After each of Oregon’s three Pacific-10 Conference losses this season, the Ducks have uttered the same excuses for what went wrong.
“We need to get off to a faster start,” Aaron Brooks said after the Ducks lost to UCLA.
“We need to match our opponent’s intensity,” Bryce Taylor said after Oregon lost to Washington.
It was Arizona 74, Oregon 66 Thursday at McArthur Court, and the Ducks’ post-game answers were no different.
But as Brooks’ interview was ending after Thursday’s loss, he was presented with a different question.
What does Oregon have to do to fix these problems?
“I don’t know,” Brooks replied.
While the sophomore point guard’s response sounds like a clueless youngster admitting a lack of understanding, his answer actually sums up Oregon’s problems perfectly.
There are a lot of things the Ducks don’t understand.
There are no seniors on the Oregon roster. The Ducks’ best offensive players are all under the age of 21. They have three freshmen who see significant playing time, and their best veteran player, Ian Crosswhite, has committed 16 turnovers in the last three games.
All these factors equate to a young team that hasn’t quite figured out how to play consistently in the Pac-10.
If Oregon knew how to get off to a quick start, the Ducks wouldn’t have let Arizona go on a 16-0 run in the first half.
If the Ducks knew how to play with intensity, they wouldn’t have let their offense grow stagnant as it did late in the second half.
And if Oregon knew how to put teams away, it would have rolled with the momentum created by the Mac Court crowd and a stifling zone defense and taken a lead during its furious second-half comeback.
“The whole second half we were knocking at the door,” Brooks said. “We just didn’t kick it down.”
The Ducks are an extremely talented team. Their skills show against inferior teams and for bursts against superior teams.
Brooks is one of the quickest players in the country, and he showed Thursday that he’s capable of getting to the basket whenever he wants. But even though he scored 15 points, his timing was off when he decided to attack the rim.
When Oregon desperately needed a bucket to stop an Arizona run, Brooks looked timid and simply passed off to a teammate. When the offense needed to show patience, Brooks would drive into a crowd and lose the ball.
Taylor — the Ducks best outside shooter — showed his ability to hit from the perimeter by knocking down a trio of three-pointers. But the freshman also showed a lack of judgment at times, either not pulling the trigger when open or casting an ill-advised outside shot.
“I don’t feel like you can really put something on it,” Taylor said of the Ducks inability to finish their comeback attempt. “It’s just one of those things; when they needed to make plays, they made plays, and we didn’t. I feel like we’re just going to learn from it like you learn from every loss and hopefully in the near future, we’ll learn how to get over that hump.”
Despite the Ducks’ inexperience, they play well enough in spurts to tease onlookers into thinking they’re one of the Pac-10’s elite. But while its overall record is still 11-4, Oregon is unlikely to do anything too special this season.
There’s just too much to learn.

[email protected]