Oregon men’s basketball season ended on Tuesday.
It was a 61-58 loss to the University of Wisconsin in the quarterfinals of the National Invitation Tournament — a result thanks to a late-game collapse that encompassed so many of the problems the Ducks dealt with all year.
Along with addressing the unraveling — one that consisted of the defense losing Wisconsin guard Chucky Hepburn for a go-ahead three, before forward Nate Bittle missed the game-tying free throw on a night in which the Ducks shot 4-of-12 from the line — head coach Dana Altman ranted about a holistic problem he’s seemingly had on his mind for some time.
“We should have had more people here tonight,” he said. “The guys are playing hard. If it’s me, then get rid of me. Thirty-three hundred people is embarrassing.”
Let’s set one thing straight: I’d be surprised if Altman got fired.
He makes a point, though. This mess doesn’t just fall on the players or the staff, but it also doesn’t fall on the fans, for that matter. When Oregon wins, fans show up. Let me rephrase that. When Oregon wins a lot, then the fans show up. The Ducks have now missed out on the NCAA Tournament in consecutive seasons.
It’s a setback that needs fixing before another season where thousands of seats in Matthew Knight Arena are empty. But a 21-win, and previously 20-win, season shouldn’t drive fans completely out of the arena.
Simply put, Oregon lacks the culture of a basketball school. It’s a university once built on the prowess of its track and field team, one whose football team survives because of its entertaining traditions.
The seats weren’t empty just four years ago when Sabrina Ionescu and Payton Pritchard ran the campus. Therein lies the everlasting predicament. A true culture would transcend players like Ionescu and Pritchard. It would lead to loyal basketball fans rather than the current fairweather ones.
Can Altman control the strength of the team’s following? Who knows? He said he’s not a promoter. What exactly does it take to create a culture that transcends players; that puts butts in seats; that means more than wins and losses?
It’s a lot to unpack.
Let me pose a question. When you think of Oregon sports, what’s the first thing that comes to mind?
Correct me if I’m wrong, but it’s not Pritchard or Ionescu. It’s not Marcus Mariota, Justin Herbert or Steve Prefontaine. Heck, it’s not even the green “O.”
It’s the Nike swoosh.
Oregon baseball head coach Mark Wasikowski said it best. He came to Oregon at a time in which the baseball team “was an easy three wins,” he said.
“They didn’t want to compete,” Wasikowski said. “They were here because they were getting shoes. They were here because they were getting the stuff.”
Is a similar dilemma occurring now with the basketball team?
Read the tea leaves of Altman’s recent press conferences and you start to think so.
“Guys think that, ‘I can go shoot around for half an hour or go shoot around with my girlfriend for half an hour, I’m going to be a better shooter,’” he said after Oregon’s 75-56 loss to UCLA in the semi finals of the Pac-12 Tournament. “That’s not the way it works. I’ve been fortunate to have some guys who love the gym, who want to be great. We got some guys with decent strokes; they just don’t work on it.”
No matter how often he reminisces of a time when he’d walk into practice to find Pritchard, or Chris Duarte, or Dillon Brooks, or Eugene Omoruyi drenched in sweat, he can’t bring them back.
It’s tough to gauge why this iteration of the Ducks didn’t buy into his message of hard work and defensive activity like past ones have.
Maybe some were here for extrinsic reasons, like the merch.
Being around campus, the students are too. Football might be the only sport that would retain its fans during a down year. Then again, the students were asking for Bo Nix’s head after a 49-3 loss to Georgia before Nix went on to be a Heisman candidate in 2022.
And I won’t even try to count the amount of times I’ve heard the phrase: “We’re leaving after ‘Shout.'”
So, maybe this isn’t just a problem with the basketball team, or its fans. Maybe, Oregon just isn’t the “sports school” everyone makes it out to be. That’s a conversation for another day.
But if the brand doesn’t translate to wins, is it really that surprising that those seats in MKA aren’t filled?
The past two years, what’s hampered the basketball team is a constant injury bug and a lack of hard-working players. There’s been a revolving door of faces thanks to the transfer portal. But there’s been a revolving door at schools that do have a culture. Take Altman’s past endeavor for example.
Before the Sweet 16 was ever in the picture, Creighton sat at 9-8 hosting Providence in a gym packed to the brim with fans. The Bluejays will never have to question if their fans will show up. It’s the same with smaller schools, too. Colgate, Florida Gulf Coast, University of Pennsylvania, Marquette, all these schools have a culture connected to its basketball team.
It’ll help Oregon attract local fans to have the best two kids from its state on the team next year in Jackson Shelstad and Mookie Cook, and returning a rising star in Bittle who hails from Central Point. But again, a culture would transcend the players on the team.
I’m not sure how it’s built, especially if it’s been 13 years of Altman and there’s not a culture. For now, wins and losses will define the basketball team, and it’ll dictate whether those seats are filled. Hence the recent emptiness. My best guess is they will be, as the anticipation for a team led by Shelstad, Cook and K.J. Evans grew with every loss. The return of Bittle, guard Jermaine Couisnard and possibly Keeshawn Barthelemy should help.
In fact, Barthelemy put things into perspective contradicting his coach following the loss to Wisconsin.
“I want to thank the fans that did show up,” he said. “Having a good crowd is so important, but we got to be better at home before we expect some of the fans to show up and be loud. We dropped some games earlier. It’s give and take. We have to be good, then they’ll show up. That’s how it works.”
But should it? At Oregon, it certainly does.
