After watching most of the Oregon basketball season from the bench, senior-to-be guard Chamberlain Oguchi announced his intention Friday to forego his final season in Eugene and transfer to a yet-to-be-determined school. Oguchi was granted permission from the University to make the transfer.
Oguchi started Oregon’s first six games but after injuring his ankle during the Georgetown game on Nov. 29, his minutes and production decreased. Oguchi owned Oregon’s worst shooting percentage (31.3 percent) for players who averaged as least 10 minutes per game. After averaging 9.6 points per game his sophomore year, Oguchi scored 4.8 points per game in 32 games this season, having started 10 of them.
“I haven’t felt like the opportunity to play has been there for me, throughout my career,” Oguchi said. “It’s a decision I made and will hopefully better my basketball career.”
Oguchi said he hopes to play basketball after college and feels that he’ll have a better chance to do that if he receives more minutes. If he transfers to a Division I school, Oguchi will have to sit out one year in accordance with NCAA transfer rules, but he would be able to play immediately if he transferred to a Division II school.
“It is unfortunate when players transfer from your program, but at the same time, we recognize that Champ wants to find an opportunity that is better suited for him and his career goals and we understand that,” Oregon coach Ernie Kent said in a prepared statement. “Champ has been an important part of what we’ve accomplished here the last three years and we wish him the utmost success in the future.”
As of Friday afternoon, Oguchi was uncertain about his future destination, but senior-to-be guard Bryce Taylor, Oguchi’s close friend and roommate, expects Oguchi to play somewhere closer to his home in Houston, Texas.
“He’s given it his best try, and he feels like it’s time to move on back somewhere closer to home,” Taylor said.
While Oguchi said he realizes he had the opportunity to start at Oregon next season, he still feels there’s a chance that he wouldn’t receive enough playing time.
“There’s no telling what could happen in the season,” Oguchi said. “I just know, from being highly regarded to the last man on the bench, that things can change.”
During the 2005-06 season, Oguchi established himself as a threat during the Pacific-10 Conference Tournament, scoring 63 points in three games, 42 of those points coming from three-point range. He scored 20 or more points in three straight games on two separate occasions that season, but he was not able to recapture that magic touch this season, shooting just 25.9 percent from beyond the arc.
Despite sitting on the bench for the majority of games, Oguchi said he still had fun during Oregon’s Elite Eight run and “wouldn’t take anything back” from it. Still, he feels that the coaches’ decision to have him watch from the bench this season is reason enough to leave.
“It’s not necessarily because of Ernie. I mean, he’s the coach and he has the ultimate authority on who plays and who sits, but I feel like there’s the opportunity to play somewhere else,” Oguchi said.
As for his teammates, who were hoping Oguchi could help alleviate the loss of All-American Aaron Brooks, Oguchi said they’ll be able to cope without him. Aside from the four returning starters who finished the season, Oguchi was the most experienced player returning for the 2007-08 season.
“They’re good enough players that they can fill in the void,” Oguchi said.
Taylor disagreed.
“It hurts us because he was going to be the key player on our team,” Taylor said. “We’ll have to adjust somehow.”
Taylor tried to convince Oguchi to stay but said he realizes Oguchi is doing what’s best for him.
“I didn’t want to be selfish,” Taylor said. “It would be selfish of me to ask him to stay for personal reasons. I told him if that’s what he feels is best for himself, for his career, he’s got to make that decision and live with it. I don’t want him to leave but there’s nothing I can do about it.”
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