CORVALLIS, Ore. — Barack Obama isn’t the only member of the first family preaching change.

Like his brother-in-law’s impending struggle to solve the national economic crisis, Oregon State coach Craig Robinson will likely need more than a year to bring any semblance of winning to a downtrodden Beavers program.

Seated in front of reporters Saturday night following UW’s 85-59 win at Gill Coliseum, both Robinson and OSU guard Seth Tarver talked about fears of regressing to last year’s standards, when the Beavers were routinely blown out on their way to a winless Pac-10 season.

As disappointing as the loss was, Robinson said he will have to follow his own advice.

“I’ve been telling guys all season that this is a process, and that it’s not a straight-sloping curve up,” Robinson, a former investment banker, said. “It’s going to take some ups and downs. Today was one of those days when the market was down.”

Despite another slow start to the season by Oregon State (6-10, 1-5 Pac-10), the Beavers showed Washington early on that they were much improved from last year, going up 17-10 with less than nine minutes remaining in the first half.

And, to observers close to the OSU program, as well as outside it, this Robinson-led squad is making big strides. After initially losing to the likes of Howard University, the Beavers bounced back with notable wins against Nebraska and USC, a team that most figured would sit in the upper echelon of this year’s Pac-10.

OSU’s Seth Tarver told Husky forward Jon Brockman before the start of the season that Robinson had helped change the posture of the team — and not just in the basketball sense.

“It’s school, it’s college life, it’s just their whole attitude and their whole mindset,” Brockman said.

Robinson set the tone early for his team — preseason workouts began at 5:30 a.m. and, reportedly, hats and earrings are no longer allowed. As the leader of a program that hasn’t tasted an NCAA tournament since Gary Payton’s senior year in 1989-1990, Robinson emanated school pride at the Democratic National Convention in August.

“And today I’m proud to be the coach of the Oregon State men’s basketball team,” Robinson said as he introduced his sister, Michelle Obama, while sporting a Beaver-orange tie. “Go Beavs!”

Of course, he would’ve preferred to fly to Washington, D.C. for today’s inauguration with a win against Washington, but Robinson said the loss won’t “dampen the excitement I have for heading out there for this historic event.”

Robinson said he’ll try to pay attention to the inauguration today, but that his thoughts will very likely drift toward Thursday’s matchup at Cal.

“I’m sure at the [Inaugural] Balls, though, I’ll be shaking hands with some people and thinking, ‘How are we going to stop the [Jerome] Randle kid from shooting threes and [stop] the rest of the players?’” Robinson said.

Reach reporter Maks Goldenshteyn at sports@dailyuw.com.