Duck basketball fans were on high-alert this week as they waited to hear which of Oregon’s stars would chose to enter the NBA Draft.
One departure they were not expecting was that of junior guard Casey Benson, who announced via Twitter on Wednesday that he will graduate in three years and transfer from the program.

pic.twitter.com/z9XwoTUOqJ
— Casey Benson (@CaseyBenson15) April 13, 2017

Despite his status as a junior, benson was ahead of schedule in credits and will leave Oregon as a grad transfer, meaning he can play immediately wherever he chooses to go.
After leading Oregon to the Elite Eight as its starting point guard during the 2015-16 season, Benson took a reduced role during Oregon’s Final Four run and came off the bench. Freshman Payton Pritchard took over the starting point guard spot.
During his junior season, Benson averaged 4.9 points and 1.9 assists in 20.9 minutes per game. While he shot a career-best 40.5 percent from 3-point range, he averaged eight fewer minutes per game than he did during his sophomore year.
With the departures of sophomore guard Tyler Dorsey and senior Dylan Ennis, Benson was likely to fill some of the freed up minutes. But the Ducks will also welcome freshman guard Troy Brown and V.J. Bailey, meaning Benson could have faced another logjam at the guard spot had he returned.
The Ducks now have three open scholarship spots for the upcoming season.
Follow Jarrid Denney on Twitter @jarrid_denney