Pac-12 Basketball: Preseason power rankings for 2023-24 season
By Tuck Clarry
12. Oregon State Beavers
The Beavers come in with a situation as dire as it comes. There is no immediate path for Oregon State to remain in a large conference. And it’s not like Oregon State basketball has performed over the years with a level of recruiting to suggest that they resemble one. Tinkle has taken the Beavers to the tournament twice in his nine seasons in Corvallis. But it’s worth noting those are the only two appearances in the last 32 seasons.
Tinkle’s process requires retention and development, and the Beavers bring back nearly everyone from last season, save Glenn Taylor who left after his sophomore season to go play for St. John’s. That loss may be the biggest blow, as he was the team’s second-leading scorer at a value position–the wing.
Six of Oregon State’s rotation players will still be sophomores, most notably Jordan Pope, the do everything point guard who led the team in scoring with 12.6 points and 2.9 assists per game. Retention is rare, and could give Oregon State an advantage, but with this amount of youth on the roster, with several coming off of seasons plagued by injury it could also not be enough.
Guards Dexter Akanno and Christian Wright will be asked to help lift some of the burden off of Pope, with Akanno being the second-highest returning scorer and Wright hoping to enter the season with a clean bill of health (played just 19 games last season). Someone between Michael Rataj, Tyler Bilodeau and KC Ibekwe will need to make a large step as a frontcourt cornerstone. Ibekwe has the size and skill to be the enforcer that Tinkle needs, but he had a wildly inconsistent freshman season.
If the young Beavers are able to implement Tinkle’s idiosyncratic system, they should be able to hop out of the basement of Pac-12 rankings. But that ability still needs to be seen.