Midterms are over and it is a Friday, but it’s not too late to do a calculation for Oregon men’s basketball.
Take six parts youth, then add in a handful of proven upperclassmen, another three or four wildcards and a head coach on the verge of a program record. Multiply that by 19.9, the average age of the 15 Duck players, and again by 30, as in number of games, and what comes out is – well, have a good time figuring that out.
Time, however, is the equation’s most important variable, and the only one head coach Ernie Kent can’t control, even in his 12th year at Oregon and two wins away from breaking the school record for wins.
Starting with tonight’s season-opening game against Northern Colorado at McArthur Court that will begin after the conclusion of the Oregon-Washington State volleyball match, the Ducks will have five months of the season to find an answer.
2008-09 Oregon Men’s Basketball
| Kamyron Brown, 6’2″ sophomore guard: | Point guard who led the Ducks in assists last year with 3.1 per game (94). He’ll surely factor into the rotation somewhere. |
| Joevan Catron, 6’6″ junior forward: | Thank Catron for the Chicago connection to Oregon basketball. He’s continued to improve his physique and added some extra quickness to go with his post presence. |
| Josh Crittle, 6’8″ freshman forward: | Out of Chicago’s Hales Franciscan High School, he has plenty of inside game and has also displayed an accurate mid-range jump shot in the exhibition games. |
| Frantz Dorsainvil, 6’9″ senior forward: | Kent has high hopes for Dorsainvil, who is one of just two seniors on the team. He has missed the Ducks’ scrimmage and two exhibition contests with a deep thigh bruise, but the coach was optimistic about his availability for Friday’s opener. |
| Michael Dunigan, 6’10” freshman center: | A 2008 McDonald’s All-American and another Chicago native, Dunigan has shown flashes of dominance in the paint. The sky is the limit for this 6-foot-10 freshman. |
| John Elorriaga, 6’2″ freshman guard: | The Ducks are deep at guard, and minutes might be scarce this season for the Jesuit High School alum and walk-on. |
| Nicholas Fearn, 6’1″ freshman guard: | Another walk-on who joined the squad last season. Utilized his redshirt season as a freshman out of Seattle Prep, where he played guard on the 2006 state championship team. |
| Matthew Humphrey, 6’5″ freshman guard: | A dynamic scoring freshman who could start in opening day lineup, and brings familiarity with Crittle and Dunigan by playing on same AAU team. |
| LeKendric Longmire, 6’5″ sophomore guard: | With three years’ experience at UO he will be a first-time starter who was in the shadows of Catron and Porter his first two years. Expect his breakout season this year. |
| Churchill Odia, 6’6″ senior guard: | Senior presence brings strong defense and experience to the floor, but must improve scoring consistency to take pressure off teammates. |
| Tajuan Porter, 5’6″ junior guard: | The sparkplug who makes Oregon’s offense go. Still developing as a point guard, but he is the Ducks’ main offensive weapon and will be a central figure in UO’s fast-break offense. |
| Garrett Sim, 6’1″ freshman guard: | Portland native looks to work his way into point guard rotation with above-average shooting and speed. |
| Ben Voogd, 6’2″ junior guard: | This LSU transfer with Final Four experience is past his redshirt year and can contribute immediately at point guard with excellent vision; where he fits in the rotation is up to Kent. |
| Drew Wiley, 6’7″ freshman forward: | A freshman with Springfield, Ore., ties, Wiley has shown he can shoot the three but post skills are a work in progress at collegiate level. Will be valuable off the bench. |
| Teondre Williams, 6’4″ freshman guard: | Toe and thigh injuries have held the Georgia freshman out of some preseason work, but he is capable at the shooting guard position. |
| Ernie Kent, head coach, 12th season: | Stands one win shy of Howard Hobson (1936-47) on the school’s all-time wins list with 211. Kent has guided the Ducks to seven postseason appearances, one Pac-10 title, two Pac-10 Tournament titles and two NCAA Elite Eights, while producing four NBA first-round draft choices. |
“To be good it’s just going to take it some time,” Kent said. “They’re going to have to go through a lot of adversity and go through a lot of stuff they know nothing about yet.”
The Ducks will be led by a number of familiar faces, namely junior guard Tajuan Porter, who has averaged 14.3 points over his two-year Oregon career. Junior forward Joevan Catron lost 25 pounds since the Ducks last played, which was a first-round exit in the NCAA Tournament to Mississippi State on March 21.
Catron has shown a comfort level on the wing during two exhibition games against Northwest Christian University and Southern Oregon University.
“I’ve always been able to put the ball on the ground; this year I’ll have more of a chance to do it,” Catron said.
He’ll be joined in the starting lineup most likely by redshirt sophomore LeKendric Longmire, who displayed his speed and athleticism in transition offense during the preseason and in early season practices for the Ducks. Longmire, Catron and Porter were described by Kent as leaders of the team, whose six true freshmen are its most noticeable characteristic.
Among them, three from Chicago, guard Matthew Humphrey and posts Josh Crittle and Michael Dunigan, arrive with the most hype and the most familiarity, having all played on the same MeanStreets AAU team that Catron also played on.
For Catron, the 6-foot-8 Crittle and 6-foot-10 Dunigan will free him from staying in the post all game.
“That was one of the main points of getting those guys out here,” he said.
Pac-10 Media Predictions
| 1: | UCLA |
| 2: | Arizona State |
| 3: | USC |
| 4: | Arizona |
| 5: | Washington |
| 6: | Washington State |
| 7: | Oregon |
| 8: | California |
| 9: | Stanford |
| 10: | Oregon State |
Oregon was picked to finish sixth in the preseason Pac-10 coaches poll. Before Pacific-10 Conference play opens Jan. 2 at home against USC, the Ducks will play notable games against Oakland, a team that upset the Ducks in Detroit last season, Alabama and possibly North Carolina at the EA Sports Maui Invitational. Oregon will also match up with a Michael Beasley-less Kansas State team on Dec. 7 and a pair of dangerous California schools, San Diego and Saint Mary’s, in mid-December.
Kent said his team worked out its nervousness in its preseason games, adding that the team is so young it won’t know what to expect in many of the players’ first collegiate game that counts.
< p>“I don’t even think it’s entered their mind,” Kent said.
“I got ’em out now,” said Dunigan, who went from one rebound against NCU to 13 against SOU.
“We basically got our feet wet and we know what to do now,” he said.
Since media day, the coaches have stressed how much they want to run in transition this season and Kent has said that because of it, he hasn’t considered redshirting any of the freshmen. The logic is simple: Play a lot of fresh players, keep the pressure tight on opponents.
The transition offense will be led by whomever plays point guard for the Ducks, a position Porter will start at but most likely won’t stay at the entire game, moving between the point and the shooting guard spots.
A logjam begins after Porter, however, including redshirt junior Ben Voogd, sophomore Kamyron Brown and
freshman Garrett Sim. Voogd played for LSU in the 2006 Final Four and Brown led the team in assists last season, but neither received much playing time in the first two games. Voogd played a combined 19 minutes in the two games.
Sim played well against SOU, scoring 15 points but with three turnovers.
“Rotations are really dictated by production,” Kent said.
Oregon’s season will be dictated by how well it can solve its own formula.
It could take some time.
[email protected]
