As the Oregon men’s basketball team’s season is in a tailspin going into the second half of the Pacific-10 Conference season, a great scene from a baseball classic, “Bull Durham,” came to mind, but in a little different manner.
Imagine head coach Ernie Kent and assistant coach Fred Litzenberger in the locker room talking to the team after the first half of the Stanford game:
Kent: “You guys … you lollygag the ball around the perimeter. You lollygag your way down on defense. You lollygag in and out of the lineup. Do you know what that makes you? Litz …”
Litz: “Lollygaggers!”
Kent: “Lollygaggers.”
At least that’s how I saw it in my mind after the horrible thumping they took Saturday.
So what’s going wrong?
Oregon has tried lineup changes, different defenses and shifting more or less players in and out of games. None of them has worked.
As I watched the game against Stanford, I struck up a conversation with a guy who had gone to high school at Churchill back in the 1970s when Kent was one of the Kamikaze Kids. He told me back in those days, teams scored their points by creating turnovers. He said this season’s team doesn’t do that.
He’s right.
Turnovers lead to fast breaks.
Fast breaks lead to easy baskets.
Easy baskets lead to more points.
More points lead to more wins.
Oregon has seen other teams take away its fast break opportunities, and that’s when we see the Ducks just stand around and hope to get a decent shot.
And “hope” is the key word. Look at the other teams in the Pac-10. They get plenty of decent looks at the basket because they work for a good or great look. Oregon’s offense has been about as stale as day-old popcorn and doesn’t seem to be getting better.
Speaking of not getting better, Ian Crosswhite appears to be pressing more and more with each game. He seems to play hard in spurts, but something is missing. Whatever it is, Oregon hopes he finds it soon.
One bright spot during the Ducks’ skid is the play of freshman phenom Malik Hairston. He has upped his scoring average to almost
13 points a game and is shooting more than
52 percent from the field. With his recent success, Oregon needs to get him the ball more. He’s only taking, on average, 10 shots per game. The former high school McDonald’s All-American should be getting more shots (I say 20). Oregon needs a go-to scorer they can count on for offensive output and to take pressure off point guard Aaron Brooks, and that guy is Hairston.
With nine games left in the season, the Ducks are riding dangerously low in the standings.
With a tough Oregon State team waiting
for them Saturday in Corvallis and the Washington schools on the horizon next week, the Ducks might not be fighting for an NCAA Tournament or NIT bid, but rather a
conference tournament bid.

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