The Oregon men’s basketball team flew to Lincoln, Neb., Monday morning for tonight’s matchup with Big Ten opponent Nebraska, amid a couple of very big question marks currently surrounding the program.@@I rewrote this for clarity, but the message remains unchanged.@@
The Ducks (2-1) are coming off a 25-point win against Southeast Missouri State@@http://www.semo.edu/@@ over the weekend, a game they played without the help of true freshman guard Jabari Brown.@@http://www.oregonlive.com/ducks/index.ssf/2011/11/oregon-ducks-basketball-jabari-brown-leaves-team.html@@ The five-star recruit out of Oakland, Calif., reportedly left the team prior to Saturday’s contest for reasons that aren’t totally clear at this point.@@Really? Everything I’ve found says he’s just frustrated.@@
Brown started the first two games of the regular season for the Ducks, and was generally the lone new player in the mix late in games when Oregon held on for close victories over Eastern Washington and Grand Canyon. In that first exhibition win over the Antelopes, Brown was one of three players to finish in double figures with 10 points on 2-of-12 shooting, and also committed a team-high six turnovers.@@https://www.nmnathletics.com//pdf8/795250.pdf?ATCLID=205326794&SPSID=4297&SPID=235&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=500@@
As a few reporters sat at press row watching a much sloppier game than anyone had truly anticipated, one thing was glaringly obvious: Jabari Brown sure didn’t look like he wanted to be there. By most measures, it was a considerably tough first outing for the 18-year-old, but it was in no way going to define him as a player.
I think everyone saw Brown’s potential in the transition passing game, especially over the next couple ballgames. His thunderous slam against Eastern Washington lit a fire under the Matthew Knight Arena crowd that we hadn’t heard up until that point. Fans were hungry to see Brown succeed, even if it meant being a little extra patient as he stepped up to the learning curve.
When things weren’t going well, and they often don’t in college basketball, Brown seemed uninterested in the game as a whole. Maybe that wasn’t the case, but the expression on his face said more than enough to me. And when I heard that Brown officially left the team on Sunday, I started to wonder just what went wrong in so little time?
Since joining the Ducks, Brown was a part of the summer tour of Italy where he led the team in scoring and saw parts of the world that some people only dream of. He played five games total in November. And he was gone before his first term of college ended.
Maybe Oregon’s facilities didn’t impress the Bay Area native, or the adjustment to life in Eugene wasn’t quite what he’d expected it to be (I can only imagine the vast differences between liberal Eugene and downtown Oakland).
Relationships with the coaches and teammates come into question, even though it seems like there’s a genuinely solid group in the program right now.
Brown had his reasons, whatever they might be. Dana Altman said the door is open for him to return to the team, and given his natural talent it would be tough to deny him that opportunity. Brown was considered to be the cornerstone of Oregon’s program for years to come, and now we don’t know if we’ll ever see him again. The time away from the team over the holiday could be the break he needs, but as a teammate — one sitting in Nebraska right now — how do you receive Jabari if he does return?
This point in the season is about building team chemistry and getting a feel for each other on the court. Everyone’s said it, and you could see it starting to take shape over the weekend. When you lose a key piece of that equation, though, other guys have to step up around him and the team moves forward.
If this is indeed the conclusion of Jabari Brown’s Oregon career, it’s sad to see it come to an end so early. I question where he’ll find a place better suited to his needs as a student-athlete — if anywhere. Duck fans were happy to have a highly ranked recruit, and I’m sure they’d be happy to welcome him back in a few weeks.
The question is, will his teammates?