by PAUL BUKER, The Oregonian , The Oregonian

continues in CBI finals Both teams

like idea of

3-game series

PAUL BUKER

CORVALLIS --In their wildest dreams, the Oregon State players who were the laughingstock of college basketball last season could not fathom playing for a tournament championship this season, or being the last Pacific-10 Conference team left standing in the postseason.

Excuse them if they pinch themselves this morning, knowing that when March turns to April, they won't be at the Dixon Rec Center playing pickup games, they will be playing in Game 2 of a championship series.

"Amazing," said first-year coach Craig Robinson, whose team opens the College Basketball Invitational's best-of-three finals tonight at Gill Coliseum against Texas-El Paso (22-12) of Conference USA .

Game 2 of the series and Game 3, if necessary, will be at UTEP.

"My body is ready to shut down," Robinson said. "I've never coached, or played, this late in the season before."

After getting bounced from the Pac - 10 tournament with a 13-17 record and a four-game losing streak, the Beavers (16-17) lobbied for an invitation to the 16-team CBI. They have made the most of it, beating Houston, Vermont and Stanford to reach the finals series, each time coming from behind.

The Vermont and Stanford games went down to the last possession in overtime. The Beavers, who doggedly work their 1-3-1 and 2-3 zones and patient ball-screen offense, managed to come up with the big shot, or big defensive play, each time.

"Being behind doesn't faze them," Robinson said of his players. "I mean, the calmness they show, whether they're seven down, or 15 down. . . . They know that if they run their stuff, they can chip into the lead and come back."

Robinson pushed hard for the CBI, despite its low-profile and dubious significance, knowing that potentially it could give the program a jump-start for next season, when his top-25 recruiting class arrives and, in Robinson's words, "we'll have some depth. We can push the ball, we can press, we can do all the things we couldn't do this year."

Knocking off three 20-win teams to reach the CBI finals has Oregon State players thinking anything is possible next season, when they will add touted recruits such as 6-foot-7, 260-pound center Joe Burton and four-star guards Roberto Nelson and Jared Cunningham.

"None of us liked the way it ended (at the Pac - 10 tournament)," OSU guard Josh Tarver said. "This has helped us regain our confidence and proven to people that we can win games. . . . We think we're going to be good enough to finish in the top half of the conference next year. We think we can make the NCAA Tournament."

OSU and UTEP players applaud the concept of being in a three-game series instead of a one-game, winner-take-all championship game.

"Everybody wants to pretend like they're in the NBA," Robinson said.

Calvin Haynes, the Beavers' leading scorer, wishes it was a best-of-seven series.

"Hey, man, it's everybody's dream," said Haynes, who has made several big shots in the tournament.

Haynes said if this were the NBA, the Beavers would be the Lakers (his hometown team) and UTEP would be Boston or Cleveland.

And if that were true, the Lakers would be underdogs.

A young UTEP team might be a year away from being a Conference USA title contender and reaching the NCAA Tournament, but it has to be considered the CBI finals favorite with the series finishing in El Paso.

The Miners are big and quick, featuring the nation's fifth-leading scorer in 6-5 senior guard Stefon Jackson, who averages 24.6 points and goes by the nickname D.J., short for "Draining Jumpers."

UTEP also has 6-foot guard Randy Culpepper, whose vertical leap might remind OSU fans of Haynes' rim-level acrobatics. Culpepper averages 17.5 points.

"We've got to figure out a way to stop those guys," Robinson said of the explosive UTEP guards.

Haynes said the Beavers feel if they "run their stuff," play good defense and rebound, this will be another close, down-to-the-wire game. And if that happens, a crowd of 5,000-plus at Gill Coliseum might swing it OSU's way.

"Our fans," Robinson said, "have been fantastic. . . . they have really gotten into this thing."

Paul Buker: 503-221-8167;

paulbuker@news.oregonian.com

To read his OSU blog, go to

http://blog.oregonlive.com/

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