Dana Altman is Working Another Miracle

Darren Perkins Editorials

After a mid-December loss to Stanford, the Oregon men’s basketball team stood at 5-5 (0-2 in Pac-12) and appeared lifeless, out-of-sync, incoherent and listless. I could go on. Even the most adamant of Dana Altman backers, such as myself, were resigned to this season being a rebuild.

Altman, who seemingly every year starts with a motley crew of a roster that starts slow but finishes strong, seemed lost on the sideline early in the season. Sound, if not blowout losses to BYU, Houston and St. Mary’s had Oregon fans believing that this was going to be a very long, long season. Not even the magic of Altman could save this season for a chance at the big dance.

But, then, something happened.

Will Richardson has been red hot for Oregon.

The Ducks reeled off six straight wins, including back-to-back top 5 wins over UCLA and USC, and suddenly the idea of them being in the NCAA Tournament does not seem ridiculous. There is still plenty of work to do, and no matter what happens the Ducks are still positioning themselves for next year to provide a solid supporting cast around 5-star, and potential first-round picks, center Kel’el Ware and point guard Dior Johnson. Along with these two blue-chips, the Ducks will also be welcoming leading junior college scorer, shooting guard Tyrone Williams. But, this is not to say that the Ducks have nothing to play for in 2022

Could the miracle that was the 2018-19 season reappear? A season in which the Ducks also started 11-6 but finished the season by winning 10 of their final 11 games, which included a Pac-12 Championship and trip to the Sweet 16. Keep your seat belts latched as Altman looks to once again wave his magic wand across the Oregon hardwood.

Darren Perkins
Spokane, WA
Top photo credit: Twitter

New 2024 FishDuck Publishing Schedule….

During the off-season the FishDuck.com publishing schedule will consist of articles on Mondays and Tuesdays. Do keep checking as new articles could be published during the week when a writer has something to say.

In mid-August of 2024, we will go back to the seven-days-a-week of articles during the football season as we did in the football season of 2023.

The Our Beloved Ducks Forum (OBD) is where we we discuss the article above and many more topics, as it is so much easier in a message board format over there.  At the free OBD forum we will be posting Oregon Sports article links, the daily Press Releases from the Athletic Department and the news coming out every day.

Our 33 rules at the free OBD Forum can be summarized to this: 1) be polite and respectful, 2) do not tell anyone what to think, feel or write, and 3) no reference of any kind to politics. Easy-peasy!

OBD Forum members….we got your back.  No Trolls Allowed!