Arik Armstead arrived in Eugene last spring as a blue chip recruit surrounded by a ton of hype and promise. While he served his smaller role dutifully this past season, some fans were left wondering where that game-changing presence was like De’Anthony Thomas had shown as a true freshman. Perhaps Oregon didn’t need another game changer as guys like Kiko …
Ducks Return to the Madness of March
Welcome back to the NCAA Tourney fray, Oregon fans. After a 5-year hiatus, it’s nice to see the Ducks back in the bracket. That being said, I’ll spend a brief moment addressing the unforgivable seeding awarded to Oregon. Pac-12 boss Larry Scott should be seething at the fact that his conference tourney winner was dumped into a 12 seed. There’s no …
Recruiting Update: Oregon Looking to Re-Unite Teammates from the Deep South
Basketball Recruiting News With Oregon set to begin its tournament run this coming Thursday, west-coast big man and prized Duck target Aaron Gordon (5-Star/San Jose, CA/Rivals150) quietly set his announcement date for April 3rd at the McDonald’s All-American Game. The 6’8″, 205 lb. low post behemoth re-added the Ducks late in the recruiting cycle and is now thought to be …
Madness in the Committee
The thought that crossed my mind when the tournament bracket was released on CBS and I saw Oregon’s No.12 seed was, “What are they smoking?” The second thing was, “Why does every MAJOR SELECTION COMMITTEE NOT LIKE OREGON??” Oregon sports have been on a major upswing over the last few years, but the national perception of Oregon sports hasn’t caught up to …
Loyd’s ‘Outstanding’ Homecoming Leads Ducks to Pac-12 Championship
LAS VEGAS, Nev. – You couldn’t write a better script. The local high school star comes back to his hometown and comes off the bench to lead his college team to a major conference championship, and along the way, picks up the tournament Most Outstanding Player award. Johnathan Loyd, a Las Vegas native son, came off Oregon’s bench for the …
Ducks Pay Back Utah and Gain Another Chance to Claim a Pac-12 Title
LAS VEGAS, Nev. – Utah ended Oregon’s goal of winning the regular season conference championship a week ago in the final Pac-12 game in Salt Lake City with a stifling performance against a flat and uninspired Duck effort. Last night in semifinal action from the MGM Grand Garden Arena, in No. 10-seed Utah’s third game in three nights, Oregon got …
Marching to Insanity
I hate to be the one to break it to you, but the definition of insanity is NOT doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result. That’s the definition that your know-it-all brother-in-law will bring out if he disagrees with you about something. The actual definition is: adjective: suffering from severe mental illness (i.e., psychotic disorders like …
Loyd’s FT’s Force OT and Kazemi Wakes Up to Help Ducks Advance to Pac-12 Semifinals
LAS VEGAS, Nev. – First, Johnny Loyd made two critical free throws to tie the score and send the game into overtime. Then, Arsalan Kazemi awakened from a two-and a-half-game funk in time to score 11 points and grab three rebounds in the extra period to lead the Ducks into the semifinals of the Pac-12 Tournament Wednesday night with a …
Oregon Basketball Analysis: What a Difference One Rocky Road Trip Makes
LAS VEGAS– Who was that team disguised in Oregon basketball uniforms playing at Colorado and Utah in the last round of Pac-12 regular season games? Certainly not the team Duck fans have learned to know this season and definitely not the same team that piled up 23 wins. Most assuredly, it wasn’t the same one that led the conference for …
Here Comes the Madness–Vegas Baby!
Going into the last week of the regular season Oregon was on top of the PAC-12 and poised to win it. That was not to be, as the Ducks turned in back-to-back losses to Colorado and Utah last week, dropping Oregon into a 3-way tie for 2nd place in the PAC-12 and out of the AP Top 25 rankings. While …
Utah Seniors Wash Away Oregon’s Pac-12 Title Hopes
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Jason Washburn threw the first punch. His 15 first-half points left the Ducks shaken, dazed, and behind 44-30 at the break. Then Jarred DuBois knocked the Ducks out. His late, clutch shooting display helped the lowly Utes maintain their wire-to-wire lead and provided a monumental upset on the last day of the regular season. The …
Tourneys Loom As Oregon Stumbles
With Saturday’s loss at Utah, Oregon is officially backing into the PAC-12 tournament, riding a two-game losing streak, and facing a mounting list of questions about where this team stands. With a regular season conference title staring them right in the eye, Oregon laid down in the face of a challenge, falling to a lowly Utes team that is headed home …