Robinson stressed by Oregon St. expectations
Posted: Friday, September 25, 2009 10:02 AM
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Pac-10
A down year for Pac-10 hoops means a couple of things.
1. The conference may have to endure the catcalls the SEC dealt with in 2008-09. Cal and Washington are going to get most of the hype, but the jury’s out on everyone else.
2. If usual conference powers like UCLA and Arizona are struggling, that opens the door for another team to sneak toward the top.
Perhaps someone like Oregon State? The Beavers return four starters and every other key player from last year’s surprise squad. (CBI championship, anyone?) And with nice recruits coming in, Oregon State’s snagged some plaudits. Doug Gottleib from ESPN is predicting a third-place finish in the Pac-10.
This is now Craig Robinson’s nightmare.
From a lengthy Q&A with the Oregonian, Robinson, the Beavers’ second-year coach, doesn’t sound ungrateful about the attention, just … worried. And can you blame him? Few things are tougher in sports than living up to unreasonable expectations.
Q: A year ago everyone said you guys were horrible. The pre-season stories this year are night and day different, aren't they?
Robinson: "That's what I've been hearing ... and yes, it does make me nervous .. you know me, I've been trying not to read any of that stuff yet. I've been trying to focus on what we have to do, get our workouts down, all that kind of stuff. ... what I hear is hearsay because I'm not online trying to find out, I'm not reading magazines. Michael (Collins, sports information assistant in charge of hoops) knows better than to send me anything about that kind of stuff. ... but my friends are calling me ... and the guys here (talk about it).''
Q: How does this change things, being picked so high?
Robinson: "We won't be sneaking up on anyone this year, I mean, I heard that ESPN picked us as high as third! ... anywhere from third through sixth ... so that makes me nervous.''
There’s a video of the interview, which covers other topics unrelated to basketball (always gotta work in a reference to Robinson’s brother-in-law), but it’s interesting to see how Robinson deflects expectations, but doesn’t back down from them either.
A little hope for Oregon State, a team that finished 0-18 in the Pac-10 in 2007-08? Man, perhaps anything is possible.
