‘We’re not getting better:’ Dana Altman is brutally honest about Oregon Ducks basketball
Coming into the Oregon Ducks 2021-22 men’s basketball period, there were some very high expectations. A large amount of new pieces were on the roster, but with Dana Altman at the helm, and veteran guard Will Richardson returning, a prime-fifteen rating and projections deep into the NCAA Tournament were not outlandish.
A thirty day period into the period, the benefits have subverted all those expectations by a massive margin. Oregon is at the moment 5-4 with blowout losses to BYU, Saint Mary’s, and Houston. Their fourth defeat, a close 69-67 OT match in opposition to Arizona State, came in opposition to a single of the worst groups in the Pac-12 meeting. This is certainly not the product that we expected to see on the floor at Matthew Knight Arena.
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We knew it would consider a minimal bit of time for Altman to assemble this Rubix Dice and get the staff taking part in profitable basketball, but no one expected the lows to be this significantly down in the basement.
“We’re making essential errors that must not be created on December 8th. Probably on November ninth when we perform our very first match,” Altman mentioned in a push meeting on Wednesday. “We’re not finding better.”
1 of the main troubles for the Ducks is that their star players are not taking part in like stars at the moment. Richardson, who has been amid the team’s major scorers around the past couple of seasons, is often having difficulties to locate the bottom of the internet.
The many proficient transfers to occur to Eugene are not executing a great deal better. So significantly, both of those Jacob Youthful (nine.seven ppg) and De’Vion Harmon (8.seven ppg) are having difficulties to have the influence that we projected, and Quincy Guerrier (6.2 ppg, 4.8 rpg) is taking part in way below his ceiling that we noticed at Syracuse. All of this has led to a form of malaise settling around the staff in the thirty day period of December.
“Everybody’s a minimal down,” Altman mentioned. “As rivals, you know you have underperformed, and that bothers you. So you have bought to combat you, bought to contend. And I explained to them it is not going to be simple to get it back again. It’s not like turning on the light-weight change fellas. We’re going to have to battle our tails off to get it back again, and you are going to have to display excellent take care of to get it done. And I’d like to say I nevertheless imagine they will, but it is not going to be simple.”
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In the course of the period, the Ducks have demonstrated much more than a couple of bright places, like a blazing start out to the yr exactly where they had big wins around Texas Southern and SMU. They were also equipped to blow out Montana and dispatch with UC Riverside. The highs have been remarkable, but the lows have been hard to enjoy. We know from viewing that the talent is there to be a actually very good staff, but the consistency is what’s lacking.
“Do I imagine we can switch this all around speedily? Likely not,” Altman mentioned. “You know this is one thing we’re going to have to do just about every day in practice and for a lengthy time to be a regular staff. Can we have some bright moments? Yea, but we’re going to have some moments for the reason that we just do not have the patterns essential to have that consistency. And which is been confirmed in games, it is just not my feeling. That is been confirmed.”
Coming up, Oregon is going to have some hard tests on the routine. They journey to Stanford on Sunday and then host Portland on Tuesday — two games that are very winnable must they perform to their possible. On Friday, though, the No. 2 Baylor Bears occur to town for an early-period clash. Prior to the period started, this seemed to be arguably the premier match of the yr now it might appear like a better notion to enjoy with your eyes partially covered.
The Ducks may well occur out and shock us, supplying Baylor a examination deep in the woods. They certainly have the talent to perform with some of the prime groups in the nation, but a lack of consistency has us questioning which staff is going to display up on any offered night time. Will it be the sharp-shooting device that downed a future tournament staff in SMU? Or the inept offensive squad who failed to rating 20 factors in the very first half for the duration of three of four games past thirty day period?
That is certainly the million-greenback question for Dana Altman, and following chatting to him on Wednesday, he of course isn’t shy to give you an sincere remedy.
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