Let’s be honest for a minute. The endings of last year’s basketball seasons were disappointing for both the men’s and women’s teams as the two squids sputtered out during the Pac-12 tournaments.
Despite this, both teams start the 2022-23 season in the Top 25 rankings. If you’re anything like me, you may have been caught off guard. I looked into these rankings and tried to make sense of the optimism surrounding the programs ahead of this new season.
Let’s start with the men’s team. It was eliminated in the second round of the Pac-12 tournament, missed the March Madness tournament and didn’t perform well in the National Invitational Tournament. Yet, they started 2022 ranked as the No. 21 team in the country.
From what I can understand, this ranking came as a product of three things: new players, the big guys and being a national brand.
Five-star recruit Kel’el Ware was one of the highest ranked players in the 2022 class, and he joined the Ducks this year for his first collegiate season. They also landed a couple key transfers in Keeshawn Barthelemy and Tyrone Williams. Barthelemy, a guard, transferred from Colorado after defeating Oregon in the quarterfinals of the Pac-12 tournament a season ago. Williams led all of JUCO in points-per-game last year with 27.7 points per game. Both add a tremendous amount of talent and depth to a team that lost key players like De’Vion Harmon and Jacob Young.
The addition of Ware adds to the Ducks’ height and big-man core. Ware, mixed with Nate Bittle and N’Faly Dante provide Oregon with a dynamic group of centers. In the season opener, it was these three who led the team to a 80-45 victory over Florida A&M. It appears the Ducks will always have one – if not two – of these big men on the court at all times. This trio should help Oregon dominate on the boards and add to the defense the Pac-12 always excels in.
This season’s Ducks team reminds me a bit of Notre Dame football. It seems like Notre Dame is ranked every year simply because they’re a national branded team with a large following. Oregon is the same way. The Ducks were also ranked highly last year, started off ice cold and never recovered. We all remember that 81-49 loss last year, right? Oregon was disappointing last year, and the end of the season was especially brutal. I’m thinking the Ducks are ranked partially because of how big of a brand it is and the deal they have with Nike.
They didn’t look great against Florida A&M in the first game of the season, and then they got exposed against unranked UC Irvine 69-56. This team has been abysmal from the 3-point line, and they’ve demonstrated that they aren’t a Top 25 team.
As for the women’s team, I actually buy more into this ranking. Yes, even without the beloved Sedona Prince, who’s out for the year. The team was good last year, but was upset in the semifinals of the Pac-12 tournament and the first round of the national tournament.
Star players Te-Hina Paopao and Endyia Rogers are back, and Oregon has added some talented freshmen to the squad.
Freshmen Kennedy Basham, Chance Gray, Jennah Isai and Grace VanSlooten all joined the Ducks for their first collegiate seasons and Oregon landed new transfers Taya Hanson and Taylor Hosendove during the offseason.
Prince left the team, and Basham will miss some serious time with a knee injury. The team is down to just nine active players, and it could be a serious issue moving forward.
But, the Ducks looked great in their first two wins over Northwestern and Seattle University. I also think the addition of Oregon legend Sabrina Ionescu to the coaching staff will be a huge moral boost and resource for this thinly-stretched roster.
The women’s team will also head to Portland to play in the Phil Knight Invitational, and it will serve as a chance to gain some serious clarity about the true talent of this team.
Both basketball teams at the University of Oregon started the season ranked. One I believe to be legit, but the other I have my reserves about just how excited Ducks’ fans should be.
