Alright Ducks fans. It’s a bummer out there. Almost everywhere you look, there is no sports coverage.
Nada. Zippo. Diddly squat.
So, what are you going to do? Well, I got two words for you: Buck up. When the real world fails you, it’s time to retreat into the pleasures and delights of Fantasyland.
After a day of perusing Twitter, desperately searching (unsuccessfully) for any sporting-type event featuring human beings and a ball, I came across a tweet from 247 Sports Oregon writer Matt Prehm. Prehm’s tweet essentially asked fans, “Who is your fantasy Oregon basketball team?”
The rules were simple: Build your Oregon basketball super team, but you can’t have two players who played on the same team. For example, you couldn’t have Jordan Bell and Dillon Brooks. Easy right?
Build your Oregon basketball super team, but you’re not allowed to have anyone who played with someone else on the team. So you can’t say Jordan Bell at C and Payton Pritchard at PG.
My team:
G – Terrell Brandon
G – Ron Lee
F – Luke Jackson
F – Maarty Leunen
C – Jordan Bell— Matt Prehm (@MattPrehm) March 20, 2020
So, who made it on my Oregon super basketball team?
Here it goes:
G – Luke Ridnour — Arguably one of the most dynamic guards in Oregon Ducks basketball history, Ridnour was electric. He tallied 1399 career points, 500 career assists, and finished with a career free-throw average of nearly 86%, ranking fifth in the Pac-10. During his final season, Ridnour ranked first in the conference in both free-throw percentage (88%) and free-throw attempts (471). Just in case you missed out on watching him play alongside teammates Luke Jackson and Fred Jones at MacArthur Court, Ridnour and company had those old wooden bleachers squeakin’ and rockin’.
G – Aaron Brooks — Brooks, a native of Seattle, Washington, was a four-year starter for the Ducks and replaced the vacancy left by Luke Ridnour. Brooks averaged 13 points, 3.5 rebounds and four assists per game. In his final season, Brooks led the Ducks to a 29-8 overall record, scoring 621 points and grabbing 149 rebounds, 48 steals, and six blocks. Also, during his senior campaign, Brooks shot a mindblowing 40% from beyond the arc.
Sorry folks. I love Payton Pritchard, but he didn’t make my fantasy team.
C – Bol Bol — After a disappointing injury early in the season, Bol’s brief career at Oregon was disappointing to say the least. However, the numbers he posted during his short tenure were remarkable, suggesting he would have had a fantastic single season with Ducks if he had remained healthy. Over the course of nine games, Bol led the Ducks in scoring (21 ppg), rebounding (9.6 ppg) and blocks (2.7 ppg) and scored in double figures every game. Bol was also the first and only Oregon freshman to start his career with back-to-back double-doubles. Whoa, man.
F – Chris Boucher — After tearing his ACL during his senior season, Boucher finished his Oregon career ranked second in UO blocked shots (189). With the Ducks, Boucher averaged 12.0 points and 6.8 rebounds per game, scoring 825 career points. One of his most memorable accomplishments while playing at Oregon was finishing with not just one, but four of the top six single-game blocked shots records in school history.
F – Greg Ballard — Between 1973 and 1977, Ballard set the school record with 1,114 career rebounds, and he still holds the record today. Ballard also holds the Ducks’ single-game scoring record of 43 points against Oral Roberts in 1977, and he scored 1,829 career points, ranking fourth in Oregon history. The man was a legend.
Don’t be a Debbie-downer, Ducks fans. Who made it on your Oregon super men’s basketball team?
Jordan Ingram
San Diego, California
Top photo by Gary Breedlove
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Jordan is a lifelong Duck fan currently living in San Diego. Jordan graduated from The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, after serving a prestigious fellowship with the Washington State House of Representatives. Upon graduation, he worked as an English language teaching assistant for the Spanish Ministry of Education’s Ambassadorial Program in Monforte de Lemos, Spain. Jordan has worked as a journalist, writer, and editor in Oregon, Washington, Montana, and California, covering a wide range of topics, including sports, local politics, and crime. He is VERY excited to be writing about his beloved Oregon Ducks.