MBB: Pittsburg v Oregon State

Well kudos to you for seeing a .500 conference team here (insert orange-colored glasses comment here). I haven’t watched much of other league teams play yet this year, but based on the norm I don’t see a 5-game improvement over last season. The talent just isn’t there. I got a kick out of Fran Fraschilla saying repeatedly during the two NIT broadcasts that Jordan Pope is a “legitimate Pac 12 player.” I didn’t notice him making similar comments (different conference of course) about any players on the other teams Truth is that Pope is only player that might start on all or a majority of Pac 12 teams. Others would likely make all/most teams and maybe start on one or two (thinking Bilodeau and a healthy Rataj as those that might find a starting spot). Unfortunately that’s just the way it is IMHO. Doesn’t mean I won’t be watching and cheering for them.

I’d also warn about being too quick to judge and come to conclusions regarding the freshman. Will Mars’ skill set be best utilized at OSU? Maybe not, but I don’t think it would be on display any better at other schools. He’s a raw freshman a handful of games into the season. There is a reason much of talk during off season was about him potentially red shirting. He could have used it. I think next year we’ll see what he can do a little more and hopefully WT using him better. Now having said that, I don’t think the freshmen class really moves the needle for this year’s team. Each player will have his moments through the course of the year, but likely not consistently enough to improve record this year. Hope I’m wrong though because will a repeat of last season combined no conference lead to players looking elsewhere? Hate to look back at this season in two years as the good old days.

Oh I don't think they will be a .500 in conference team, I'm saying i think that team is in there, and it won't be found.
I talked to some people (his family i'm assuming, but not the people in his recruitment photos) in South Dakota that said he asked to Redshirt and they wouldn't let him. He has a lot of family in Nebraska or something. 

I would have liked to see the same set up for the P5 games as we saw against APP state and Troy. That way we could have actually had something to judge. I think Rataj should have waited until we got back to Oregon to play. I think him getting his legs back against Nebraska, Baylor and Pitt was actually really detrimental to seeing what Oregon State has down the bench (as those games weren't competitive even with him). He got 40 minutes in those games i would have loved to see Thomas and Gavin get some more of those. We didn't get any real meaningful minutes from either guy. 

Its really uncomfortable conversation to have but If Pope, Tyler, and Mike are the only "pac 12 starter" types they are leaving at the end of the year anyway. Thomas and Gavin developing for the future has to be paramount. (unless the staff already knows they are leaving too)

The good news, while we were getting our ass kicked by a P5 team that has a shot at the ncaa tournament. Stanford got crushed by a directional Iowa school and Stanford got beat by a California university system school at home

Pac 12 isn't good, there are a lot of beatable teams. continue hitting the free throws, get to the line as much as possible. Figure out how to get close to 30% on 3s. The will win plenty more Pac 12 games than they did last year.