Sophomore Gay Payton is the real deal and is close to the complete package as anyone playing point guard in the PAC-10.  The ‘Glove’ could be the best perimeter defender in the country.  He has the size, strength and quickness to shut down anyone.  Ask Walt Hazzard or Ron Lee about his defense.  And he does not mind letting you know he is shutting you down as this Bay Area Kid is the Kind of Trash Talking.  He is the best there is on defense.  He is also becoming a potent offensive weapon on offense.  He is not a great shooter but makes up for it with his ability to get to the paint and convert over the big guys. He loves to use his size and strength and post up other point guards for easy backins and if you double team him he kicks to the open guy.  He is a great distributor as he finished in the top five in the league assists and would have been higher if some of his teammates hit more open jumpers.  

Fellow Sophomore post man Steve Johnson will start out the upcoming season as one of the best low post options on the West Coast.  No, he isn’t Big Lou but the man is automatic when he gets the ball down low. Johnson led the conference in shooting percentage almost hitting 70% of his shots.  He has a wide body and a big butt and he never takes a bad shot.  That is the good side of this extremely talented player.  The bad side is that he seems to be injury prone and lets these injuries bother his game.  He was huge in the early games of the year and then got hurt and was never the same.  He also is not a good rebounder for a six ten guy and fouls way too much probably because his defense is not very good.  He was off the court way too much but when he was on it he was a great low post option.  He is probably better suited for power forward but can also play center though he is not a rim protector at all. With that being said Gill and the Beavers are glad to take the bad with the good as this kid is still just learning the game.  He only started playing as a junior in high school and he is special when he gets the ball down low.  This kid could be an all-time great or at the very least he will be a workmanlike low post option.  The future is his to write. 

Another sophomore AC Green got minutes at the four spot and is extremely reliable.  He is not overly gifted but works his tail end off and produces when he is in.  He can run the floor and is better on the boards than his fellow power forward.  He is limited offensively but gets some points by hustling and crashing the boards.  He is the type of guy every team needs but is better suited as a role player as he was this year though Gill admits he loved having two young guys up front this good and this young.  Ironically, Green was barely playing until a trip to SoCal midway through the year in Johnson’s old stomping grounds.  Johnson got banged up and missed the games against USC and UCLA and Green stepped up and made quite the impression with his hustle and defense.  Bill Walton even said that the kid from Portland made him work his tail end off all night.  Green is the moral base for this team and though Payton is the unquestioned leader he brings a work ethic and an effort to succeed most guys do not have in today’s street ball world. 

Two seniors are the incumbents up front though both missed some time opening the door for these kids to shine.  Seven-footer Mel Counts and the gifted Red Rocha started the year as the primary post options but Johnson jumped into the mix quickly.  Rocha is not big enough for center and the way he plays is better suited for forward and has excelled there.  Counts is big enough at 7’0 foot and had a solid season in Corvalis.  Those injuries that showed Gill that he needed more muscle up front were not long term and these guys got most of their minutes back.  Rocha is good at running the court for a big man and can really slash to the hole.  He can guard big guys but is out of his league against seven footers.   Counts was second on the team in scoring and first in rebounding and has a nice 15 footer to go with his seven foot frame.  He is tough on the boards but is very skinny (like Rocha) and has a tough time guarding physical players.  Another senior is even bigger than Counts and can play but really has a hard time staying on the court.  And not because of injuries.  7’3 (yes, 7’3) Swede Holbrook hails from Portland (not Stockholm) is the real deal.  When he plays.  He can score and board and takes up some massive space but has this tendency to go AWOL for long periods of time.  His third such lost weekend that turned into a Monday and Tuesday was enough for Gill and he suspended him for the rest of the year.  He only played in 13 games but in those games he proved he can flat guard a rim.  He is back, for now, and this team can use his size (who couldn’t) but he will obviously be a on a short leash.  The funny thing is the Swede has never said where he goes on his getaways.  Junior Lonnie Shelton is the kind of muscle the Beavers need down low but now is in line behind even a bigger backside then his.  He is a tweener forward, not tall enough to guard the Waltons of the world at power forward and not quick enough for small forward but the kid is tough and can play.  Gill held him out for some of the season due to having too many power forwards competing for the same spot but once he got in he produced some good offensive numbers and should battle for more playing time this season.  He is without question the toughest guy on the team but like Green has a strong belief in God.  These two players may be opposite ends of the spectrum on the way they carry themselves and the image they portray but they come from the same belief system and though they compete for minutes were great friends.  Shelton got on the court playing the three which is not his thing but he was blocked by Johnson and Rocha at the four and he can hang here.  OSU needs him on the court and small forward is the biggest weakness on the solid lineup by far.  Shelton should only get better next year if he is put in the three spot for the whole year.     

