pac-10 is the worst. And we have Tom and Verle to thank for that.

Go here if you agree:

Fire Tom Hansen

Oregon can't leave well enough alone. I call Ducks don't beat the Beavs until 2020.

Yea, its official. OSU gets a whipping boy for the foreseeable future. I've commented on the possibility of the Ducks getting a baseball team before and I still think they should stick to track.

The decision making process is just weird down there.

1. They hire Kilkenny (a big money booster) to build a new basketball arena. And now they are getting themselves distracted from that by reviving a long dead baseball program. Seems like they need to concentrate on getting that arena and not confuse people about the athletic department's main goals.

In resurrecting baseball, Kilkenny cited its revenue potential for his department, both from ticket sales and concessions, along with what he termed the needed infusion of donations from supporters of the sport.

He said adding baseball at a time when Oregon is soliciting support for a new basketball arena was "purely coincidental."

Riiiight. I can't believe more Duck fans don't think this is a problem. Plus, when no one comes to the games because they suck then how exactly will it be better than wrestling which has lower costs overall? Well, there is the OSU series each year. That will make a bunch of money because the OSU fans will take over the stadium. Hey! It will be like an extra home series! (See OSU fans invading SafeCo and Husky field for proof). There are some with reservations.

Kilkenny said Oregon's decision to play baseball also had little to do with Oregon State's recent success in the sport. The Beavers have won two consecutive College World Series championships.

"There's too much attention given to what happened in Corvallis" in relation to "something that we were doing that is totally separate and independent," Kilkenny said.

Does anyone actually believe that. I think the second Phil Knight game Pat Casey money to stay, Oregon started the process. Just admit it! This guy clearly has a future in politics.


2. They kill the wrestling program that has actually been pretty good the last few years. Not only that, but they add varsity women's competitive cheer as a sport. What!? Is that a sport? That actually counts in these Title IX days? Let's go through that thought process.

"What can we add that will cost the least and give us more women's scholarships?"

"Well, we have a bunch of cheerleaders and dance team people. Can we get them on scholarship?"

"Great idea! We'll start a gymnastics program!"

"No, even better. Varsity Women's Competitive Cheer."

"Oh, sweet! Now what will the uniforms look like..."

Totally weak.


3. What does "Track Town, USA" think of this? Now they have competition for the spring sport dollar. Does this mark the end of championship-level track at UO? Clearly if they felt track was their sport, then they would simply focus on that.


Overall, the decision probably helps OSU more than it hurts us for the next 10-15 years. We will get to beat up on UO 3-6 just like UP. It can only help our RPI in the future to beat another Pac-10 team (well, maybe not the first few years....or more).

Also, we have already started recruiting the entire west coast and soon maybe even nationally. This year we signed many of the best kids from Arizona, Utah, Idaho, and Washington. And we will still get the best Oregon kids for many years to come.

Its going to be a very tough road for Oregon to even get to respectability in the Pac-10. UC Irvine is a special case. Their location helps them soooo much. We are at a disadvantage in the NW. Oregon can't simply market their way to the top.

In the end, as a Beaver fan, I say bring it on. I can't wait to sweep the Ducks for the next 15 years. That will be awesome.

Tickets, Coach, and Expansion

Since the Beavers were crowned National Champions for a second consecutive year not a lot has happened around Corvallis (Beavers wise). But a few things have been notable so I thought I'd blog my thoughts.

* OSU replaced Dan Spencer who left to go to Texas Tech with Pat Bailey from George Fox University.

Sounds like he's a great guy who will fit right in at Oregon State. He wants to help the players succeed and he wants to win. Perfect. And John Croy played for him!

Philomath resident John Croy played on Bailey’s first West Linn team in 1985 and assisted on Bailey’s 1994 and 1995 Lions’ teams, which advanced to the Elite Eight and championship game of the state 4A tournament, respectively.

“When I played for Pat he always had an extreme passion for playing the game the right way,” said Croy, now a Corvallis businessman and Little League coach. “When I came back and coached with him, he was the same” but had progressed as a coach and teacher.

“The stuff we were teaching in 1995 was way ahead of what he taught us in 1985. He was a student of the game to an extreme. He spends a lot of his spare time thinking, ‘How can I teach baseball better?’ and that’s what makes him so good.

“He relates to the players so well, they love him. And it’s not because he’s a softy, because he’s not. He demands that players do things (the right) way, and guys come ready and willing to give their best for him.”

Nice quote John!

* Goss stadium is expanding, but we already knew that. Go check out the artist renderings: link.

