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Oregon State at California Men's Hoops Open Thread

Time: 11 AM PST/2 PM EST
TV: CBS (check your local listing)
Radio: 1550 KFRC
Streams: Post links in comments
Injuries: Jorge and MSF are still day-to-day.

Team matchups

Team Oeff Deff Tempo eFG% TO% Off Reb% FTA/FGA
OSU 94.5 (258) 96.8 (108) 63.6 (321) 49.4 (133) 25.6 (338) 30.9 (243) 43.1 (58)
Cal 118.6 (4) 93.0 (56) 71.2 (44) 52.7 (49) 17.8 (38) 36.3 (63) 36.2 (205)


Individual matchups

The alpha dog...? (Beta dog? What do you call the best player on the worst team in the conference?): Seth Tarver (as Building The Dam attests, he's dangerous with 5.7 steal %, 4th in the NATION, 54.4 eFG%, 47.1 FT rate, 59.2 true shooting %). Should be Robertson and/or Christopher going up against him.
The streak shooter: Calvin Haynes (44.3% from downtown, 51.5 eFG%, 26.1% of shots), should be guarded by Jerome Randle.
The men on the glass: Roeland Schaftenaar (16.7 defensive rebound rate), Daniel Deane (11.8 offensive rebound rate, 17.8 defensive rebound rate, 5.1 fouls drawn per 40 minutes). Boykin and Amoke will be on those two respectively.

No amount of statistical disparity could convince me the Bears will just walk all over the Beavers. The key here is tempo--can the Beavers slow down the pace to a standstill and keep the Bears from moving at a faster pace? If the score is in the 40s or 50s late in the second half, this will definitely favor Oregon St. The Beavers have followed up every one of their horrid losses this season with a win, which should get Cal fans plenty nervous.

The two biggest weaknesses seem to be ball-control and crashing the offensive boards, so OSU will have to take advantage of the few shots they get and play at an efficient pace. If they can frustrate Cal's attack with that zone defense they should have a great chance at pulling the upset.

Here's what Cal has to do to win...PUSH THE BALL. ATTACK ATTACK ATTACK. Attack the rim, attack the glass, attack from outside, attack on the break, ATTACK ATTACK ATTACK. If we do that, we win. If we don't, we all have a good chance of leaving Haas angry at the world.