Just turned the game on...

You're right.  Coach Tinkle ordered the players to throw the ball out of bounds after the timeout.  He also told them make bad passes and force some shots.      

Yes Drew has trouble in that area but do you have proof that Tinkle is coaching him to do that?  I doubt it.  Speculation but I do agree with you if they aren't doing the job the bench is the place.   Then again who do you put out there to replace him that has the same skill set as Drew?   Sometimes you have to take the good with the bad.

Not just Drew getting burned on the back door alley oop.  TT often gets bamboozled on that and Manuel also got burned at SC. 

Zone defenses (which the beavs play most of the time) are supposed to prevent this.    We see the offensive guy lurking on the baseline between the arc and key and, the only defender in the area gets mesmerized by the action on the other side and the bad guy goes flying by him.  That should never happen. 

Please... WT isn't MR's stratosphere as a technician, teacher of the game he coaches, or respect of peers. Are there better D1 football coaches than MR? Sure.... but not near as many as there are better D1 hoops coaches than WT.

Proof is the development of talent... MR was slammed for never getting "big time" recruits, but yet was able to be the 3rd most successful Pac12 program over a long stretch. WT supposedly has gotten better recruits (although I'd argue hoops recruit rankings are significantly worse than football recruiting) and yet very little development has occurred.

Recruiting is WT's biggest shortcoming right now. Try this exercise... at a simple glance... who are 3 of the top players on the roster (again I've thought Hollins should be playing from day 1 and think he is the 3rd best player on the roster, maybe 2nd if he had played more early)? The three coaches kids... or at least are in the conversation going by recruiting rankings. So, let's say they do not exist... coaches kids were not have basketball players. So the three "replacement" recruits are of the average level of the OTHER (remember GPII was NOT his recruit) recruits. Where is this team/program??? 

A NCAA dance bid to a field of 68 (similar to going to a mid level bowl game) seems to always be the "saving grace" for WT's defenders. Or that we may not be able to get a better coach. Yet SR and PC from lowly George Fox are brought up as examples on a consistent basis whenever OSU has a coaching opening. 

There are better hoops coaches out there. Lots of them.

I don't want to go into great detail about player development specifics as in the long run what I post on makes no difference to the program. But, WT will not get fired mainly because of (3) factors: a) the tourney appearance no matter how pedestrian the accomplishment really is. Folks will point out there are far more D1 hoops teams than football teams and being one of 68 or 320+ is significant over 68-70 of 126. The fact is that half the so called hoops teams are never in contention for a NCAA berth; (b) injury season... no matter that the depth issue/recruiting is completely on WT, folks seem to think the injuries were to only cause for 5-27; (c) finances... Barnes is not going to get behind the 8-ball unless he truly has too. He just got $11-15 mil lucky with GA leaving and some of the other coaches being hired.

So, WT staying at OSU isn'rt really based on WT's merits in my opinion. I'm not a * system believer, but WT's biggest recruits are the "kids"... CR had some notable recruits that were at or above the others he's brought in and if folks argue against that then CR must have been a far superior recruiter for depth and a developer of talent?!

Back to player development... it is fairly easy to see that most of the "3-year guys" have the same basic game as they were as frosh. Drew has taken baby steps in certain areas, but as the last TV crew (Fox) stated, Drew would be very wise not to test the NBA as he'd be G league bound at best. But, it is not Drew... it is the overall lack of basketball IQ, lack of team cohesiveness, and the same type of mistakes over and over. I'm a huge bench watcher during games, especially when I know what is coming in that we are consistently inconsistent.

WT is a reactive coach... always coaching after the fact, rarely proactive. See SR and his coaching adjustments in game not trying to correct players and then repeating the same thing over and over expecting different results. The same high flash backdoor inbound was one of our plays when I coached my son's 5th grade travelling tournament team. Scott puts in on Saturday and has it prepped for a perfect time. You never see a lot of that from WT. In fact the backdoor cuts and lob successes of recent games are plays we've continually run, just work when facing undisciplined teams like SC.

The other thing you'll notice (and again because we are blessed with the perfect example of in game demeanor/coaching in Scott, just look there assuming you watch those games) WT does a LOT of instruction/coaching during games. Good coaches don't... 95% is done in practice... kids are drilled to muscle memory... you don't have to instruct so much, hence have little correction every time a player comes off the court. In other words, most of "coaching" should be in practice... not during game time. Our players play like they are confused/thinking a lot... it is what happens when too coaching takes place on the court during game action. While with Scott, he calls out offensive and defensive sets, players run them without being barked where to go and what to do next.


Rambling... sorry... but, I wasn't a believer CR was all that bad as he was actually learning how to be a coach on the job and was able to draw recruiting interest for his connections... which is huge part of recruiting. I also never thought WT was the best candidate at the time he was hired, nor do I think that Barnes can't find better with his east coast experience/connections. But, the recruits coming are not program changers. Unless a kid or two is added we'll have no true PG/leader/coach on the court and are doomed to .500 or worse again... IMHO.

baseba1111

Thanks for the response!  

There are certainly frustrating aspects to this team, especially the repeated mistakes.  And in the end it DOES all fall back on WT.  Either his instruction is ineffective, or he recruited players that just can't / won't do the things that he wants them to do or that needs to be done.

Thoughtful critiques like yours are awesome and help us others understand more of the nuances going on.  What do you think WT could do in practice to help clear up the two most mind boggling, to me, areas that have been extremely disappointing...

Free Throw shooting (aside from Tres) -- Seriously, how can a Pac-12 starting 2 guard be 60% from the line, MANY of those misses being front ends of 1-1's.  I get it when the freshman with only 5 attempts on the season gets nervous at the line and clanks a pair...  but your junior team leader?

The Jekyll and Hyde routine -- I have watched (particularly at home) this OSU team play some of the most flawless, dominating basketball in 30 years, and not just in few minute spurts but whole halves, and even whole games.  Defense, offense, transition, rebounding it was ALL working.  But then there are whole halves or games even (I am not talking about the 7 minute scoring droughts) where it looks like either everyone is tired, or bored, or clueless or... I don't even know...  We definitely tend to play to the level of our competition.  All of that, to me, speaks of a maturity issue.  How does a college coach address maturity?  (I have a theory here, but would love to see your response before I give mine )

Finally, I am not one that goes to the referee bias conspiracies...  I personally DO NOT think the refs are out to get the beavs, or are protecting the bigger "name" schools, I just think refs kinda suck in general (all sports), have a terribly hard job, and with the advent of Ultra HD cameras and a gazillion replays and angles can no longer hide a single blemish or mistake.  However, it has clearly gotten into the psyche of the fans for sure, and even the players and coaches, as evidenced by Scott Ruecks recent comments and fine.  How does a coach protect his players, and still say screw the refs you have to overcome it and win anyways.  In general the Ref/Player/Coach dynamic is coming to a head for all of basketball, college and pro.  It will be interesting to see how it all plays out...