The Roster
#0 JaQuori McLaughlin - freshman guard
6-foot-4, 185-pounds, from Peninsula H.S., Gig Harbor, Wash.
#1 Stephen Thompson Jr. - sophomore guard
6-foot-4, 175-pounds, from Bishop Montgomery H.S., Los Angeles, Calif.
#2 Ronnie Stacy - junior guard
6-foot-4, 195-pounds, from Tyler J.C., Tyler, Tex.
#3 Tres Tinkle - sophomore forward
6-foot-8, 220-pounds, from Hellgate H.S, Missoula, Mont.
#5 Cheikh N'Diaye - senior center
7-foot, 240-pounds, from Army/Navy Academy, Dakar, Senegal.
#12 Drew Eubanks - sophomore forward
6-foot-10, 250-pounds, from Reynolds H.S. Troutdale, Ore.
#13 Keondre Dew - junior forward
6-foot-8, 220-pounds, from City College of San Francisco, San Bernardino, Calif.
#15 Tanner Sanders - sophomore guard
6-foot-5, 210-pounds, from Crescent Valley H.S., Corvallis, Ore.
#22 Daine Muller - junior guard
6-foot-4, 200-pounds, from Skyview H.S., Billings, Mont.
#23 Gligorije Rakocevic - sophomore center
6-foot-11, 255-pounds, from Cantwell-Sacred Heart of Mary H.S., Bijelo Polje, Montenegro
#24 Kendal Manuel - freshman guard
6-foot-4, 185-pounds, from Skyview H.S., Billings, Mont.
#31 Christian Russell - freshman center (walk on)
6-foot-11, 235-pounds, from South Salem H.S., Salem, Ore.
#34 Ben Kone - freshman forward
6-foot-8, 235-pounds, from Archbishop Mitty H.S., San Jose, Calif.
#35 Matt Dahlen - junior forward (walk on)
6-foot-6, 205-pounds, from Redmond H.S., Redmond, Ore.
Roster Breakdown
Seniors (1) - N'Diaye
Juniors (4) - Dew, Muller, Stacy, Dahlen
RS sophomores (1) - Sanders
Sophomores (4) - Eubanks, Rakocevic, Thompson Jr., Tinkle
RS freshman (1) - Kendal Manuel
Freshman (3) - Kone, McLaughlin, Russell
The staff
Wayne Tinkle - head coach
Kerry Rupp - associate head coach
Greg Gottlieb - assistant coach
Stephen Thompson - assistant coach
Kurt Paulson - Director of Basketball Operations
Joey Petschl - Director of Player Personnel
Mitch Thompson - Director of Video
The 2015-2016 stats
Returning team leaders
Points per game: Tres Tinkle - 13.1
Total steals: Stephen Thompson Jr. - 32
Total Blocks: Drew Eubanks - 39
Total assists: Tres Tinkle - 30
Rebounds per game: Tres Tinkle - 5.4
Total offensive rebounds: Tres Tinkle - 40
3 Point FG's made: Stephen Thompson Jr. - 48 (on 128 attempts, 38%)
Free throws made: Tres Tinkle - 108 (on 147 attempts, 74%)
Field goals made: Stephen Thompson Jr. - 118 (on 291 attempts, 41%)
Total minutes: Tres Tinkle - 748
Returner's average points
Tres Tinkle - 13.1
Steven Thompson Jr. - 10.6
Drew Eubanks - 7.6
Gligorije Rakocevic - 1.5
Cheikh N'Diaye - 1.0
The incoming recruits
The 6-foot-3, 170-pound four-star recruit was the prized recruit of Wayne Tinkle's 2016 class. He was rated securely in the Rivals150 at No. 72. He committed to the Beavers early in the process as a sophomore, but he decommitted after Craig Robinson was fired. He then committed to Washington but ended up decommitting. The rest is history, as McLaughlin signed with the team he was originally committed to.
McLaughlin is a prospect that Rivals.com was bullish on because of his size and athleticism at the point. However, we did figure he may need a year or two to adjust because of a lack of strength. Early word out of Corvallis is that McLaughlin is way ahead of schedule and pushing to begin his career as a starter. Based on early feedback, it wouldn't be a surprise if he averaged double-digit scoring.
Kone signed with the Beavers over offers from New Mexico State and San Diego State. He was a three-star recruit according to Rivals.com.