* OSU is starting single game ticket sales on Monday (7/16) at 8:30am. No Civil War this year so I'm not sure how big the rush will be, but you've got to get in the stadium to check out that JumboTron! Plus, there's a good deal on a 3-pack for $105 for 3 games.

To participate fans must select one game from each group listed below:
Group 1: Utah (Aug. 30) or Idaho State (Sept. 15)
Group 2: Arizona (Oct. 6) or Stanford (Oct. 27)
Group 3: UCLA (Sept. 29) or Washington (Nov. 10).
Single-game tickets may be purchased in person at Gill Coliseum or by phone at 1-800-GO-BEAVS starting July 30. Ticket office hours are weekdays 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
The Beavers begin practice Aug. 3 and open the season Aug. 30 against Utah.

* The basketball team has a new recruit from North Carolina. He looks to be an athletic, defensive big man with suspect offensive abilities. He should help with big, athletic teams on the defensive end.

End of March Musings

Spring is in the air! Anyone else out enjoying the sun the last couple of weekends? I love that little break in the weather just as spring starts, which then turns into another month and a half of rain. Makes it really hard to prepare for my roto baseball draft, watch NCAA tournament hoops, or update the blog...

...I did get to watch some Beaver baseball last weekend. The wife and I went on the best day, Sunday, when the atmosphere towards the end of the game was like a big Pac-10 game. Great crowd participation! I'm loving the new scoreboard. Although, I kept looking up there for replays of all the great plays only to be disappointed with an OSU player still staring at me (they have big videos of each player as the go up to bat). Apparently instant replay is a year away. Oh, and could they have had any more emotional extremes by putting getting Mike Stutes and Mia Longfellow to do ads for upcoming softball/baseball series? Stutes looked like he just woke up. In the future, I say let Mia do them all because she's a firecracker.

...The new turf was nice. However, it seemed to really cut down on our ability to bunt for base hits. OSU didn't have any bunt singles last Saturday out of five tries or so. I left wondering if the other team was that good defensively or if we were going to have to cut that element out of our game (at home at least). That could seriously hurt us as our trademark in recent years has been pitching, defense, and speed.

...Spring football is coming up. I started out trying to list every new 2007 recruit and get some news, photos, and videos about them. I'll continue that as the spring/summer goes on, but other pursuits (work, house, march madness) sort of got in the way. However, I'm going to try to take a look at last year's class and see who we should be watching from that class to make an impact next fall. And I'll be attending a few practices so I'll have some pictures to post.

...Basketball is still one of my favorite sports (how could int not be growing up in the 80's?) so I pay attention to the tournament even in years when my team isn't in it (in other words, every year). This year was particularly interesting with WSU and Oregon being so good. It's actually hard for me to root for either of these teams because A) WSU is where OSU should be darn it, and B) Oregon is Oregon. But I did pull for them as they advanced because I realized that if they do well, it will be good for the Pac-10 and thus good for OSU. Great job Ducks, Cougs, Trojans, Wildcats, and Trees. And go Bruins.

...Anyone else watching the Ducks game about halfway through the 2nd half think that the Pac-10 could have THREE teams in the final four? USC was up on UNC by double digits, the Bruins were in the great eight, and the Ducks were beating up on Kansas. Then USC collapsed and the Ducks couldn't get over the hump against Florida. That would have been wild if it could have happened.

Spring football starts next week! Get out and check out the team at least once and whole you're here take a look at the new Reser Stadium construction. It's coming along pretty well!

It's Tournament Time!

Its time to finalize those brackets. March Madness is almost upon us. How nice would it be if our team actually participated. One can only dream. It's probably a little late, but if you need some help filling out those brackets try this:

Pure LRMC Rankings

Now about the Pac-10.

I just saw the Oregon basketball team heading out of the Eugene airport as I was heading back from a conference. And that got me thinking about whether I could actually root for the Ducks this year. Hmm. How about the Pac-10 this year huh?

The Pac-10 has significantly raised its profile over the last year. Starting with UCLA's run last year and continuing with the surprise seasons of Oregon and WSU, people believe in the Pac-10 now. Sure, the media was jumping on the bandwagon mid-season, but the real proof is in the tournament selection committee. I don't remember a season with this many high seeds (or teams) in the NCAA tournament, ever.

