Oregon State basketball, which hadn’t made much in the way of waves since Ralph Miller’s reign, has done just that in the past week. With new coach Craig Robinson attending his brother-in-law’s inauguration, then returning west to guide the Beavers to huge upset road wins over Cal and Stanford. They were about 17-point underdogs in each, and it was the first time in 16 years they’d swept the Bay Area schools.
Robinson, who proved to be an engaging, sincere, driven man when he visited Southern Oregon last summer to play in the Beaver Club golf tournament at Rogue Valley Country Club, appears to have things going the right direction. And that’s without the added muscle of going into recruits’ homes as a close family member of the president. The word surely is getting out, too. FirstTake on ESPN featured the Beavers Monday morning, as did Andy Katz’s college basketball feature on ESPN’s Web site. The Beavers are his team of the past week, and junior forward Roeland Schaftenaar is hailed as one of the top players.
You can read Katz’s column here.
