This is the way it was supposed to be for the Oregon women’s basketball team.
The way it was before Cathrine Kraayeveld went down with a mysterious injury, only to find out later that it was staph infection in her knee.
Same goes with Amy Parrish and her sudden disappearance due to medical reasons in December.
And especially the way it was before the Shaquala Williams suspension began the Ducks’ early-season demise.
It was Oregon, playing together with the same flair as the team that went 5-0 in the WNIT last season.
The 68-52 victory over Arizona State Thursday was simply the best Oregon has played in a long time.
“Certainly, defensively and rebounding-wise, this is what we’re capable of,” head coach Bev Smith said.
What the Ducks are capable of is mind-blowing, if not beyond imagination.
You had Brandi Davis shooting over Sun Devil defenders, proving her mid-season slump may be coming to an end. She showed what she could do in the Ducks’ non-conference tilts, and if she can keep it up, Oregon will have a tool in its belt that has not been equaled in a while.
You also had Kedzie Gunderson doing her usual acrobatic stunts for the crowd, something she seemed to perfect last season. If she’s not completely over her broken nose — suffered against Montana — wait until she is.
And you had Alissa Edwards and Carolyn Ganes providing the glue to the offense. Edwards with her ability to take abuse farther than seemingly possible. And Ganes with her ability to shoot from inside or outside, able to grab that ever-important rebound when it seems all is lost.
“Now we know we can come out and play a good game like this,” Ganes said.
What is most important about the way Oregon played is that it may finally prove the Ducks can survive without Williams and Kraayeveld. Obviously, Williams is not coming back, but the specter of Kraayeveld returning this season is still lingering around McArthur Court.
That specter is dim, and the Ducks know that. So to come out a dominate like the Ducks did — evidenced by a 22-9 lead midway through the first — is encouraging.
“We aren’t going to have those players back and we know it’s going to be us out there,” Edwards said.
If anyone could be happier than the Ducks to have the second half of the season start, I’d like to meet them.
Smith talked about the second half as almost a second season, a new beginning to the year that could help offset the first-half woes.
“This is how (the players) wanted to start,” she said. “If we could play every game like this, we will climb up the Pac-10 standings one game at a time.”
One game at a time is going to be tough, especially with a conference that is so unforgiving and inconsistent. But if Oregon can play like it did against the Sun Devils, there could be a move up in the standings for the Ducks. After all, they were voted the Pac-10’s third-best team by the media and the conference’s coaches before the season began.
The Ducks have a lot to prove. They’ve got eight more contests to play, and Saturday begins a stretch that will be crucial to the team’s well-being.
Arizona visits McArthur Court Saturday, then the Ducks go down to Stanford and California.
The Wildcats were defeated, 71-65, by Oregon State on Thursday, so it’s obvious they are vulnerable to the upset. That’s an area the Ducks have seemed to thrive in this season, and Oregon will get a chance again against the Cardinal after losing by just one point, 75-74, on Jan. 11.
Momentum will be key coming out of the California contest, and if the Ducks can hold up for the rest of the season like they did against Arizona State, they could be a surprise.
But that’s a big if.