Never before has there been so much anticipation for the Oregon Ducks to kick start a season.
Leaving behind another successful — albeit emotionally draining — season, this year’s Oregon squad should be a front-runner to win its third Pacific-10 Conference title in four years.
Simply put, Shaq is back — and so is Bev.
With all due respect to the football team and the national hype it’s receiving, the women’s basketball team could, come June, be the most heralded program on campus this year.
While it may only be September, it’s not too early to think about an unprecedented eighth straight NCAA Tournament appearance for the women’s hoops team.
Shaquala Williams, the 2000 Pac-10 Player of the Year, returns to the Ducks’ back court after missing all of last season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee. Williams spent her summer rehabilitating with the U.S.A. basketball team, which won the World University Games in Beijing last month.
After nearly two decades away from Eugene, Bev Smith — a two-time All-American in her playing days (1978-82) — returns to her alma mater with tall shoes to fill on the McArthur Court sideline.
The controversial end to Jody Runge’s tenure as the winningest basketball coach in Oregon history is now behind the Ducks and its seven returning players, and the woman who led the school to its first NCAA Tournament as a player hopes to continue right where Runge left off.
“I’m not here to reinvent the wheel,” Smith said. “What this program has done in the past speaks for itself. It’s a winning program. I feel it’s a sleek and efficient car that’s ready to go down the Pac-10 highway and on to bigger and better things.”
The five seniors who left last year’s 17-11 team accounted for four starting positions (including the three posts) and 57 percent of the team’s total scoring.
Along with Williams, sharp-shooting senior Jamie Craighead — who set a school record with 81 three-point field goals last season — returns to anchor a deep back court that includes three talented ball handlers.
Senior transfer Edniesha Curry will likely get the nod at the starting point guard spot that juniors Kourtney Shreve and Alissa Edwards shared last season.
The only returning Ducks taller than 6 feet are seniors Ndidi Unaka and Alyssa Fredrick and sophomore Cathrine Kraayeveld.
But youth is on the horizon.
Assistant coach Dan Muscatell, the primary recruiting coordinator under Runge, helped bring in six prep standouts, considered by many to be possibly the best recruiting class to ever enter Oregon.
Despite the coaching change, Muscatell kept his job on the bench while coach Smith brought in husband-and-wife combo Allison (also an Oregon alum) and Mike McNeil, both assistants under Smith for the Canadian national team.
Oregon’s first game is Nov. 17 at The Pit against Wisconsin-Green Bay.