"My decision to select Oregon State really boiled down to the coaching staff and the overall culture on campus," Kone said after his commitment in August of 2015. "I really feel like with hard work I can become a better player, a better student, and grow in to a good man there. I appreciate all of the offers and opportunities I had from other programs and I was really fortunate to have comparisons. Every program had their great points. I had to pick the place where I felt like it was the best fit for me personally. Oregon State was the opportunity that I knew all the support and coaching was in place for me to be successful and the rest would be up to me."
Dew was a three-star small forward in the class of 2014. He signed with Tulsa in the class of 2014, but circumstances led him to City College of San Francisco. He committed to the Beavers last fall during his official visit. He averaged 5.7 points, 5.0 rebounds and 1.1 assists as a sophomore at City College Of San Francisco.
Ronnie Stacy
The JuCo point guard signed with the Beavers very late in the recruiting process, as OSU announced his signing on May 4 of this year. He averaged 8.6 points, 5.2 assists and 2.7 rebounds in 28 games as a sophomore at Tyler Junior College.
"Ronnie is a prototypical point guard who always looks to pass first and get his teammates involved," Tinkle said. "He knows how to run the offense, get the ball to the scorers and handle pressure."
The 2017 commits
The Beavers will add another Thompson on the roster next year, and Ethan is actually rated higher than his brother Stephen was in the class of 2015. Ethan edges out his brother by one spot, as he currently sits at No. 49 in the Rivals150 and his brother finished at No. 50.
"On my official visit I really noticed that it's a strong community and everybody is supportive of the team," Ethan Thompson told Rivals.com. "I met a lot of people who really want to see us succeed.
Reichle's offer list on his Rivals.com profile only lists 11 schools, but he informed BeaversEdge.com that he has over 40 offers. At this point, he doesn't even remember all of the schools that have offered. It ended up being between the Beavers and UC Irvine when he committed last week.
"It's what I felt was right in my heart," Reichle said. "I wanted to stay in Oregon and be close to home. It's where I felt was right."
2016 Media Day Quotes
Head coach Wayne Tinkle and sophomore forward Tres Tinkle were at the Pac-12 Media Day to represent the Oregon State Beavers.
MODERATOR: Up next Oregon State head coach Wayne Tinkle and sophomore forward Tres Tinkle. Coach, an opening remark?
WAYNE TINKLE: Looking forward to this upcoming season. Lot of challenges ahead for our group. 12 of our 13 players are first- or second-year guys. Not too many of them had much experience from last season, but we love the group that we have, the way they're going about their business, how they carry themselves on and off the court. And we know with that, we can build moving forward.
Q. Tres and Coach, one year into it, what's it been like with the father-son combination playing for your dad, Tres, and coaching your son? And has it been different than expected? How has it been after a year?
TRES TINKLE: It's a very special opportunity, of course. But going through my first year, I didn't know what to expect. At least I thought I did, and then it was kind of a whirlwind. But it's been fun. We've had our learning curves, for sure. That's just getting used to the transition between when I can call him dad, when I can call him coach. It was tough for me just to know who I'm talking to. Once that got figured out, it made things way easier and we've just been growing from there. Obviously we have days where some are better than others. But if we look back and reflect on it, it's unique, and it's awesome to have him by my side the whole way.
WAYNE TINKLE: Well, all the days are good in my book. But he hit it right on the head there. I think he was used to Dad maybe helping coach, criticize, applaud in the past kind of one-on-one, and I think it was a real adjustment for him to get any correction along those lines in front of his peers was different. He was thinking Dad was coaching his team, and he had to make that adjustment that it's Coach Tinkle. So we got through it early in the season, and I think he went on to have a remarkable season for a freshman, but also giving those circumstances and expectation as a coach's son. But I've got to continue to remind myself that this could only be a four-year deal with memories that last a lifetime. So I've got to put a positive spin on all of it, but also remember there are 12 or 13 other pairs of eyes watching how we conduct ourselves. By no means is this just a father-son experience. We've got our whole program, our university and everybody behind us. But the side bar of it is we're able to enjoy some pretty special moments together.
Q. Can you talk about what areas of your game you've worked on the most during the summer to get ready for your sophomore year, and just what areas are you working on to take your game to that next level?