Now for the biggest problem for the Beavers! The Wings.  The Beavers thought that senior Lew Beck would be starting next to Payton this year but he was gone before the season started with an injury he suffered while in Military training over the summer.  He was to team with partner in crime and roommate Cliff Crandall to give the Beavers an exciting fast break game facilitated by junior Freddie Boyd.  It never happened.  Crandall was too small for the three spot and was getting demolished by bigger guys.  He did better at the two and will get a chance to prove he can carry the load there but OSU needs more athleticism at these spots.  Badly.  Gill was throwing everybody at these positions trying to find a match.  Sophomore Ray Blume stepped up and grabbed one spot and maybe the key player to this year’s team came from just down the road in Portland where obviously they get much of their talent. Blume was teaming with fellow sophomore Mark Radford in a terrific wing combo on the JV (Gill knew he needed to fill this spot) when his call up came.  Both of these guys are 6’4 and tough and can play defense.  If either of them can score a little more and that means developing a better long-range jump shot.  Still, neither one of these guys are really small forwards and this team needs threes.  In more ways then one. 

Senior Dave Gambee took advantage of the opportunity and became the starting small forward and the hometown fans loved their Corvalis boy.   Not as athletic as you might like on the wing, Gill was hesitant to switch Gambee to the three.  The local boy fit the bill better than anyone else and was productive once he got into the starting lineup.  Gambee beat out Crandall early on and the Beavers had the right man for the job.   Sadly, Gambee got hurt and never got back into the starting lineup.  His injury may have been as big of a part of the downfall of the Beavers as anything.  He did return and was productive down the stretch and does have a future if he decides to go pro as this kid showed he will do what it takes to help a team win and has a solid skill set to boot.  And any coach at any level will take a kid like that on their team.  Another Oregon boy, the highly recruited Charlie Sitton, also got a chance to play some small forward but it did not work out the same as Gambee.  Sitton is more suited for power forward but will have to figure out some way to get into the lineup with the logjam at that position.

Gill has a deep bench in Corvalis and the Old Man used most of it last year with all the influx and injuries.  Seniors Jim Jarvis and Lee Harman are big enough to play the wings in today’s game but are nowhere near athletic enough.  They got pushed aside but still bring depth and smarts.  Jarvis missed the second half with injury but will be back.   Second year senior Charlie White has a good chance of minutes on the wing as he is the kind of athlete this team needs.  This JC transfer does not shoot all that well but he will play.  Junior Freddie Boyd is an incredible backup to Payton at the point when he can get on the court.  Boyd had the job to start the season but got passed up by the 6’4 stud.  Boyd still played often and they might be starting together this year more often than you think. It might work too with Payton’s ability to guard bigger guards but he dominates smaller guards.  Senior Gary Freeman from Boise Idaho gives the team more depth up front but this sweet potato has fallen way down the totem pole with that superb sophomore class.  Speaking of Sophomores, Jose Ortiz did not get much of a chance this season at center but will push for minutes next year. This Puerta Rican stud was dominant on JV but this team is deep up front.  But you have to keep reloading to keep competing in the Pac Ten especially on the post. 

The Oregon State Beavers had a solid season in the tough Pac Ten.  Sadly, it did not even come close to the expectations of not only the Corvalis faithful but of what the experts thought this team would be especially after a great start. Sophomore point guard Gary Payton was brilliant on both ends of the court but the Beavers did not have the stallions to run with their thoroughbred and faded.  A good season went down the tubes in the last week when the Beavers lost back to back games against the worst team in the conference and against their rivals from Eugene in what will be known as the ‘lost weekend’ forevermore in Corvalis.  And that had nothing to do with Holbrook.  What Might have been will be the theme song for this season and sadly with all of the seniors leaving next year’s theme could be ‘When Will I See You Again?’ as far as the Big Dance goes if the Beavers don’t recruit some better players to go with Payton and company, especially on the wings.  They got the thighs and breasts covered.