Oregon’s Mitch Platt admits it was difficult at times last season watching the men’s basketball team struggle its way to a 15-18 record and a second consecutive year without postseason.
So, a year after spending the season on the bench following two foot surgeries, Platt, a 6-foot-10, 255-pound junior, is ready to inflict some pain on the opposition this season.
He will get his first chance next week as the Ducks travel to the Bahamas for a 10-day, five-game trip where they’ll play Bahamian club teams in Nassau.
“For me personally, it’s good timing,” Platt said of the trip. “I sat out last year and had to watch. It was a tough season for everybody to watch. We lost a lot of close games. It’s good that we can put that behind us, and it’s good that I can join the team and help win some of those games.”
Platt started 22 games, averaging 5.6 points per game and 3.6 rebounds per game as a freshman in 2003-04. His numbers dwindled to 3.1 points and 2.1 rebounds per game in 24 starts during his sophomore season when he first began to experience discomfort in his left foot. His minutes also dwindled that season to 13.6 per game. He used his redshirt last season following a successful surgery.
Back into the lineup, Platt declares that he’s in the best shape of his life after an extensive offseason workout regime that has him down 20 pounds and to eight percent body fat.
“He’s moving a lot quicker, he’s jumping better, and he’s finishing plays,” Oregon coach Ernie Kent said of Platt’s new look. “You have to be impressed with him. You see an intelligence that we’ve missed out there.”
After troubled big man Ivan Johnson was released from scholarship in May after just one season with the program, Platt and Ray Schafer (7-foot, 235-pounds) will battle each other for time at the “five” or post position this year while also offering slightly different looks for opponents. Platt is considered the inside “banger” and the stronger of the two, while Schafer is quicker.
“Mitch is one of those guys who challenges you. It’s great to go against him everyday in practice,”
Schafer said. “He can stop anybody in the post. He’s a great defender and he runs the floor as well as anybody here. He’s really worked on his strength all summer. He’s going to be a solid player for us this year.”
Platt and company depart for the Bahamas on Aug. 18 and return Aug. 27. Wake Forest, Massachusetts, and Florida, the defending NCAA champion, will also be participating in the same trip, though Oregon will not play those teams.
“The Bahamas will get a good look at NCAA basketball here over the course of the next 20 days,” Kent said.
This will be Kent’s second trip overseas with Oregon and third overall. He previously traveled to Geneva and Europe with the Ducks and once to Taiwan during his tenure at St. Mary’s.
“It’s not so much about the competition as it is about the practice sessions because this has been very valuable for us to bring this team back in this kind of condition,” Kent said. “The nature of these trips is to bring you together, and get the extra work. When you can do that, from a coaching prospective, your going to have some good success. So hopefully that will happen with us as well.”
The NCAA allows only returning members of last year’s squad to take part in the 10 practices. That means Oregon’s four newest members – freshmen Joevan Catron, a 6-foot-6 forward, LeKendric Longmire, a 6-foot-5 guard, and Tajuan Porter, a 5-foot-6 point guard, as well as junior transfer Frantz Dorsainvil, a 6-foot-8 forward – are not permitted to officially
join the team until Sept. 15.
Yet most were in attendance at Oregon’s practices, slapping hi-fives and joking with the nine returning players.
“It has really helped having all the guys here with the freshmen,” Kent said. “They’ve kind of bonded even this summer, and they’ve gained a lot of ground even though they haven’t been able to get on the floor with us in an organized situation.”
Returning players making the trip include: seniors-to-be Aaron Brooks, Adrian Stelly and Adam Zahn.
Juniors include leading scorer Malik Hairston, Bryce Taylor, Maarty Leunen and Schafer.
In addition to Platt, the Ducks will welcome in Xavier transfer Churchill Odia. The 6-foot-6-inch point guard was forced to sit out last season in accordance with NCAA rules.
Oregon will make the trip without returnees Jordan Kent, who is in camp with the football team, and its third leading scorer from a year ago in guard Chamberlain Oguchi, who is currently competing with the Nigerian National Team in the World Championships.
Oguchi was an integral part in the second half of Oregon’s season, including the Pacific-10 Conference Tournament, where he averaged 21 points per game and set a record with 12 three-pointers in a two-game stretch.
Despite not being able to take part in Oregon’s extra practices and five games overseas, Kent said he is not concerned about Oguchi’s absence.
“From what I am understanding in how well he’s playing with the Nigerian National Team, I don’t think he’s at a disadvantage in the sense that he’s playing and getting great competitive basketball,” Kent said. “They’re going to play some great competition over
there. So, I think the biggest thing is we put some things in offensively, and he will come back kind of like a freshman having to learn those things. But at the same time, he’s been doing this enough that it should be an easy adjustment for him to pick it up more so than it would for a normal freshman.”
Following the trip, the Ducks will reconvene for workouts in Eugene on Sept. 15. The season begins at home with an exhibition game against Lewis & Clark on Nov. 1.
“This is a new basketball team,” Hairston said.
“Ultimately, we want to make it to the (NCAA) tournament. Since I’ve been here, we haven’t gone to the tournament and that’s very disappointing. But these guys continue to work. All we can do is be optimistic.”