Fresh off a home exhibition win against Northwest Christian University, the Oregon men’s basketball team will begin the 2010 regular season in earnest this weekend as it hosts the BTI Invitational.
The Ducks will play three games between Friday and Sunday against North Dakota State, Denver and UC Santa Barbara. Oregon has fond memories of the BTI Invitational from last year, as it swept through the weekend.
This, of course, is a much different Oregon team than the one that took the court last year. Head coach Dana Altman has taken the reins of the program, and the lineup is full of new faces. Altman said there was a lot to work on during practice this week.
“Obviously, we’ve got a ways to go,” he told goducks.com after the Northwest Christian game. “(The Northwest Christian game) gave us a starting point, it gave us a lot of things to work on, and also showed we need some more depth.”
Taking care of the ball will be foremost on Altman’s mind this weekend, as the Ducks registered 20 turnovers against Northwest Christian.
“Twenty turnovers is a really bad stat,” Altman said to goducks.com after the game. “We’ve got to clean that up.”
The players noticed the turnovers too, and they are fully aware that this cannot turn into a trend.
“We turned the ball over a lot,” senior Joevan Catron said to goducks.com. “Hopefully we got that out of the way.”
Though Denver has yet to play this season, both North Dakota State and UC Santa Barbara have participated in at least one exhibition game so far. The Bison recorded wins last week against Minnesota-Crookston and Concordia College from Moorhead, Minn., while the Gouchos earned a 68-54 victory against Master’s College.
Big day on the recruiting trail
Four players from the high school class of 2011 officially signed letters of intent to play for Oregon on Wednesday. Shooting guard Jabari Brown, point guard Bruce Barron, shooting guard Brett Kingma, and power forward Austin Kuemper will each join the Ducks next fall.
The four players are part of an impressive recruiting class for Altman that already ranks 17th in the nation according to ESPN.com. Perhaps most exciting is the commitment of Brown, an Oakland, Calif., native who is widely considered one of the best shooting guard prospects in the nation. He has been awarded the coveted five-star rating from three of the most acclaimed scouting websites (Rivals.com, Scout.com, and ESPN.com), and seems excited to arrive on campus.
“I just felt that coach Altman and his (assistants) wanted me the most,” Brown told The Register-Guard. “They made me the most comfortable.”
For Altman, the four commitments represent a brighter future for the program.
“All of the guys we got fill a need for us and will really help us,” Altman said to The Register-Guard. “Whether it’s next year or in the future. They’re all key ingredients in what we want to do.”
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Ducks kick off season with BTI Invitational
Daily Emerald
November 10, 2010
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