Oregon State Basketball: 3 reasons why Beavers can win Pac-12 in 2019

2. Experience

The experience factor is something that is often talked about in the world of College Basketball. The abundance of or lack of experience could be the difference between winning and losing in conference play. Especially, when many of the games in conference are going to be close. The fans in Corvallis rarely worry about their team being gutted by the NBA draft, and they do not have many players transfer. This year is a lot of the same for the Beavers and they have a team that has played together and have tremendous chemistry.

The three best players for coach Tinkle’s squad have all been playing together for a year. Technically longer as two of them are brothers. Ethan and Stephen Thompson paired with the coach’s son Tres Tinkle are the players who provide the bulk of the scoring for the Beavers. These three players are the ones the players look to when a shot or rebound is needed. Tres Tinkle is an early favorite for Conference Player of the Year and has drawn the ire of most teams around the league. Senior guard Stephen Thompson is great at getting to the rim and can take his game up a notch when Junior Tres Tinkle is struggling or being taken out of the game.

Ethan Thompson may only be a sophomore, but he started and played a ton of minutes for the Beavers a season ago. Those minutes are what helped Thompson get acclimated quickly. The point guard plays older than a sophomore. He is s tremendous shooter making over 35% of his attempts from outside. The younger Thompson is also a good rebounder for his size. These three players can impact a game in many ways for the Beavers. All three are playing at a very high level in conference play and are going to be a huge factor going forward. The Beavers success weighs heavily on the performance of these three players.