While it’s not a basketball program known for its prolonged success, the Beavers have had some notable moments over the last decade, but now Oregon State is progressing in a new direction. Justin Joyner has taken over as their new head coach, beginning his own head coaching career after helping take Michigan to the national title as an assistant. It’s a big challenge for Joyner to build a winner especially as the Beavers transition back into the new Pac-12.
A new look for the Beavers
As is to be expected with a coaching change, there was a significant exodus of talent from last seasons’ team. A number of those pieces have found new homes in the transfer portal while the Beavers also shed some important senior talent from last season. Fortunately, talented guard Josiah Lake is back for his senior season and should maintain a major role in Joyner’s new system.
Beyond that, there is an intriguing mix of new pieces added in from the portal, freshmen, and overseas. The Beavers add a trio of 7-footers looking for bigger opportunities in Xavion Staton from BYU, Peteris Pinnis from Providence, and Dennis Evans out of Grand Canyon. Jackson Rasmussen and DeShawn Glory put up great numbers as freshmen at Idaho and Fresno State respectively while Legend Smiley was a reliable freshman at San Francisco.
Newcomer expected to lead
The piece we’re most intrigued at seeing on the court for the Beavers is Daniel Freitag and it’s not hard to see why. A 6-2 guard from Bloomington, Minnesota, Freitag was a reserve who barely saw the court as a freshman at Wisconsin but really bloomed after transferring to Buffalo. He’s fresh off a sophomore season where he averaged 19.8 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 3.8 assists per game while making 36% of his 3-pointers.
Freitag missed several games late in the year with a concussion but if he stays healthy will be a major part of Oregon State’s backcourt. He flourished in the MAC and there’s always a question on how he handles the jump to a new league, but his leap forward as a sophomore was quite clear. He’s a reliable scorer who can take control of games and while he won’t exactly be expected to do that, he at least forms a fantastic 1-2 punch at guard with Lake.
The thing with this Oregon State team is that Joyner and his new staff are taking a lot of chances on young players that just might develop into stars. Freitag already made that jump last season and it’s all about if he can handle himself in the Pac-12 and on a team where he doesn’t have to be the leading scorer night in and night out. No one is expecting Oregon State to make major noise right off the bat in this new league, but maybe Freitag and company can surprise some people.
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