BFS Current Story

New Coach!, New Results?, We Shall See

1-24-2008 - Does today mark the beginning of a new era for Oregon State Basketball or just watching the final destruction of the program hoping the Jedi Master will come over the horizon to save the day at the last minute. Kevin Mouton has never been a head coach so why should we expect him to somehow do what other coaches never could. The players have obviously checked out for the season and with Coach Mouton cutting J. Giles on monday there could be some hard feelings in the locker room.

After 17 years of losing, what will it take for the Beavers to see a winning basketball program again in Corvallis? Does Bobby D. know? I am not sure anyone really has any idea of how to turn this thing around. We just have to get on the roller coaster, strap in and hang on. Its going to be a bumpy ride.

USC comes to Corvallis on Thursday night coming off an upset victory over UCLA last weekend. The Trojans feature O.J. Mayo, one of the freshman sensations in the country this year, another being Kevin Love of UCLA who we will see Saturday night. Mayo is 2nd in the conference in scoring at 19.7 ppg and Kevin Love is 9th at 16.8 ppg but makes 58.4% of his shots. USC and UCLA each have two players in the top 20 in scoring while OSU has Seth Tarver at 12.6 ppg(19th) as our leading scorer. Love is second in the pac-10 in rebounding at 10.3 rpg.

The USC game has a chance to be close until OSU goes cold from the field as they do in every game. If the Beavers can find some kind of motivation from having a new coach on the bench then perhaps they can make more shots and upset USC. But my money is on USC by 12 points. UCLA on the other hand will be a major handful. I expect UCLA to blow us out by as many as 30 points unless they take mercy on us. OSU has no answer for Kevin Love other then double and triple teaming him. If that happens UCLA will light it up from the outside. It should get ugly early.

I will be at the game saturday night and since it is a late start I may just have to leave for the bar a little early to beat the rush. Should have a better crowd of fans since Kevin Love will have all his Portland friends and family at the game and I am sure there will be a large UCLA fan base there as well. Could be more UCLA fans at the game then Beavers.

We can only hope that this season gets over with in a hurray.

BY THE NUMBERS

 

Key	STATISTIC	OSU	USC	UCLA
.	Scoring Offense	61.4	68.3	74.3
.	Scoring Defense	64.2	61.1	56.9
.	Scoring Margin	-2.7	+7.2	+17.3
X	Free Throw %	.657	.696	.741
X	Field Goal %	.390	.477	.483
X	Field Goal % Defense	.439	.379	.414
.	3-Point Field Goal %	.279	.369	.347
X	3-Point Field Goal % Defense	.330	.308	.323
.	Rebounding Offense - RPG	36.7	33.8	36.9
.	Rebounding Defense	35.1	34.6	26.9
.	Rebounding Margin	+1.7	-0.8	+10.1
X	Blocked Shots	3.11	3.82	3.00
.	Assists	11.28	13.29	15.61
X	Steals	5.44	5.88	7.06
.	Turnover Margin	+0.44	-0.29	+2.33
X	Assist/Turnover Ratio	0.84	0.84	1.16
X	Offensive Rebounds	14.11	8.88	12.94
.	Defensive Rebounds	22.61	24.88	24.00
X	3-Point Field Goals Made	5.06	4.82	5.78

 

GO BEAVERS!

BFS