TRES TINKLE: Yeah, I was out because of my injury, but I was still trying to do whatever I could. What I really think I worked on was just tightening up my shot, just being a little more consistent. Also my ball handling too, because I couldn't really move much, just chair dribbling and things like that. But the biggest part of my game that will probably be improved is the mental aspect of sitting out and having to observe. And learning the game through the coach's eyes and watching my teammates excel to what they're working on, and try to implement it into my game when I'm out there again. And, yeah just sitting out and kind of finding an appreciation much deeper than I had before for the game and just trying to play with more passion was probably what I worked on the most.
Q. College men's teams took 35% of their shots from three-point range last season. Why do you think there's that increase? Also, could there be anything -- could it be anything to do with big men being more skilled and able to do some different things out there?
WAYNE TINKLE: Yeah, I think that's a good point. I think there's a combination there. There's a lot of focus on three versus two, and coaches have all these different formulas on X amount of three-point shots, if you shoot 30%, equate to this. That's well above my head, obviously. But I think the bigger part of it is the emphasis of taking the physicality out of the game in and around the basket. You see it at all levels. You look at the NBA, and there is nobody throwing the ball into the post very often anyway. I think it's a little bit of the cycle that we're in. But also I think there's a lot of focus on trying to make the game more exciting, improve scoring, that sort of thing.
We feel pretty lucky because I think we shot a good percentage as a team in regards to the rest of the conference. We feel like that will be a strength of ours. I'm looking forward to having some true post players this season, some of the young guys we've developed, because we feel that inside-out balance is really crucial. So it's something we'll continue to build off of. But then also try to take advantage of our guys that can shoot it beyond the arc as well.
Q. You talked a little bit about Tres and the adjustments you made. What about your other freshmen has maybe changed and benefited from all that experience last year, I'm thinking of Stephen Thompson and Drew.
WAYNE TINKLE: Yeah, we're excited to see that. Big Drew and Stevie have made big strides in the offseason. Drew's weighing in over 250. Has a great body, and he hasn't lost any of his athleticism, which we knew was going to be the case, but he wasn't so sure.
Stevie Thompson, we know he's a great scorer. He's always been a scorer. We've talked about the next phase of his game as being a playmaker so he becomes that much tougher to defend. If you're known as a one-trick guy, coaches are good enough to scheme. Now he's added that ability to make plays off the dribble for his teammates, which I think is going to allow him to be one of the more prolific scorers in our conference as we move ahead. In his maturity of the game, Tres talked about his mental development, and Stevie's done that as well. Drew, also. I mean, if the wind blew in through the window during practice, it would upset him. He's really learned how to channel that. And we expect big things out of those two in combination with Tres, and then some of the other guys that are newcomers. We know it's going to be a challenge, but again we love the group we have. We believe in them. It's just going to be a matter of getting them experience and seeing where that takes us.
Q. Earlier today we heard Stanford talk about creating a culture with the regime change there. It seems in a short period of time you've been able to do that successfully in Corvallis. Where are you exactly do you feel in that journey of changing the culture? From an outsider's standpoint, it would be easy to say you've already done it. What do you think?
WAYNE TINKLE: I think we've made great improvements in a short time, but now all those guys are gone, so we have to do it again. But we do have a good group of sophomores, I think, that we're in those early stages, and they're going to be able to now carry the baton, and hopefully at some point hand the torch off to the next group. That's how you create consistency. You get a group of guys at the bottom level to learn things the right way, to go about their business the right way. These guys have bought into it. When they're seniors, they hand it off to the classes below. So we're hoping to continue to build off of that. These guys really stand for the right thing, play the right way. So we're excited. Now that we've been able to erase the vacancy from the NCAA Tournament, this feels like year one as far as moving our program forward, because we've got a good number of our guys there. It's young and unproven guys by and large. But our kind of guys.
The real key was, and I don't want to take anything away. The way that group we inherited really bought in. It was incredible. They had these new, crazy coaches coming in, singing from a different hymnal book than what they've heard, and they bought into it. It was neat the leadership they showed to this young group a year ago, and we saw what that led to. Now these guys are off and running, and hopefully going to carry that forward as well.
2016-2017 Pac-12 Men's Basketball Preseason Media Poll
School name, (first place votes), total points
1. Oregon (23) 320
2. Arizona (4) 298
3. UCLA 259
4. California 209
5. Colorado 199
6. Washington 167
7. USC 163
8. Utah 142
9. Oregon State 122
10. Stanford 119
11. Arizona State 78
12. Washington State 30