Oregon State Basketball: Beavers season review

After a special senior season with Gary Payton II, a future of uncertainty awaits for Oregon State basketball.

Over the next few weeks, I will be posting a series of articles to summarize this past season for every team in the Pac-12 conference. The series will start at the bottom of the conference with Washington State and we will work our way to top of the final standings with Oregon.

Beyond a final summary, I will attempt to provide some insights on each team as they approach the offseason in hopes of an improved 2016-2017 season.

2015-2016 Season

Overall Record: 19-13

Conference Record: 9-9

Final Conference Standing: seven out of 12

Conference Awards: Gary Payton II (Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year, Pac-12 All-Conference: First Team, Pac-12 All-Defensive Team), Tres Tinkle (Pac-12 All-Freshman Team: Honorable Mention)

Summary: A look at the Beavers conference record and final conference ranking can be a little misleading as to how their season went.

After finishing only .500 and in the lower half of the conference, Oregon State managed to earn a NCAA Tournament bid for the first time in 26 years. Finishing 9-9 in conference play was actually a big step forward for this program.

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The Beavers would enter the tournament as a seven seed where they faced off against ten seed VCU. A 75-67 loss would end their season and the college career of Payton.

Payton was the only player on the roster to average more than 30 minutes per game this season. He led the team with averages of 16 points, 7.8 rebounds, five assists and a stellar 2.5 steals per game.

Freshman and second leading scorer, Tinkle, will look to take over as the team’s leader next season. Tinkle was a big part of the Beavers success this year, but missed the final four games of the regular season and the team’s sole tournament game with a right foot injury.

2016-2017 Season

Leaving: Gary Payton II (senior, declared for NBA Draft), Langston Morris-Walker (senior), Daniel Gomis (senior), Olaf Schaftenaar (senior), Jarmal Reid (senior), Justin Stangel (senior)

New Faces: JaQuori McLaughlin (PG, 3-star recruit), Ben Kone’ (C, 3-star recruit), Keondre Dew (SF, Junior College transfer)

Outlook: The Beavers will look to hit the reset button with the departure of their most dynamic player, Payton. The team will need to find an identity and young players will be forced to step up immediately if the program wants to see any form of success in the short term.

The freshmen trio of Tinkle, Stephen Thompson Jr., and Drew Eubanks serve as a good starting point after ranking two through four on the team’s average scoring list this past season.

Next: Top 10 National Championship moments in NCAA history

Unfortunately, I believe Oregon State is looking at a decline in the rankings next season with some of the lower ranking teams in the conference set for an improvement. The Beavers will likely need a season or two for these younger players to grow together with the potential of a strong core set for the 2018-2019 season.

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