Men’s basketball
As it traveled throughout the country and across international borders, Oregon’s bus of basketball madness made a few pit stops during the summer.
A few folks’ tickets expired, so they were booted, gracefully, from the ride. And a few stragglers were picked up along the way.
The bus stopped again Thursday at McArthur Court so the riders could say hello to the media and talk about their excitement and anticipation and expectations for another season.
But it’s easy to sense that the bus, after making its way to the Elite Eight last season, wants to just keep rollin’.
“We’re going to be a different team, but we’re going to be really good,” junior forward Luke Jackson said at the men’s basketball media day Thursday.
For one, another Kent has surfaced on the Oregon men’s basketball team, joining three other freshmen and one junior college transfer as the rookies on the Ducks’ roster.
Those five newcomers look to help replace the loss of starters Freddie Jones and Chris Christoffersen, who combined for almost 27 points and 11 rebounds per game during the Ducks’ Pacific-10 Conference championship season last year.
Head coach Ernie Kent, who coached the U.S. Junior National Team in Venezuela this summer, said the Ducks should continue where they left off in March.
“It was a great season last year, and we don’t want to forget that,” said Kent, who now has two sons, Marcus and Jordan, on his roster. “The continuity is in place. We’re not rebuilding, we’re reloading.

“To experience March Madness … I think that immensely helped our program. Hopefully, we’ll get back there.”
While there are new names and new jersey numbers to learn, Mac Court did have a sense of familiarity Thursday, namely with the return of the mop tops.
The Lukes, Ridnour and Jackson, showed off the raggy ‘dos that made them famous last season. Well, at least helped make them famous. Their play didn’t hurt their popularity.
With the loss of Jones, the team’s leading scorer last year, the Lukes will be the focal point of Oregon’s up-tempo offense.
“We feel we can pick up right where we left off,” said Ridnour, a junior who enters his third season as Oregon’s starting point guard. “I just gotta do what I gotta do to help out the team. If that means scoring more, I’ll score more.”
During the 2001-02 campaign, Ridnour averaged 15.5 points and a team-high five assists per game en route to being named to the all-Pac-10 first team. His name partner, Jackson, an honorable mention all-league selection, averaged 16.7 points, 5.4 rebounds and 3.3 assists.
During the summer, Jackson was a counselor at Michael Jordan’s high-school basketball camp in Santa Barbara, Calif. Jackson, a 6-foot-7 forward, said he matched up against the NBA legend in pickup games, and held his own.
“He’s 39 years old, so I’m a bit quicker than him. But he still has a decent shot,” Jackson said with a straight face. “It’s something I’ll never forget.”
Jordan called out Jackson at the camp one morning, challenging the Oregon star to hit a round of three-pointers in a row. If Jackson did so, everyone at the camp would get a new pair of shoes.
“I went all the way across and back and was on my second-to-last shot before I missed,” Jackson said. “But it was a lot of pressure, especially with Michael talking to you the whole time.”
Jackson and the Ducks are hoping that they don’t miss much else this season. In fact, coach Kent says they won’t. He says his team is more athletic this season, despite the loss of Jones, who was known for his posterizing dunks.
“There’s no way we’re going to replace the spectacular flair of Freddie Jones,” the coach said. “(But) we’re more athletic than last year. We understand how to run even better.”
Replacing Jones and his athleticism will be up to a handful of guards, including sharpshooting junior James Davis. But junior college transfer Andre Joseph, who averaged 22.3 points last season at Lee Junior College in Baytown, Texas, is expected to make major contributions at shooting guard.
“Those are some big shoes to fill, and I’m trying to replace him as best as I can,” Joseph said of Jones, who was a first-round draft pick of the Indiana Pacers.
Jordan Kent, a basketball and track star at Eugene’s Churchill High, and fellow freshman Brandon Lincoln of Portland will also see some time at shooting guard.
“This is the most talented team I’ve ever been on,” Joseph said.
Senior Robert Johnson, who Kent said is capable of putting up a double-double every night, will manage the power forward spot.
Replacing Christoffersen in the post is senior Brian Helquist, who lost more than 20 pounds during the offseason and said it has helped his endurance.
“He looks great. He’s even inspired me to lose weight,” Kent said.
Redshirt freshman Ian Crosswhite, a native Australian, gives the Ducks a versatile backup at center.
The Ducks, ranked in the top 20 in many preseason publications, have what Kent calls the school’s toughest schedule in at least 25 years. The preseason schedule includes Cincinnati, Minnesota, Pepperdine and Kansas, the team that knocked the Ducks out of the NCAA Tournament last year and is No. 1 according to many publications this season.
“That’s what college basketball’s all about,” Jackson said of the schedule. “We’re excited to be in the national spotlight. We want to show that we’re no fluke. We want to show that we’re a national power.”