Gazette-Times Reporter

Oregon State athletic director Bob De Carolis still believes in men’s basketball coach Jay John, even though the Beavers are struggling through a losing season with three blowouts of 40-plus points and are in ninth place in the Pacific-10 Conference.

John and De Carolis are upset with the way the season has gone, but expected a rebuilding season with only one scholarship senior.

It turned out more difficult than imagined with a 10-16 record and 11 losses in the last 13 games, but John’s work will continue into next season, De Carolis said Monday.

“Jay’s our man,” De Carolis said. “I have full confidence he’ll get it turned around. We’ll support him to get it turned around. The players are frustrated, he’s frustrated and we all are. But they are all working hard. I’m comfortable with that, and plan to go with this staff for next season.”

Questions arose from the fan base about the team in recent weeks. The Beavers are on the way to their fourth losing season in John’s five seasons guiding the Beavers.

He’s in the second season of a five-year deal that was an extension of his original contract at the beginning of last season.

There was a solid nonconference season, with the exception of a 44-point loss at Hawaii. The Beavers also felt they should have won a game against Fresno State.

Playing in the Pac-10, however, is more difficult. RPI and Sagarin Ratings have ranked the conference in the top two in the country most of the season.

The Beavers are 2-11 in the conference, with a 45-point loss to Southern California at home and a 47-point loss at UCLA.

“I think we are on the right track, but a lot of it has been slower than people hoped for,” De Carolis said. “I don’t worry about the comments. I still had people wanting to fire (football coach) Mike Riley after the team went 10-4. So what does that mean?”

John steadily developed the program in his first two seasons that led to him taking the team to the National Invitation Tournament in Season 3.

It was the first winning season for the program since the 1989-90 season, and first postseason appearance since then. It took three coaching changes to reach that point.

There were high hopes for last season with four seniors back, but as the team hit its stride, point guard Lamar Hurd went down with a season-ending groin injury in the middle of the Pac-10 season. That led to another losing campaign.

Last season’s struggles have made the current problems tougher to bear.

“There are bits and pieces there now, but it takes some confidence,” De Carolis said. “Last weekend was a good sign (defeating Arizona State). We just have to win some games in the rest of the season, gain some confidence and get better for next year.”

Redshirt freshman point guard Josh Tarver has been the team’s steadiest player. While he was forced into that much action out of necessity, freshmen of the future such as Roeland Schaftenaar, Calvin Hampton and Seth Tarver have been eased into games and improved.

Veteran players expected to be back such as Marcel Jones and Jack McGillis have added to their game. Combine them with another year’s growth with the younger players, four new recruits and two standout redshirts in Lathen Wallace and five-star transfer C.J. Giles, De Carolis has hope for next season.

“We have to gain experience,” De Carolis said. “We have a lot of young players getting better, and the addition of C.J. Giles can be something that can turn it around.”

The Beavers have only defeated last-place Arizona State in Pac-10 games. Saturday’s victory over the Sun Devils snapped a seven-game losing streak, which was the longest in John’s tenure.

Five regular season game remain, beginning with a two-game trip to the Bay Area this weekend, followed by the conference tournament. Barring winning the Pac-10 tournament for an NCAA Tournament berth, the season should end there.

“We believe with the five games left in the regular season, we can win them,” John said after Saturday’s game.

And if not, he still has next season.