When they were first recruited, Tajuan Porter and Joevan Catron attracted little fanfare from the Oregon faithful. Neither was a four-star recruit or McDonald’s All-American like the players in the 2004 class – they were virtual unknowns from the Midwest.
Many questioned Kent’s motive for recruiting the 5-foot-6-inch Porter and undersized forward Catron, but while the rest of the 2006 recruits have yet to see action – LeKendric Longmire redshirted this year and Frantz Dorsainvil was kept out of the country until recently due to visa problems – Porter and Catron have played significant roles on a team that was missing freshman sparkplugs last season.
In particular, Porter has played a significant role, especially late in the season and in the Pacific-10 Conference Tournament, to help send the Ducks to the Big Dance for the first time since 2003.
“The impact he’s had as a freshman on this team – how many big shots he’s hit for us – he’s played a key role for our success,” junior forward Maarty Leunen said.
Among Porter’s accomplishments this season have been the Pac-10 Tournament MVP, making the Pac-10 All-Freshman Team, setting the conference record for freshman three-pointers made in a season and leading the league from the free-throw line by shooting 91.7 percent.
While Catron hasn’t had the same type of impact, his contribution has been noticed by Kent, who has increased the freshman’s playing time as of late.
Leunen believes that both will benefit from simply being in the NCAA Tournament, something he wishes he could have gained experience from in his first two years.
“I think it’ll play a key role in their development as they get older,” Leunen said. “We’re all rookies when it comes to this, though.”
But with as much hard work as the two freshman have put in this season, will playing in March Madness mean as much to them as the upperclassmen who have received all the hype and criticism and suffered through all the ups and downs?
Junior guard Bryce Taylor said Porter and Catron came to Oregon at the right time.
“They’re kind of lucky they didn’t have to go through all the losing that we did, but we try to let them know that this didn’t come easy,” Taylor said. “We wish we got to experience this when we were freshman but I don’t think we would have appreciated it as much.”
The freshmen said they’ve learned from the older players’ work ethic during the season and realize what it takes to make it this far. Still, both had different expectations coming to Oregon. Catron expected to make the tournament regardless of how the Ducks played the previous years while Porter said he began the season with no expectations.
“It was something I always wanted to do but I didn’t expect it to happen this fast,” Porter said. “I knew I was coming to a good program – it was just a matter of time until these guys developed.”
While Porter and Catron haven’t been through the struggles that the previous teams experienced, they’ve worked as hard as anybody else on the roster to appreciate what the Ducks are going though.
“They’ve gone through their own pains,” junior center Ray Schafer said. “They understand the kind of work we put in. I think they’ll appreciate the tournament just as much.”
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Diamonds in the rough: Porter and Catron shine as freshmen
Daily Emerald
March 14, 2007
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