Big goals have been set by the Oregon State men's basketball team.

The Beavers finished 18-18 last year and won the College Basketball Invitational tournament.

Next? The NCAA tournament, of course.

"Coming off the season we had with the coaches we have and the players we have and the new added players, there's no doubt in my mind that we can make the NCAA tournament," guard Calvin Haynes said. "That's the only thing we're shooting for."

It doesn't take a big stretch of the imagination. The Beavers had a big turnaround last year, rebounding from a brutal 2007-08 season when OSU was winless in the Pacific-10 Conference.

In stepped Craig Robinson and it was a matter of time before the Beavers bought into his Princeton-style offense. Eventually, the wins came.

"Last year at this time we were hoping that we'd win one league game and try and win as many nonconference games as we could," Robinson said. "This year we're talking about making the NCAA tournament and improving on a year that we had last year.

"There is an air of expectation. You'll see moreso than last year trying to manage people's expectations because I think the expectations out there are a little higher than what they should be, but that's OK.

"You want to end up being that program that you think has a chance of being really good and with that comes the downside of disappointment. So it's a different feel this year."

Now the Beavers are back with nearly their entire roster intact. Starting guard Rickey Claitt is gone, but Haynes, Roeland Schaftenaar, Daniel Deane, Omari Johnson, Josh and Seth Tarver, Lathen Wallace and Kevin McShane all started games last year and return. Also back is Calvin Hampton.

They've all worked on getting better during the offseason and Schaftenaar is also bigger.

Joining them are freshmen Joe Burton, Angus Brandt, Jared Cunningham, Roberto Nelson and Rhys Murphy. The group of recruits was ranked as high as No. 8 in the country.

The returning players are excited about the potential of their new teammates.

"Roberto Nelson can shoot the ball very, very well," Haynes said. "He has very, very good awareness of what's on the floor and what we need to do to score a basket.

"Even defensive-wise, he picks his spots very well. Jared's very athletic, he can jump out of the gym."

Josh Tarver said 6-foot-7, 295-pound Joe Burton will wow fans with his passing and athleticism for his size.

"His passing ability is amazing. He sees the floor better than anybody and he passes better than anybody I've seen," Tarver said. "He might be a Kevin Love-type player with the passing ability. For his size and how he moves and how light he is on his feet is amazing to me. He's a guy who understands the game and he's going to help us out a lot in rebounding and passing."

With the freshmen, the Beavers have 13 scholarship players and three walk-ons. That should translate to a deep team.

"Last year, we always started out games really well with a lot of high energy and probably by the time we got to the Saturday game we'd be exhausted by the middle of the first half," Robinson said. "We have bigger numbers. We probably added, in every single spot, a little bit more athleticism in this recruiting class."

That added depth should enable the Beavers to expand their defensive options if they're so inclined.

Josh Tarver said the Beavers can pressure more and possibly go to an extended 1-3-1 or man-to-man full-court press at times.

"Because we have a lot more guys and the guys that are coming off the bench are just as athletic as other guys, maybe more, and that's going to help us out the entire 40 minutes," he said. "If we play hard defense the whole time it's going to be hard on other teams that are not as deep and don't have the players.

"We know that we have the players throughout the whole game and that's going to affect the other team."

The freshman can ease in and don't have to take the burden of the high expectations. Tarver said the Beavers are not worried about what people think, but they're excited about being highly regarded.

"For us, we have to work hard and we believe that we're going to finish up there," he said. "It's just a matter of proving to everybody that they're right."