The Ducks with Anthony Bennett

Imagine a front-court that featured the developing Tony Woods, Waverly Austin and the rebounding machine that is Kazemi, and also included the best freshman in the country in Anthony Bennett.

Kazemi, among others would have benefited greatly form Anthony Bennett’s post presence.

It wasn’t too long ago that Bennett (the #7 rated player in the country according to ESPN) was deciding between a revived UNLV program and an Oregon program that has unlimited resources in its arsenal and truly makes kids feel special.   His averages of 18.5 ppg and 8.7 rebounds per game are not only as good as it gets for freshmen, but rank among the top in the country.  Can you say lottery pick?  While we all know that Bennett decided to take “his talents” to Vegas, lets briefly look at just how good this Ducks basketball team would have been had he come to Eugene.

A projected starting lineup of Dominic Artis, Damyean Dotson, E.J. Singler, Bennett, and Tony Woods would be more than formidable.  Factor in Jonathon Lloyd, Carlos Emory, Waverly Austin, and Arsalan Kazemi off the bench and you’ve got a certain National Championship contender.  We’ll never know if that talented team on paper would have translated to success on the court, but it sure would have made the Ducks that much deeper and further terrifying to face. 

 The Ducks are already the Pac-12 leaders; add Bennett, his inside/out game, his strength, and non-stop motor and you have the makings of a title contender.  We are getting an inkling of what the Ducks are capable of without Bennett (dispatching of UNLV, Arizona, and UCLA), but one question that remains is just how far could the Ducks have gone with Anthony Bennett forcing double teams on the block?  Of course the other question that remains is how far will the Ducks go without Anthony Bennett.