No matter how highly ranked a recruiting class is, a team is going to have a rough time trying to replace three talented seniors with four inexperienced freshmen.
That was a point emphasized this past season, as the Oregon men’s basketball team finished off a ho-hum, disappointing year with a tied-for-sixth place standing in the Pacific-10 Conference.
The Ducks (14-14 overall, 5-13 Pac-10) truly thought they could be the surprise team in the league and scoffed at critics who predicted them to finish sixth or seventh.
Granted, the Ducks knew that the loss of departed seniors Alex Scales, Darius Wright and A.D. Smith would be huge.
But with the returning nucleus of Freddie Jones, Bryan Bracey and Anthony Norwood, as well as a recruiting class that was ranked No. 1 in the West, the belief of the group was that a second straight trip to the NCAA Tournament was in their future.
As head coach Ernie Kent said at the annual media day in October, “They see what we lost, but they don’t understand all of the inner workings,” said Kent in regards to the critics. “Do the players get along? Are they on the same page? That is what I’m concerned with.”
Kent’s optimism would only grow once the season began and the Ducks won their first six games en route to a 9-1 preseason start. They were even impressive in their only defeat, a 101-97 overtime loss to Auburn at the Las Vegas Showdown.
But then the loss of the three seniors that accounted for 54 percent of its scoring and 37 percent of its rebounding the year before began to take its toll.
“Experience is a big factor,” Oregon assistant coach Greg Graham said. “Those three seniors had the experience in close games that makes all the difference. They knew what plays to make and when to make them.”
After beating Oregon State at home to open the Pac-10 slate, the Ducks embarked on a road trip to the Bay Area that would start the downward spin cycle. Oregon lost by a combined 40 points to California and Stanford, but had a chance to get back on the winning track against Washington at home.
It didn’t happen. A controversial 72-71 defeat to the Huskies dropped the Ducks to 1-3 in league play and they would never recover.
“We lost a lot of games this year that we would have won last year,” Graham said. “I’m disappointed, but not discouraged.”
This year’s version, led by freshman point guard Luke Ridnour, Jones and Bracey, did produce one magical night. Sitting at 2-5 in the Pac-10, Oregon desperately needed a big win to turn around its season. It got just that in a 79-67 victory against then-No. 7 Arizona that sent The Pit into a frenzy.
“That win was sweet,” freshman forward Luke Jackson said. “But the thing that surprised me about this season was that we never really could put it all together.”
Jackson described the season as “up and down, with a lot of down.” That can certainly describe Oregon’s final 10 games, in which the Ducks could only muster two victories (at Washington and Oregon State).
“The thing that was different about this year’s team than the last three years is that we didn’t finish strong,” Graham said. “We didn’t get over the hump.”
The Ducks still had hope for a third straight postseason appearance with an invitation to the NIT but were shutout from the 32-team field when certain bubble teams for the NCAA Tournament didn’t make it.
“It feels horrible,” said senior forward Bryan Bracey, who was Oregon’s only selection on the All-Pac-10 team. “Not even getting into the NIT hurts. But I feel blessed to have been a part of this team. I had a great experience here, the best time of my life.
“It just goes by so fast.”
Oregon will also lose big men Julius Hicks and Flo Hartenstein, leaving considerable holes at the post positions. Kent wasted no time in his recruiting efforts and has been out of town all week trying to find solid replacements with his three available scholarships.
“Every season’s different, and we had so much talent, but didn’t do what we wanted to do,” Hartenstein said. “We had higher goals. Especially after you have such a good year last year and then really have the opposite this year. But life goes on.”
The losing season was especially tough for the freshman competitors Jackson and Ridnour. The roommates came from winning high school teams and do not plan on again going through a stretch in a season in which they lose 13 of 16 games.
Both admitted to hitting the typical “freshman wall” late in the season and were admittedly worn down in the last few games. But with a year’s experience of taking the Pac-10’s best shot, they feel confident in leading the Ducks back to the Big Dance.
“I feel bad for our seniors,” said Ridnour, who was awarded Pac-10 Freshman of the Year honors on Monday. “I can’t wait for us to get another try. We don’t want this to ever happen to our program again.”
Next season will be slightly different for the Pac-10, as it brings back the conference tournament that will be played during the week prior to the NCAA tourney. Because of this change, Oregon’s Pac-10 season will begin earlier than usual.
As of now, the Ducks are tentatively scheduled to face the Arizona schools on Dec. 20 and 22 at McArthur Court. Oregon then travels down to the desert two weeks later for a date with the Wildcats in Tucson on Jan. 3.
“It crunches our schedule with games before Christmas,” Graham said. “But the league tournament helps so many teams, so it’s worth it.
“We would have been a great team this year for a Pac-10 tournament.”