LAS VEGAS – It wasn’t easy this college basketball season. That’s why I contacted Oregon State men’s basketball coach Wayne Tinkle the morning of the game for the Pac-12 Conference Tournament title, thanking him for leading our state on a joyous end-of-season journey.
An inferior coach would have given up a few months ago.
A smaller team would have withered.
The Beavers could have been pulled from The Strip on Saturday and I would still have dropped my cap for them. Instead, Wayne Tinkle and Co. took the last steps on a broken glass field and danced straight to the NCAA Tournament.
Final: Oregon State 70, Colorado 68.
Snow angels were represented in the confetti. Tinkle hugged the players and celebrated afterwards. Maybe you hugged your kids and danced around the living room. But earlier that day, I spoke to Tinkle and told him that his program served as a wonderful example of so many things this season – best of all, they were a resilience clinic and served as wonderful entertainment.
How did the OSU coach spend the morning of the conference title game?
“Hell,” said Tinkle, “I’m going to bet on the tables, the house money!”
The basketball coach was kidding, of course. This is Tinkle. If there is an easier male basketball coach to fight in America, I didn’t know him. Oregon State was chosen last in the pre-season media research conference. Withdraw your vows. But also know that Tinkle’s team was defeated by the University of Portland, for God’s sake. Then he lost 29 points to Colorado. Things seemed so tenuous and uncertain that rumors surfaced in December about Tinkle’s job security.
That month, I asked OSU athletic director Scott Barnes how much he was concerned about OSU’s initial difficulties.
AD said, “Wayne and I would both be concerned.”
What did Barnes need to see in the final stretch?
“We are looking for growth there.”
Minor coaches may have started making excuses in December. The smaller teams may have looked at the calendar and started planning for the next season. But Tinkle’s team kept on working, improving, and struggled to become seed number 5 in a conference tournament that would require three consecutive wins.
Tinkle’s pre-game routine on Saturday morning included a team meeting. So, some film work in Colorado. There was a shooting in the middle of the day at the T-Mobile Arena as well. The day before, Tinkle made the decision to rest his players before the semifinal against Oregon.
The Beavers skipped the shooting session in the arena and walked and rested at the Park MGM Hotel. So, Tinkle trained circles around Dana Altman, even known as that 40-minute clinic as “Mr. March ”in a conference piece. OSU pressed the Ducks at the perimeter, overcoming them in the three-point arc and channeling Oregon’s offense into a bottleneck in the paint.
The whole Tinkle plan was a beautiful thing.
But a day later, the OSU coach threw it away and tried something new.
“I want the boys to get up today,” said Tinkle early Saturday morning.
I kept thinking about those little things in the final seconds of Saturday night’s title win over Colorado. Tinkle has been masterful throughout this season. He prepared his team, kept it loose and focused. In the midst of a pandemic, with disappointing defeats earlier in the season, Oregon State somehow emerged not only as an acceptable college team, but as the one who played the best basketball of the conference when it mattered most.
“Was Barnes going to fire Tinkle?”
That became a question to ask at the beginning of the season.
Nick Daschel of The Oregonian / OregonLive covers the Beavers like no one else in the state. We started this same discussion in December. But today, the question is when Oregon State can work on a contract extension for its male basketball coach. Because Tinkle deserves one.
The past year has been challenging, even in the sports field. The games have been canceled. Life stopped. The disadvantages of a pandemic have become routine. Oregon State did not get great results earlier this season. The beavers did not give up. They didn’t complain. The show just bowed its head and decided it was in a unique position to reach the top of a confused and disjointed season.
Jarod Lucas continued to score.
Ethan Thompson continued to hit three.
In addition, the Beavers made their defense – one thing.
At some point, the same Oregon State team that no one foresaw became impossible to ignore. Our state, used to seeing the Oregon Ducks rise at the end of the season, suddenly had some viable post-season threats. The two will play the key this season and it is worth celebrating.
Give Tinkle some credit today. He designed one of college basketball’s most impressive turnaround stories this season. His team swept the pandemic, overcame a maddening start and ended up cutting the nets. I wasn’t really sent to Las Vegas to cover the Beavers’ race for the tournament title. No one could have imagined it. I was here mainly to focus on the search for the Pac-12 Conference for its next commissioner. But how can we ignore the clinic of patience, talent and courage that OSU just demonstrated by winning three in a row?
This season took courage – and the Beavers had plenty.
Winning the conference title by the state of Oregon was not only good for the program. It was great for the conference. Frankly, it ends up being a benefit for those who also covet faith, hope and joy.
Some teams fight against adversity, while others disappear. I suppose we could do a case study in resilience or read a book written by one of those Navy SEALs to try to understand it. Or maybe we could just sit back and enjoy everything that this OSU program is going to provide for us in March Madness.
This month was created for shows like Wayne Tinkle’s.
Point by point, this truth emerged on Saturday night. Stop by stop, it became more difficult to ignore. Second by second, the rest of us faced an unforgettable achievement about the state of Oregon and this damn college basketball season.
That’s it:
A smaller coach would have given up.
A smaller team would have withered.
Instead, Oregon State danced with the Pac-12’s automatic offer for the NCAA Tournament on Saturday night.
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