The 2016-2017 NCAA basketball season was a trying one for Oregon State fans. Two seasons ago the Beavers tied for 5th in the Pac-12 and made the NCAA Tournament. Coming into this past season, the only senior on the roster was little-used Cheikh N’diaye. Grow pains were expected. But a 5-27 record that included a last-place finish in the Pac-12 was enough to prompt me to take a look a what head coach Wayne Tinkle did stylistically in his third year in Corvallis.
About 10 games into the season Tinkle talked about emphasizing playing at a slower, more deliberate pace to help improve both the offensive and defensive issues the team was suffering from.