Oregon men’s and women’s basketball teams quietly began practicing Friday. No ESPN camera crew or Midnight Madness celebration to start off the 2005-06 season. Two teams coming off seasons of unmet expectations can dampen any enthusiasm.
Non-conference games start in November. At the men’s basketball media day last Thursday, coach Ernie Kent led you to believe the men’s basketball team has turned a corner. Team members point to a seasoned roster capable of playing an exciting up-tempo style of basketball.
It’s too bad men’s basketball fans have to wait until Pacific-10 Conference play starts in January to find out if that’s true.
The non-conference schedule is amusing, consisting of teams with predominantly losing records. Oregon’s lone opponent ranked in the top 100 of the 2005-06 RPI is Georgetown and that game’s on the road.
Basically, the non-conference games are must-wins. If Oregon loses, it will bring back bad memories of last season’s futility. Win and what does it prove – that Oregon can beat inferior teams not on par with Pac-10 competition or that the Ducks are a legitimate NCAA tournament team?
If the men finish fourth or fifth in the Pac-10, the NCAA Tournament selection committee is going to look back at Oregon’s non-conference schedule for quality wins and be left empty-handed, unless Oregon can somehow upset Georgetown. Quality wins can make the difference between making the tournament and once in, earning a favorable seed.
At least with the women, fans are going to know how good or bad they are in a hurry. They start the season with a difficult road trip to UC-Santa Barbara, a perennial NCAA Tournament contender, and Long Beach State, which finished 18-10 in 2005-06.
The Ducks return home and play Boise State (15-15 last season), and Utah or Pittsburgh in the Oregon Thanksgiving Tournament. Utah made the Elite Eight last season and finished 27-7. Pittsburgh was 22-11 and reached the semifinals of the WNIT.
And the men? They start the season at home with Lehigh, Cal State Northridge and Portland State in the Basketball Travelers Classic. I can understand starting out with lesser competition and playing tougher competition closer to league play, but look at the men’s December schedule. The Ducks play Bethune-Cookman, Eastern Washington, Idaho State, Mercer and Portland – five teams with a combined record of 63-81 last season.
Should this really be the season the Oregon men finally transform high expectations into actual results on the court, it’d be more logical to play tougher opponents comparable to UCLA, who the Ducks play in early January.
If the Oregon women struggle, who can blame them? They have lost sharpshooters Chelsea Wagner, Brandi Davis and most recently, center Gabrielle Richards. They are working in three freshmen: Taylor Lilley, Micaela Cocks and Mary Sbrissa.
The Oregon men already have established go-to scorers in Malik Hairston, Chamberlain Oguchi, Bryce Taylor and Aaron Brooks. They’ve already shown they can compete with the Pac-10’s top teams with wins against Washington and a near upset of California in last season’s Pac-10 Tournament.
Why the men won’t show it with a tougher non-conference schedule is beyond me.
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