Yes, Obama's brother in law Craig Robinson is hoping to bring some hope, change, and progress to Oregon State. Failing that, he'd love for some wins. And maybe $850 billion dollars, too! Although the Oregon State Bailout Bill probably will get caught up in committee.
But besides the "Pixie Dust and Unicorn" Defense, what should we expect from the Beavs?
Not much. Here is a brief scouting report from the official site:
Oregon State Scouting Report
A Look at Oregon State
Despite knocking off USC at the start of conference play, Oregon State has struggled this season, with the win over the Trojans as its only Pac-10 win thus far. The Beavers are currently in ninth in the Pac-10, and got swept by the Washington schools last weekend in Corvallis, Ore.Cal-Oregon State Series History
Cal has won the last seven in a row against the Beavers, including an 81-76 win at Haas last season. During the current seven-game winning streak, the Bears beat the Beavers, 70-51, in a Pac-10 Tournament contest in 2007. Cal leads the all-time series, 74-56.Oregon State Head Coach Craig Robinson
First-year head coach Craig Robinson led Brown University to a school record 19 victories last season. In two years at Brown, Robinson also led the Bears to their fourth-ever postseason tournament berth.
Oregon State has won a few games, though. Here they barely hold off Saint Martin's in an exhibition game:
Coach Robinson at a press conference:
Here are the starters and their stats:
Probable Starters
Pos No Name Ht Wt Yr Ppg Rpg
F 30 Daniel Deane 6-8 245 So 7.1 5.1
C 10 Roeland Schaftenaar 6-11 240 Jr 7.0 2.8
G 11 Rickey Claitt 6-2 175 Sr 7.2 1.5
G 15 Seth Tarver 6-5 210 Jr 6.6 4.8
G 34 Lathen Wallace 6-3 200 So 6.8 2.0
It is difficult to find videos of OSU basketball. They have been so bad. Last year they did not win a single Pac10 game. This year they have already won 1 (against USC), but none else.
Let's also take a look at Oregon basketball. Excuse me, UC Eugene basketball. Not sure who Ernie Kent's brother in law is. Heard its Nicolas Sarkozy. Intriguing!
Here is a quick scouting report from the above link:
A Look at Oregon
This season has been a bit of a struggle thus for the young Ducks, who only have one junior and no seniors in their starting lineup. Oregon is currently in last place in the Pac-10, the only team yet to earn a conference victory. The Ducks are led by Tajuan Porter is currently averaging 13.2 ppg.Cal-Oregon Series History
Oregon won both contests last year, including a 92-70 decision when these teams met in Berkeley last season. The last win for the Bears against the Ducks came on Feb. 15, 2007, as Patrick Christopher scored a then-career-best 16 points and Jerome Randle contributed eight points to help give Cal a 63-61 victory. Cal leads the all-time series, 71-55.Oregon Head Coach Ernie Kent
Ernie Kent, the 2002 Pac-10 Coach of the Year, has had a lot of success at Oregon. His accomplishments include seven postseason appearances, a Pac-10 title, two Pac-10 tournament titles, two NCAA Elite Eights, two NIT Final Fours and four NBA First Round Draft selections.Probable Starters
Pos No Name Ht Wt Yr Ppg Rpg
F 24 LeKendric Longmire 6-5 200 So 10.6 3.2
F 50 Joevan Catron 6-6 235 Jr 8.8 6.6
C 33 Michael Dunigan 6-10 255 Fr 9.8 4.7
G 03 Garrett Sim 6-1 175 Fr 9.2 1.8
G 34 Kamyron Brown 6-2 170 So 5.6 2.0
Some preview videos:
What the heck is going on here?
I find it wildly doubtful that danzig or carp will care about this video:
You might recognize the name Garrett Sim. He was a high school senior, who, I believe, originally was to come to Cal. After Cal fired Braun, he changed over to Oregon. He is getting playing time as a freshman. Wonder if he regrets his decision at all. Here he is:
And another one:
They are led by Tajuan Porter. Here are some videos of him:
I think oftentimes video game scores are not well respected. They are associated with "childrens" activities. They are done with cheesy electronic instruments. You only get a little snippet of music repeated over and over. I get all these criticisms. And, frankly, except for the children's activities thing, you could levy the same exact criticisms against Philip Glass!
So, maybe some songs are minor and derivative. But I really think that some video game scores are amazing. Those old Final Fantasy games, games I devoured as a kid, always amazed me with their music. I always wondered if they took the music and expanded upon it a little and maybe did it with strings instead of synths, how it would sound? I've got no answer to that (except that when people do Glass' music with solo piano or strings, it sounds infinity times better than his synth stuff and is truly amazing!). Here is one song I always enjoyed and thought would be interesting to hear in perhaps a different context. Its from the painfully linear Final Fantasy VII (The Sepiroth you are looking for is in a different castle). It's called "Don Of The Slums."