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Cal Basketball: Look At Oregon State Beavers With Building The Dam

By Twist NHook

Well, we got a big game tonight.  After a rough 7 game stretch, Cal is 3-4 in the Pac10.  That's not great, but it's also not terrible.  Yes, this is exactly the level of analysis you've come to expect from the California Golden Blogs.  You're welcome.

However, we now embark upon a somewhat easier portion of the schedule.  6 of the next 8 games are at home.  Further, the Oregons are some of the weaker teams in the conference.  Except for, of course, Hope In Law's 1-3-1 zone, which has confounded man since the dawn of time itself.  Oregon State is a team that Cal *should* beat.  But Craig Robinson's Beaver teams always seem to play Cal incredibly tough.  Can Cal crack the 1-3-1 code?  I sure hope so!

To learn more about Oregon State, we contacted ConnorOSU with Building The Dam.  He was kind enough to answer our Questions for us.  Join us after the jump to learn more.  GO BEARS!


1.  Where do you see OSU ending up in the Pac10 this season?

1. I see Oregon State finishing in the middle of the Pac-10, somewhere around 5 or 6. We always seem to play good basketball at home, but when we go away from Corvallis anything can happen. Usually that's just the tough nature of the conference, but we are also very young and don't know how to react in hostile environments when the game is on the line.

 

But back to your question. When you win most of your games at home and lose most of them on the road, that's usually the formula for a middle of the pac (ha, see what I did there?) finish.

2. Hope in Law! After a couple of years with winning not a large amount of games, but being disturbingly into many many games through a demonic 1-3-1 that flusters a lot of teams (especially the California Golden Bears). 

How do you see the Hope in Law era changing and evolving? Is he able to pull in more talent?


2. If you mean the Robinson era changing from the Jay John era, then it's already happened. While not only losing, but playing un-inspired basketball became the norm under John, Robinson has totally flipped that around. At least now our guys are athletic, talented, and entertaining, and even in a loss, you usually come away proud of the effort.
 
If you mean the Robinson era changing from the first two seasons under "Hope in Law", then I think there are two main things that Beaver Nation would like to see. One, is the ability to beat non-conference foes. When you lose to teams like Texas Southern, Utah Valley, and George Washington, it's tough to qualify for the major post-season tournaments.
 
Second, would be the ability to get out of those CBI, CIT type of tournaments. The CBI was great the first season under Robinson, and fun last season, but it's time to move on.
 
Robinson has definitely been able to recruit, and that's the main reason his seat won't be hot for a while. Jared Cunningham, Joe Burton, and Roberto Nelson were all part of his first class, and he has found a few gems in Devon Collier, Ahmad Starks, and Chris Brown this season.


3.  Who is the Cal player you are most scared of?

3. Harper Kamp even though I hadn't heard of him until this year. But from the few Cal games I've seen, he's looked like a beast down low.
 

Otherwise, it's got to be Gutierrez. Like Reeves Nelson, I'd love if he played on my team, but I hate him since he's so good.

 


4.  Which OSU player should Cal fans be more scared of?  Offense?  Defense?

4. On Offense, Jared Cunningham. Cunningham averages 15 ppg and is rock solid from the free throw line. He is also good for one high-flying, sky-kissing slam dunk per game, so watch out for that.

 
Another one to watch would be Calvin Haynes, although he's been a wild card lately. Haynes averages 11 points, but is very spotty shooting-wise. He's one of those guys who can get white-hot or ice-cold throughout one game. He recently lost his starting job to Freshmen Roberto Nelson, but so far he has been handling it well.
 
On Defense, Cunningham is the guy again. He averages 3 steals per game out of the Beavers feisty 1-3-1 defense, and he is the definition of the saying " the best offense is a good defense."
 

Omari Johnson leads us at the top of the 1-3-1, replacing Roeland Schaftenaar. Omari only averages 1.4 steals per game, but he gets a lot of "assist steals", as in deflecting the ball away to another Beaver.

 



5.  Second-to-last question. As horribly biased rivals, what is your opinion on Oregon's new arena?

5. I got to admit, I love the arena. But the court is obviously stupid. The local media has been trashing the court all week, especially because of the lack of mid-court line. I think the Ducks will decide to get rid of it at the end of the season.

 


6.  Last question. Who would you most like to punch in the face?

 


6. I don't really hate anyone THAT much, but Cliff Harris and LaMichael James pisses me off for the obvious reasons. Starting with Cliff, I just hate every single thing about him. The way he calls the National Championship the "Natty", the way he calls Oregon State his "little brother", his arrogance, and the way he talks. And the fact that he is a Duck.

 
As far as LaMichael goes, strangling women is just never a good idea.

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