Four books that might catch your interest this summer …
(To make it easy for you to buy any of these books if you are interested, I have embedded links to buying each book on bookshop,org. I do get a commission if you use the links in this post.)
Wooden to Casey: A legend follows a legend
It has been 50 years since John Wooden made a visit to the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity on the Oregon State campus and talked with its members for nearly three hours.
Final day at Moda Center: Bruins roll, Zags survive
Five games into NCAA Tournament play at Moda Center this week, fans had seen some entertaining — and sometimes great — basketball.
Happy Saint Patty’s Day at Moda for Bulldogs, Tigers, Gaels, Bruins
Eight teams. Four games. Nine hours of basketball.
Larry Brown looks out front window, lands on Memphis Tigers’ bench
Larry Brown is more than a basketball lifer.
Hey Joes (and Jills)! Fill out your brackets, show some knowledge
The 2022 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament bracket is out.
Talking All-Star Game to Portland (nope), Geoff Petrie and Jerry West, Gary Payton and Lester Conner, The Kamikaze Kids … and more
Items on my mind during the chilly final days of February …
• Thought for the day provided by Frank “The Flake” Peters, at 78 still a juvenile at heart:
Ex-Beaver greats weigh in on Tinkle, 2020-21 Beavers …
We asked a collection of names familiar to Beaver Nation — most of them former players — for their opinion of this year’s Oregon State team, which faces Loyola of Chicago at 11:40 a.m. PDT in a Sweet Sixteen showdown of underdogs. Their responses, in alphabetical order:
JIMMY ANDERSON (player from 1957-59, assistant coach from 1961-90, head coach from 1990-95):
“I haven’t missed a practice all year, so I have a pretty good handle on why the season has gone like it has. They brought in five new and (coach Wayne Tinkle’s) defensive system is a little complicated.
Cool Hand Luke, the ultimate underdog: ‘We like shocking people’
If anyone on Oregon State’s basketball roster can identify with the underdog, it’s Jared Lucas.
After scoring points at a prodigious rate — almost beyond comprehension — in four years at Los Altos High in Hacienda Heights, Calif., the sharpshooting guard was largely overlooked by Pac-12 schools.
When the media forecast OSU to finish 12th in the Pac-12 before the season, Lucas developed a chip on his shoulder the size of the Rock of Gibraltar.
“Cool Hand Luke” was as big a reason as any why the Beavers came from nowhere to claim the Pac-12 Tournament
Tinkle: ‘It’s the most rewarding season I’ve had, for sure’
I believe it was Cinderella who once famously observed, “A dream is a wish your heart makes.”
That and, I would add, hard work. And perseverance. And dedication in working toward a common goal.
Oregon State wound up wearing the glass slipper for all of those reasons Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena.
Something new: A weekly menu of sports book reviews
As a service to our readers — the ones who enjoy sports books — we’ll critique an offering a week from now until Christmas.
The first one is a book written by one of my favorite writers and a great guy familiar to sports fans in this area. Bud Withers worked for a long time for the Seattle Times and P-I, but before that was with the Register-Guard in Eugene, where he came across one of the most polarizing figures ever to hit the Northwest college basketball scene.