Pac-12 Network lineup

Thanks for the heads up. Watched the Civil War game tonight that was held at Gill one more time. Beavs led by 6 late in the second quarter and by three at halftime. The Beavs played a very clean first half and reportedly only had one turnover at the break.

There were times this season when the Beavers played very well against quality teams, including getting up by 13 at home against Stanford in the first quarter, leading UCLA by 14 points in the third quarter in LA, and the first three quarters against Oregon at Gill until both Jones and Pivec had to sit with three fouls each.

Their 23-9 overall record could have been several wins better with just a few more breaks at critical times against some highly-ranked teams. Coulda, woulda, shoulda....

The Beavs led by 5 in the fourth quarter of that first Stanford game following a Goodman three-pointer. A win in that game could have changed the entire trajectory of the season as I believe that the Beavs were 16-1 coming into that game.

I don't get the "what if" scenario. First, because what happened is exactly the reality, not some double edged fantasy. The "what if" implies not only an injury or outcome being different, but only better things would have resulted. Second, it somehow only seems to apply to one team. Every team could invoke the same scenario. If so, is OSU 15-0 in the preseason? Are the losses wins? Are the losses worse if other teams healthy too? Etc, etc, etc.

What ever the circumstances OSU faced, other teams had similar issues. And, the biggest issue for OSU WBB wasn't the NCAA tournament being canceled. Not even close.

I'll stand by the 'what if" as most fans of any program have their own set of "what if's" and like to speculate. It can be taken way too far. "What if" the Beavs had the number one recruiting class every year, or "what if" every player shot 50% from 3?

My post had nothing to do with OSU's 'biggest issue' or it's relation to the NCAA tournament, but it was in your post, so we'll see if others want to discuss it. My comments were about how things may be different 'if". I'm not sure why you even post about it if you "don't get the scenario". You could have just said, "that was a dumb post, Rman, step up your post or shut up".

You don't need to "step up", nor was it dumb. But, "if" doesn't mean it would have been different in terms of results. I'm guessing that's your implication... "if" equals better or different results?

My point, just as "if" is fantasy, so are the implied results. Nice game to play when bored, but any aspect is complete conjecture. While other issues within any program can be a real cause for concern.

Simple, maybe not appropriate example. IF Tres and the Thompsons weren't coaches sons recruiting would have improved. That having coaches kids have negative impact on recruiting other top talents. First, does top talent typically shy away from competition? Does top talent in positions not played by coach's sons still stay away?

Point being "if" scenarios often mask the bigger issues. Fans see "ifs" as bad breaks, as THE cause for what they saw as unexpectedly underachieving season.

Injury, unknowns, and plain bad luck aren't blame. But, over the last 4 years there have been some huge recruiting misses... players who never were D1 types for their position unless they did a complete 180, 360. There were those with questionable medical backgrounds. All of this leads to a razor thin roster of truly upper level Pac12 players.

What if... the philosophy would be let the best players earn their time and use all 15 schollies allowed. Those unhappy can certainly use the new transfer portal. Restock, not rebuild from almost zero depth at key positions...

So... my post may be just as dumb. But, I'd rather view "what ifs" in actually realistic issues that can (must?) be addressed.

I hope my initial post (yours not quoted for a reason) didn't imply your thoughts were out of line. Just commenting on the general "what if" philosophy.