The 2003-04 season has been full of disappointments for the Oregon women’s basketball team.
Injuries and inexperience have taken the Ducks from a top 25 team to a squad stuck in eighth place in the Pacific-10 Conference with a 4-10 record.
Five games into the season, Oregon looked like a team bound for the NCAA tournament. Then Cathrine Kraayeveld tore the anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee during practice on Dec. 2. It marked the second time in as many seasons that Kraayeveld missed time because of knee troubles; she missed 13 games last season with a staph infection in her right knee.
The senior forward is by far the team’s best player, and without her, the Ducks simply have had no chance to compete in the Pac-10.
With the season coming to a close, it can be painful for Oregon supporters to look back and remember what could have been.
Duck fans can rest easy, however. Good times are ahead.
Despite the fact Oregon owns one of the worst records in the conference, the Ducks will be major players in next season’s Pac-10 title race.
Other than general optimism, there are several reasons Duck fans should be looking forward to next season.
* The return of Kraayeveld: No Oregon athlete is more important to the success of his or her team than Kraayeveld is to the women’s basketball program.
She’s more important than Kellen Clemens is to the football team, Luke Jackson to the men’s basketball team or Nicole Garbin to the soccer team.
In the five games she played in before getting injured, the 6-foot-4 senior All-American candidate led the Ducks in scoring (17.2), rebounding (8.6), three-pointers made (11) and total blocks (16).
Since Kraayeveld played in less than 20 percent of her team’s games, she was allowed to use this season as a medical redshirt year.
After missing more than 40 games during two seasons, Kraayeveld will have plenty of pent-up energy to unleash on opponents next year. Her return to the court will make her teammates better and bring back the national respect Oregon was starting to earn.
* Experience: Many of the youthful mistakes that plagued Oregon this year will be gone by the time the Ducks enter next season. All but one Oregon player — guard Kayla Steen — will return for the 2004-05 campaign.
First-year Ducks Corrie Mizusawa, Chelsea Wagner, Eleanor Haring and Jessica Shetters have had a chance to see what Pac-10 basketball is all about and Andrea Bills, Brandi Davis and Kedzie Gunderson will be a year wiser.
The perimeter game of Wagner and Davis will thrive with the return of Kraayeveld and Bills will no longer have to carry the entire rebounding burden on her back.
* Incoming talent: Oregon’s potent roster will also feature prep star Kristen Forristall. The 6-foot-2 forward is a product of national-power Oregon City High School and held the attention of many recruiters around the nation.
Forristall is currently averaging 17.5 points per game for a team that has won nine of the last 12 state championships.
With all the pieces in place next season, Oregon has a legitimate shot at a Pac-10 title.
It’s a good time to be a Duck fan.