Tinkle can coach, we know that, but can he recruit against some of the best basketball schools this side of the Atlantic Coast Conference--UCLA, Arizona, Oregon, Washington? So far his major recruits have been his son, Tres, and Stephen Thompson Jr., son of assistant coach Stephen Thompson. Their best player last year, Gary Payton Jr., was the son of maybe the best player ever at Oregon State, his Dad, Gary Payton. Corvallis is not the most exciting place to play, and Oregon is not the recruiting hotbed that Southern California, the Bay Area and the Seattle area are. So the question for me is, how long can you last on legacy players like Payton, or sons of coaches like Tres and Stephen Thompson? The Kendal Manuel story, he of Skyview High in Billings, is a good one, but is he to the talent level of the other major schools in the conference? I don't think DeCuire thought so, though I do not have the inside skinny.
But there are several good things in Tinks's favor. Tres should get a medical redshirt year, leaving him three remaining years of eligibility, and he is good, good, good, better than I ever thought he would be at the collegiate level. The rest of the team is young; Thompson is only a sophomore. And don't forget that a lot of the Pac12 talent goes one-and-done, as Lonzo Ball at UCLA surely will, meaning Tinks should have an experienced team facing off against a lot of true freshmen in the rest of the conference.
For me, a fascinating story. At the very least, Tinks got the money he so richly deserved, as will Tres. Hopefully they will all eventually retire to Montana in style, a state I know they love.
