It has become a problem for the Oregon men’s basketball team in recent seasons, an Achilles heel that can hurt most during games where physical play is central to the team’s success.
Rebounding, which the Ducks have said all season is key, has been a concern over the last few weeks. That came to a head against Arizona on Sunday, a game in which the Wildcats out-rebounded the Ducks by 12 .
Arizona had 19 offensive rebounds. Oregon grabbed just seven.
“It’s just we haven’t been physical enough with our box-outs and we haven’t been sticking to our assignments,” Oregon forward Ian Crosswhite said. “It’s pretty much solely on us. I know it seems to be a problem for the last few years, not just this year. I don’t know, we’re just having to keep trying to get better at it.”
Oregon has out-rebounded its opponents by 22 — an average of 1.6 more per game — this season, but in Pacific-10 Conference play that number is reversed by seven. Offensively, the Ducks have been out-rebounded, 94-60, by their Pac-10 opponents.
The Ducks have received a recent boost in the form of freshman Mitch Platt, who, after suffering a high-ankle sprain during the Papé Jam, is finally getting back to 100 percent healthy. He collected 13 rebounds in Oregon’s games against Arizona State and Arizona last week.
In those two contests, he scored 23 points.
“I think my health is almost back to normal,” Platt said. “It’s definitely helping (me) get up and down the court and I think I’m back on my game as I should be.”
Oregon will face a tough California team at McArthur Court on Thursday. The Golden Bears average 35.1 rebounds per game, almost four more than their opponents.
They are led by freshman sensation Leon Powe, who nets 9.7 per game, good enough to lead the Pac-10. Amit Tamir, a perpetual Duck killer, grabs more than five per game as well.
“I’ve seen them both, but just like Ike (Diogu) and Channing (Frye), they’re the best players on those teams and you’ve got to go at them like you do every day,” Platt said.

The honors keep coming
Luke Jackson is left as one of the 30 players listed as candidates for the John R. Wooden award.
The award, which is given to the
nation’s player of the year, was trimmed by 20 on Monday. Jackson, who is averaging 22.3 points and 7.4 rebounds per game this season, is on it for the first time.
He is one of four Pac-10 players still on the list. Also included is Arizona State’s Diogu, Stanford’s Matt Lottich and Arizona’s Andre Iguodala. The trio ranks first, 13th and 15th, respectively, in scoring in the Pac-10.
Also this week, Jackson was named to the Sporting News’s five-member first-half All-American team. The list was composed of Jackson, St. Joseph’s Jameer Nelson, Connecticut’s Emeka Okafor, Syracuse’s Hakeem Warrick and Texas Tech’s Andre Emmett.

Prognosticators’ previews
There are some in the mainstream media who seem to think the Ducks might be able to make a run for it come NCAA Tournament time. Of course, that’s if all the pieces come together at the right time.
“The Ducks have to hang on while freshman point guard Aaron Brooks is out with a wrist injury,” Sporting News writer Mike DeCourcy said. “That could be too much for them. They just don’t have the necessary spark with Brooks missing from the lineup. But if they’re in the tournament, he’ll probably be there. In that case, they’ll have a versatile enough offense to be dangerous.”
On Bracketology, run by Joe Lunardi at ESPN.com, the Ducks are not in the predicted field of 65. According to Lunardi’s daily rankings, Oregon is among a number of teams that are on the bubble when the NCAA Tournament is discussed.
Lunardi did write that the Ducks’ game against Stanford on Saturday is one of the top games of the week.
“Even great Pac-10 teams sometimes lose at Mac Court,” he said.
Lunardi has just three Pac-10 teams — Stanford, Arizona and UCLA — as his choices to represent the conference in the NCAA Tournament.