Dana Altman will have some serious weapons at his disposal this season.
Entering his seventh year at Oregon, he will not only be coaching what is probably his deepest team ever, but also one of the deepest teams in the country.
While their talent will be what decides the outcome of this season, their depth will play an equally large role. The combination of these two factors garnered Oregon a top 5 ranking in the preseason coaches poll, their highest in history.
Altman welcomed a top 15 recruiting class to campus this year, headlined by guard Payton Pritchard and forward Kavell Bigby-Williams. The two were joined by wing Keith Smith and center M.J. Cage.
Even without this incoming class, Oregon would have already been incredibly good team based off their returning talent alone. Forward Dillon Brooks and guard Tyler Dorsey decided to withdraw from the NBA Draft this past summer and return to school for at least one more season. While forward Chris Boucher and guard Dylan Ennis were both granted one more year of collegiate eligibility by the NCAA. Casey Benson, Oregon’s starting point guard from last season, is also back, as is forward Jordan Bell.
According to the players, this depth will give them an important edge over their opponents.
“[We can] get people in and out faster so we can really get our opponents tired by running up and down,” Bell said.
“We can play much harder than last year,” Boucher said. “Last year we only played seven, eight guys so we had to pace ourselves. But this year we have a lot of guys who can do the same thing so we can play much harder.”
For Bell, the depth that this team has is what stood out to him the most.
“This year we can pretty much do a platoon type-thing — five in, five out — if coach Altman wanted to, and it’s not that big of a dropoff in talent level from starters to bench wherever that may be.”
Altman appreciated the suggestion, but said that they probably wouldn’t be using platoon squads this season. While he does like his team’s depth, he has noticed a hole in its lineups, specifically at the wing.
That spot used to be filled by two players the Ducks lost last season, Elgin Cook and Dwayne Benjamin. Both were versatile players for Oregon last season, and their combination of slashing, attacking the rim and defensive prowess will be missed this year.
“The one deficiency we do have is we lost two really good 6’6″ athletes in Elgin and Dwayne,” Altman said. “Those two guys gave us tremendous versatility. ….We’re deeper inside. … We’re better and deeper at the guard spot.
“But we don’t have that middle range covered like a year ago.”
Oregon has only played three games this season but so far its depth has been on display. Only three players have logged under 40 minutes. Pritchard is currently scoring 9 points per game, fourth highest on the team, while coming off the bench. Bigby-Williams and Smith have also been getting some playing time with the starters. Cage is still recovering from a concussion but Altman said that he should be back soon and will add even more versatility to Oregon’s frontcourt.
Despite Altman’s concerns, this Oregon team will be one of the deepest and most talented in the nation this season.
Follow Gus Morris on Twitter @JustGusMorris
Oregon’s 2016-17 team could be the deepest in recent memory
Gus Morris
November 20, 2016
Kaylee Domzalski
Oregon welcomed five new players to its roster for the 2016-17 season. Before the additions of transfers Paul White and Kavel Bigby-Williams, Oregon boasted the 30th ranked recruiting class in the nation according to ESPN. Recruiting sites Scout and 247sports.com rated head coach Dana Altman’s haul as the 10th- and 12th-best …
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