McLaughlin: Oregon Basketball Was Really Close — But Will Get Closer
By SPENCER McLAUGHLIN
Contributor, 750 The Game
Oregon fans have to be sick of this cycle by now, at least some of them anyway. Which cycle is that specifically?
Have the resources to compete. A team assembles in the offseason that clearly has the ability to make a legitimate postseason run. Watch an entire season that excites you because you see how great the team can be. Even those outside Eugene can see what is possible.
Then have it end with postseason heartbreak and a swift realization that another shot to have that one special season has been missed.
Which team am I talking about? Football, or Men’s Basketball? The story is sadly applicable to both. This piece is going to end on a positive note, I promise.
Dana Altman’s squad was up 19-4 before Arizona could put on its pants Sunday night in Seattle. The Ducks were active on defense, hitting shots, and getting buckets from a variety of sources. It looked exactly like the Dana Altman team that had won 8 straight games to end the regular season. The same Oregon team that held wins over two teams that advanced to the Sweet 16 earlier that day, Alabama and Maryland.
Instead, 87 points and 10 missed free throws are going to keep Dana Altman up at night for a few weeks. Arizona’s Caleb Love was magnificent with 29 points and huge triples down the stretch. Amidst Oregon surrendering its early advantage, they had a chance late in the game. TJ Bamba had a hook shot to tie the game with 30 seconds to go, but it didn’t fall. Oregon’s activity on the offensive glass was scarce as long as Tobe Awaka was in the front court for the Wildcats, so no second chance arose.
The officiating was bad in the first half. I’m not sure who Nate Bittle ticked off in the world of refs, but he couldn’t buy a call all night or seemingly all season–at either end of the floor. Still, the game ended with 37 fouls called between the 2 sides.
18 against Oregon, 19 against Arizona. That’s as balanced as you can hope for in the box score.
Jackson Shelstad was brilliant with 25 points. Should he have been taking the shot late in the game down by 2 with less than a minute to play? Maybe, but Arizona was throwing length at him and Bamba had a higher chance of getting a quality look–which he did.
So what should Duck fans make of another postseason disappointment in which they’re asking themselves “what if?” about 2-3 aspects of the game? A couple of things stand out.
First, there are some big decisions to come down for next year. Will Nate Bittle come back for a 5th season? Is Shelstad for sure turning down the NBA? Will KJ Evans return and finally become a 10-15ppg scorer? They know they’re getting back Bam Tracey and Jamari Phillips (who seldom played), but those are role players on an NCAA Tournament team.
Second, the program is on an upward swing under Dana Altman, age 66. He’s not retiring, nor should he. After a magical Pac-12 Tournament run to make the big dance last year, Oregon left no doubt with several high profile wins to earn their highest seed (5) since they went to the Final Four in 2016-17 as a (3) seed. Shelstad, Bittle, and Evans are an incredibly strong core to begin building another tournament team.
There’s work to be done replacing TJ Bamba, Brandon Angel, and Keeshawn Barthelemy. Those guys were huge this year, especially Bamba down the stretch. Barthelemy hit timely buckets all year. And Angel could give you a nice scoring burst from time to time.
This Oregon team could have made a run to the Final Four. They also could have lost in the first round, but they trounced (12) Liberty instead. I’m not shocked their run ended sooner than it needed to, but the trajectory under the Ducks’ winningest all-time coach is going one direction right now:
Up.
Spencer McLaughlin is an Oregon Ducks football contributor to 750 The Game. He also hosts the “Locked On Oregon Ducks” and “Locked On College Football” podcasts and has work featured throughout the season here.