It’s not a lovely feeling for these Oregon Ducks to be stuck in the lower half of the conference standings and think about what might have been.
Oregon (12-9 overall, 3-8 Pacific-10 Conference) had high hopes heading into league play, but thanks to eight losses in its past 10 games, it finds itself in a three-way tie for sixth place.
The players’ frustration is understandable, considering the fact that the Ducks were 9-1 before winning their conference opener against Oregon State. That winning feeling is long gone, but the players know that they still have seven games left to snag a spot in the NIT.
“It’s hard because I know that if we got to start our year over, then we’d be much better,” said senior forward Bryan Bracey, who is second in the Pac-10 in scoring with 18.6 points per game. “We’re at the point now where we can’t afford to lose any more ballgames. We’ve got seven left that will determine our postseason.”
The Ducks didn’t practice Monday and had a shortened practice Tuesday, in hopes of refreshing their bodies and minds before their upcoming road trip north to face Washington State Thursday and Washington Saturday.
The attitude Tuesday was surprisingly upbeat for a team in a slump, but as junior Freddie Jones put it, “it’s all about having fun again.”
“We figure for us to get back on track, we gotta have some fun,” Jones said. “Of course we’re disappointed, but we’re not making so much out of the disappointment. When we’re out having fun, that means we’re winning games and enjoying each other.”
Bracey added, “We weren’t really having fun against Cal or Arizona State, and we have to get back to getting up and down the floor and throwing alley-oops to each other. That’s when we beat teams.”
Oregon head coach Ernie Kent is realistic enough not to keep alive any hope about his team running the table for the remainder of the season — as some of his players have — but he does believe that four, five and perhaps six more wins are possible.
“The crucial thing for us is to battle our tails off and try to get in the postseason,” Kent said. “Because if we can get in the postseason, that would be the third time getting into the postseason play in a row, and that hasn’t been done here in a long time.”
In fact, a three-peat of that kind hasn’t been accomplished since three straight NIT appearances from 1975-77, when Kent was a player for the Ducks.

Gettin’ props for his hops
People that have seen Freddie Jones play know one thing for sure: The man can dunk.
Now, he is receiving national props for his thunderous throw-downs. If you happened to catch the Saturday night “SportsCenter,” you would have seen a segment about the five best dunkers in college basketball. And yes, Jones was one of them.
Fans were even given the opportunity to log on to ESPN.com and vote for their favorite dunker among the candidates.
“I didn’t see it or anything, but I just heard about it,” said Jones, who didn’t finish first on the list, but didn’t finish last either. “I’m honored to be up there, but I’d much rather have our team have success than for me to get those individual honors.
“But it’s a nice accomplishment,” he said with a smile.

For what it’s worth
Stanford shot 30 more free throws than Oregon (37-7) in its win in Eugene last Thursday. Did a certain referee have something to do with that?
In an unofficial sheet passed out to the media following the game, it showed that referee Deron White called eight fouls on both teams, and referee Bob Sitov called seven fouls on Oregon and six on Stanford. Meanwhile, referee Bobby Hunt called only five fouls on the Cardinal and 14 on the Ducks.
Hmmm.