CORVALLIS – Oregon State University's basketball roster is under siege.
The NCAA transfer portal is full of Beaver players looking to become former Beaver players. Less than two weeks after she reached the Women's NCAA Tournament Elite Eight, eight of her Oregon State players with one to three years of eligibility remaining opted to enter the transfer portal. An equal number of men from OSU are also participating in the portal.
Among the 16 schools looking for another school are some of the biggest names in Oregon State basketball, including Jordan Pope, Regan Beers, Tyler Bilodeau and Timea Gardiner.
what happened?
The answer is profound. Officials say the main reasons Oregon State players are seeking to join are the school's temporary move to the West Coast Conference and better visibility, image and likeness (NIL) elsewhere. It's an opportunity and exposure to a potential professional future.
OSU will play basketball in the WCC for the next two years as it looks to reposition itself in the Pac-12 or itself in case the remaining four Power 4 conferences undergo further realignment. A number of current players have signed to play in Power 5 competition as Pac-12 schools. That opportunity won't exist until at least the 2024-25 season.
“To sit here and say the WCC is the same as the Pac-12, obviously that's not accurate,” Oregon State athletic director Scott Burns said. “But there are other ways to skin that cat in the short term to find a permanent home.
“I just want to remind everyone that when we look back and think about where we are, we are in a much better position than we thought. , we will deal with it accordingly.”
These hits include a 2024-25 basketball roster that will require a lot of imagination to match teams from past seasons. Transfer portal losses amount to up to 82% of the women's team's points and 80% of the men's team's points for the 2023-24 season.
Perhaps it was inevitable and required at least a temporary reset. Could it be as simple as replenishing Oregon State's basketball roster with players willing to embrace a strong non-conference or WCC schedule?
Burns understands the retiree came to OSU to fulfill his Pac-12 dream, but he's nervous about agreeing to it. He said it's “unrealistic to think” that basketball teams won't lose players due to conference changes.
But Burns insists Oregon and its culture haven't changed.
“This is a special place. The student-athletes know that when they're here. How do you find kids who lean into it, want it, crave it and thrive in its presence?” Burns said. “The guys coming up know what they're up against. WCC basketball is an opportunity to win at a high level and compete really well within and outside of the conference.”
Oregon State needs to understand what's important to its basketball players.
It's hard to argue that winning is the most important thing for the women's team. The Beavers had a team of returning players that, on paper, was a solid preseason top-10 team and capable of making the Final Four. Instead, eight players chose to look elsewhere, primarily in search of better conference and NIL opportunities.
Burns believes the latter is a huge problem in college athletics, not just Oregon State. He is troubled that athletes are “starting to develop a mindset” of getting into one school and building up their stats to make themselves more attractive in order to get a more lucrative NIL contract at another school. I'm here. Transfer rules are becoming increasingly liberal. Burns said the combination of NIL and loose transfer policies is “absolute nonsense.”
“This is unhealthy for college athletics, and most of all, it's unhealthy for student-athletes. Graduation rates are stagnant. The life lessons of persevering and overcoming challenges in the situations you find yourself in. It propels you forward in your work and your career somehow evaporates,” Burns said.
“Everyone understands that flexibility is important. But at the moment, the fuel, especially NIL, the gas that is being thrown into the fire here, is out of control. It's just the way it is.”
That may be true, but Oregon has to deal with the reality of the NIL. For OSU, most of its NIL opportunities come from the Dam Nation Collective, which operates outside of the university. Burns said OSU is “very aligned” philosophically with Damn Nation and has confidence in co-founders Kyle Bjornstad and Dick Oldfield. Burns said more groups could be established soon, as well as hiring NIL-related staff within the athletic department.
“In the short term, we've been able to stay relevant. But that won't last forever,” Burns said.
Barnes roughly estimates that Oregon would need $5 million to $7 million for all sports teams to meet NIL requirements, but added, “As with any market, there are always adjustments.” Ta. Football is his top NIL dollar, followed by basketball.
Did Oregon State try to retain a major basketball player by making an attractive offer to the NIL? It was too aggressive.” A source told The Oregonian/OregonLive that Bilodeau had an NIL offer in the low six figures, while Pope was about double that.
Bjornstad is confident that they have made good NIL offers to several of their female players for next season. He declined to reveal the amount.
“I feel great about what we can do for athletes. What keeps me up at night is that there are other factors besides NIL that we have to consider,” Bjornstad said. Ta.
“We're very aggressive. I've been doing everything I can to at least take that part of the equation off the table and not be an issue.”
Regarding basketball coach contract issues, Burns said he is in constant communication with women's coach Scott Lueck. Her contract with him runs until 2031. Burns is happy with Lueck's future at Oregon State. Barnes and Lueck's work now revolves around transfers and creating an attractive non-conference schedule that requires funding.
The situation for men is even more uncertain. Coach Wayne Tinkle has three years left on his $8.7 million contract. The Beavers are on a losing streak for the third consecutive season. Asked whether firing Tinkle would be too expensive to prevent him from taking action, Burns declined to comment.
Before the season ended, Burns said he was keeping Tinkle because the team is young, growing and ready to show maturity next season. Now with eight players in the transfer portal, that theory is gone.
So? With only six players remaining on scholarship, the Beavers have no choice but to build their 2024-25 roster through the transfer portal.
There hasn't been a dull week at Oregon State Track and Field since the Pac-12 cratered in August.
“We have to do things differently. We have to create chances for ourselves and that's what Wayne has to do,” Barnes said.
Nick Daschel covers Oregon State athletics, specifically football and basketball.Contact him at 360-607-4824, ndaschel@oregonian.com, or @NickDaschell.
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