Previewing the Oregon State Men's Basketball Lineup at The Crown
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Who will play on Tuesday?
Days removed from three different Beavers - Michael Rataj, Nate Kingz, and Da'John Craig - entering the transfer portal, Wayne Tinkle and his team are deep in preparations for The Crown, a new postseason invitational put together by Fox Sports. The opening round Tuesday pits Oregon State against UCF. To survive and advance, the Beavers need to find their way without Rataj, Kingz, or Craig.
Below is a breakdown on the Oregon State roster after those three losses, and a forecast of the team's starting lineup against UCF.
Guards
Thankfully, for now, the Beavers still have senior point guard Damarco Minor. The Chicago native found his stride late in the season, with 22 points in the West Coast Conference quarterfinal loss to Pepperdine, plus double-digit point tallies in 8 WCC regular season games.
Without Kingz, expect Liutaraus Lelevicius to play alongside Minor. The 6'7" redshirt sophomore from Lithuania is a streaky shooter, averaging 38% from deep despite five separate 0% three point shooting games in conference play alone, whose defense might have turned the corner. Affectionately known as LT, Lelevicius has a pair of blocks in back-to-back games.
Behind them, Tualatin's own Josiah Lake II will be expected to spell Minor at the point, and Craig's departure may free up minutes for Ja'Quavis Williford. The 6'7" freshman earned a season-high 12 minutes in the season opener against NCAA DII Western Oregon. Since then, he's only played an additional 43 minutes across 10 games, most recently playing mop-up duty January 4th against San Diego.
Wings
There's no sugar-coating this: Michael Rataj's absence will be devastating. Behind Isaiah Sy, the Beavers have 6'9" French sophomore Maxim Logue, 6'7" redshirt freshman Grey Garrison, 6'6" Turkish freshman Kaan Yarkut, 6'11" Danish freshman Johan Munch, and 7'0" Gavin Marrs. Aside from Sy, none of those forwards have played significant minutes this season.
On paper, Logue should line up next to Sy - the frenchman notched a high of 16 minutes in January 25th's win over Santa Clara - but he hasn't seen game action all March.
Center
The Beavers still have Parsa Fallah. They will need him Tuesday. The 6'9" center from Iran is capable of taking over games - in the last week of February he had 24 points against Pepperdine and 24 points against San Diego - and the Beavers will likely lean heavily on him in Michael Rataj's absence.
Behind Fallah, English senior Matthew Marsh will see at least one more send-off game before graduating, and Québécois sophomore Thomas Ndong might see a jolt in minutes. At 6'10" and 245 pounds, Ndong remains a raw prospect, but the Team Canada youth player shows promise.
Projected Starting Five
PG - Damarco Minor
SG - Liutaraus Lelevicius
W - Isaiah Sy
W - Maxim Logue
C - Parsa Fallah
More Reading Material From Oregon State Beavers On SI
Matt fell in love with radio during his college days at Oregon Tech, and pursued a nine year career in sports broadcasting with Klamath Falls' and Medford's highest-rated sports radio stations. He currently lives in McMinnville wine country and is excited to talk about the Beavers again.