The Oregon men’s basketball team met the media Thursday, the day before practices began and just more than two weeks from its first game of the season, an exhibition game at McArthur Court against neighbor Northwest Christian University on Nov. 2.
The team is the youngest in recent memory, featuring eight freshmen – more than half of the fifteen-man roster.
“I’m pretty sure it is the youngest group we’ve ever started with, with one of the most challenging schedules we’ve ever played as well,” Kent said. “The good thing about all of that is they’re young, they have a lot of energy.”
With that youthful energy come positives and negatives. On the one hand, they work hard and have fun doing it, said Kent, but “sometimes we’re going to have to corral that energy, I can already see that.
“We’re hoping we can use that and channel that in a very positive way,” he said. “There’s going to be moments where they’re going to struggle at times, just in terms of all the learning and everything that’s going to be thrown at them, but in time they’re going to be a very good basketball team.”
The youth of the team may mean some growing pains this season, but coaching a young team is something that excites the coaching staff, Kent said.
“You get to reshape a team, redirect them,” he said. “The good thing for us is their energy is very good right now. They’re in a spot right now where they want to do everything exactly like you tell them to do it, and that’s a good place to have a young team early.
“They’ve got a lot of work ahead of them but they’ve got a lot of energy and are headed in a pretty good direction right now,” he said.
The incoming group features three players from the Chicago AAU team “Mean Streets,” center Michael Dunigan, forward Josh Crittle and guard Matthew Humphrey. The fact they have played with junior forward Joevan Catron and with each other extensively in the past will help get them off and running quickly this season, said Kent.
“We’ve gotten together a couple of times, and the thing that I’ve noticed already is you don’t want to give them too much stuff because they have a pretty good feel of how to play,” he said. “The fact that four of those guys have played together for years … That’s a huge advantage. It’s not like they’re coming in the door and are just now seeing each other for the first time.”
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