Monday, February 25, 2013
What's the matter with Oregon State?
By Joe Kaiser
This was supposed to be a good season in Corvallis, yet wins have proven to be hard to come by yet again for Oregon State (13-15, 3-12 Pac-12) this season.
Beavers coach Craig Robinson is signed through the 2016-17 season, which is four years beyond this one, so one has to believe that it's unlikely that this season will cost him his job. It's undeniable, though, that this has been a majorly disappointing season for an OSU team that looked talented enough to be an upper-tier program in the Pac-12 this year. So what's went wrong?
For one, the Beavers have been fairly average on offense. Their adjusted offensive efficiency of 107.2 ranks No. 70 in the nation, according to KenPom.com. The bigger issue, however, has been the team's poor defense. In fact, their adjusted defensive efficiency of 101.3 ranks No. 184 nationally per KenPom.com. Particularly troubling is that the Beavers haven't forced turnovers or rebounded their own misses well at all, and at the same time they've allowed opponents to have an effective field goal percentage of 48.5. That ranks No. 172 in the country.
It's hard to imagine where they'd be without Eric Moreland, who's one of the conference's top rebounders (10.6 rpg) and shot-blockers (2.4 bpg).
