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The OSU Men’s basketball team has officially started their practices. Oregon State basketball coach Craig Robinson had the guys doing a three minute drill of just passing the ball. His lines went like this:
“That’s too high….. Run through the line. Good….Good Seth…Good…That’s it!! It’s starting to look like something now.”
One of the first things Coach Robinson did was to become famous by talking at the Democratic Convention, and saying GO BEAVERS at the end of his speech. He did this on national TV with one of the largest audiences in history. OSU was shouted to the nation!! That caused enough stir that all the news stations presented it over and over again,
on national TV. OSU was shouted to the nation!! We will not know the ramifications of it for a while, but it sure didn’t hurt!!
You should get a real feel for OSU basketball by the end of this season. There are a record number of OSU basketball games televised this year. Seventeen games will be on the tube. Four of those games will be nationally on the FSN national network. Plenty of exposure, but what will people see?
They have their first official game November 14th against Howard University played at 4:00 P.M. at their court. They then play Big 12 teams Iowa State and Nebraska.
One highlight will be seeing Yale come to Gill on Monday November 24th. It will be played at 7:00 P.M.
Who do they play in their first PAC-10 game? None other than UCLA at home on January 2nd. It will be a 7:30 P.M. game. Might as well start at the top, don’t you think?
Did I tell you that Coach Robinson holds 5:30 A.M. practices? Yes, I said A.M. I can’t imagine college age kids even thinking about being awake at that time of the day. We will see how that works out.
I guess there is no sense hiding it any more. Bob DeCarolis is being considered for an opening at Ohio State University. Details are pretty sketchy at this point. I will just let you know it is happening, and we will see what unveils.
The Corvallis Gazette Times is covering it pretty closely if you want to check them out online.
News at eleven…..
Some past OSU baseball players are doing quite well in the minor leagues.
Tyler Graham had a banner year for the San Jose Giants. He stole 47 bases, and was injured part of the year.
Cole Gillespie has made quite an impact playing for the AA Huntsville Stars. He hit .281 with 14 home runs, and also had 39 doubles.
Kevin Gunderson pitched for the Myrtle Beach Pelicans. He was moved up to the Mississippi Braves in AA ball.
Jonah Nickerson had a 12-4 pitching record for the Lakeland Flying Tigers. He was named the Florida State pitcher of the week in May, and had one complete game shutout.
Olivia Vivian is a freshman in OSU Gymnastics. She was late to practice at the beginning of the year. Why was that? She was competing in the Olympics for Australia. She had to make it through two different grueling trials to be selected for the Australian Olympic team. She made it and had an experience of a lifetime, competing in the Olympics.
Do you remember that the Women’s Cross Country teams was not in existence about four years ago? Well, they have come a long way, baby!! They got the first votes ever for a cross country team in the national women’s pool. They list the top 30 in this poll. OSU is 32nd. I can’t be prouder of a program, not only for how far they have come, but I also marvel of the effort that Kelly Sullivan has shown to get the program where it is today.
Another OSU athlete has done well. Heinrick Barnes wrestled for OSU last year and had a 22-4 record even though his was injured part of the time, but he didn’t stop there. He competed for his home country of South Africa in the Olympics. He also had to go through several trials to make the team, but he did make it, and had a memorable experience.
The OSU Women’s basketball team is looking good this year. There are three seniors on the team, to give it some stability. Point Guard Mercedes Fox- Griffin; Shooting Guard Brittney Davis and Center Tiffany Tucker give the starting five lots of experience. That pays off when it comes to PAC-10 play. Coach LaVonda Wagner said, “We haven’t had that many seniors since my first year here.” She went on to say that she was excited about the year coming up, because of all the experience. I highly suggest that you check out this year’s team. There will not be any slow ball the whole game.
The football game on the 1st of November is Homecoming Week. It will be not only a great game to watch, but is also a great time to connect with people you went to school with. There is a theme of “Benny for President.” Coach Robinson may have something to say about that.
A profile of Coach Robinson will air on ESPN’s “Outside the Lines,” this coming Sunday. The problem is that it is being aired at 6:00 A.M. Pacific time. You may want to tape it and wait until you eyes are up and “at ’em.”
Greg Laybourn was named the PAC-10 Defensive Player of the Week. He had 12 tackles in the game. He leads the PAC-10 with 62 tackles.
Jacquizz Rogers leads the PAC-10 in rushing at 116 yards a game. He has a week off to rest his body, and play ASU who isn’t too good on rushing defense. BTW…… ASU is also terrible with their rushing offense. Looks good on paper, but we have to go into that game knowing they will not lay down and go to sleep for us. We will have to play hard.
This Saturday night it is “Fill Gill Night,” for volleyball. They play ASU. The admission is only $1.00. Got to take advantage of that!!!
The Women’s Softball team finished the fall schedule with a perfect record!!
I would like to close with one more plea for you to subscribe to the online newsletter. I challenge you to find any source, newspapers or otherwise to have as much variety of information in one spot. This is what you will get by just taking a couple of minutes to go over to the subscription icon, just below the Amazon icons. You click on that, put in your email address, and you are set to get tons of information about OSU sports and other colleges all through the year. This will be a year round newsletter.
Do it tonight, and be done with it….
OUT!