#2 - UCLA
#3 - WSU
#3 - Oregon
#5 - USC
#8 - Arizona
#11 - Stanford

When OSU was making it to the NCAA tournament I don't remember us getting higher than a 5 or 6 seed. And that's when we placed second in the Pac-10! Now both Wazzu and Oregon get 3 seeds?! Add UCLA and USC and WOW. Back to the Ducks, anyone else having a hard time picking Oregon in their brackets? I mean as a 3 seed you have to at least pick them to win one game. But what about the sweet 16? Elite 8? Man, does that hurt. I've got them getting to the final 16, but no further.

Really, I do want the Pac-10 to do well because it will conitinue to raise the profile of the league and maybe we can get a #3 seed...someday.

Good luck everyone, happy March Madness!

Is the competition in the Pac-10 too good for our Men's Hoops coach?

Recently I linked to a Sporting News article that identified the two worst programs in big time college basketball. One was Northwestern who has NEVER been to the NCAA tournament and the other was Oregon State. I think Northwestern is the clear winner, but its hard to argue against the fact that we haven't been great since about 1990. Most of us have lived through the past, so lets look at the future. Can Jay John get this program over the hump?

From what I have read we may keep Jay for at least another season purely for monetary reasons. Plus, with the addition of C.J. Giles there is a lot of hope for next season.


What I like about Jay John:

* He tells it like it is. As far as I can tell, he is honest to the fans and the players (no first hand knowledge there, but no evidence against it).

* He seems to be a players coach. He has been able to recruit better players over time and keep everyone happy and here.

* He coaches an uptempo game. At least compared to his predecessors McKay and Payne. He preaches playing up tempo is the way to attract high quality players and recruits.

* He's the first coach to take us to postseason since we got really bad. Hey, 2004 was fun even if it was the NIT.

* He looks to Europe to find quality players that we may not have been able to find here. He's clearly trying to find Pac-10 players wherever he can find them.

* I have the feeling that he would be a great coach with great players. Of course who wouldn't I guess.


My concerns about Jay:

* He hasn't recruited a truly big name player. The possible program changing player. Can he do it? I'm not sure I count C.J. Giles or David Lucas because they basically fell into his lap. Not that that is a bad thing.

* I've have questions as to how good he is at game management and X's and O's. I have a feeling he is learning on the job. But he has gotten better and will admit when he made a mistake.

* He may be outclassed in terms of coaching prominence in the Pac-10. This is the one that concerns me most going forward. Lets look at this further.


Coaching in the Pac-10 is Great

There's an article about the quality of the Pac-10 in the Tuscon Citizen that talks about how the Pac-10 is great this year because of the high level of coaches that have come to coach in the league (Gimino: Coaches make Pac-10 best - Tuscon Citizen). The quotes below are pulled from that article.

No question that the level of coaching in the Pac-10 has risen. First, look at the quality of Pac-10 coaches that have been hired over the last 2-3 years. Ben Howland, Herb Sendeck, Dick Bennett/Tony Bennett, and Tim Floyd. All established head coaches with success elsewhere in big time leagues.

"The big thing in the Pac-10 is that when I first came here, it was a case of when there were openings, a lot of times they were filled by assistants from good programs," Olson said.
"Now, we're getting head coaches from good, winning programs."

Then look at some of the existing coaches that have had success for a while: Lute Olsen, Lorenzo Romar, Ben Braun, and even Ernie Kent. Those 8 coaches all have more clout than Jay when walking into a room with a recruit. They have all taken multiple teams to the NCAA tournament and had success recruiting major players. The only one I don't see as really have much of a name is the Stanford coach, Trent Johnson. But he clearly has a huge advantage by way of the university.

"The league is tough right now," Olson said. "And from what I've seen with the recruiting, it is going to continue to be tough."

So Jay John is arguably the least known and one of the least experienced coach in the Pac-10 in terms of head coaching experience. And he coaches at a place with great history but pretty bad recent history. Let's just say the odds aren't in his favor.


The future

So what do we do? I think Coach John is doing an OK job chipping away and getting better slowly but surely. He has had a winning season which is great and was a ton of fun. But now do you need a hoops equivalent of Dennis to get us over the hump? Or do we go the Pat Casey route and stay the course? I would love to see Jay turn it around. And hey, I think if you give Jay 10 years, he will have this program turned around. But is that feasible in Men's Basketball when turnarounds happen instantly elsewhere?

I know what Beaver Nation thinks because they are making their opinions known all over the message boards and airwaves. The vocal ones want Jay out.

I don't know the answer, but I know one thing. If we can't hire a coach with a profile on par with the rest of the high profile coaches in the Pac-10, then I'd rather just keep Jay John and see what happens next season.