It was another tough year for the young Oregon men’s basketball team.
The Ducks finished the season with a 16-16 record overall and a 7-11 mark in Pacific-10 Conference play, tying for ninth in the league with the Stanford Cardinal. Though the team did show some improvement from the brutal 2008-09 campaign, Ernie Kent’s contract was not renewed following his 13th season at Oregon’s helm.
Rumors spread like wildfire about the future of Kent’s career at Oregon throughout the season, and after the Ducks’ final loss to California in the second round of the Pac-10 tournament, those rumors were finally laid to rest.
Following a lengthy search for Kent’s replacement, which saw the likes of Michigan State’s Tom Izzo and Butler’s Brad Stevens rumored, Oregon signed 16-year coaching veteran Dana Altman as the Ducks’ 19th head coach.
Altman tallied 13 consecutive postseason tournament appearances and 11 straight 20-win seasons during his time at Creighton University in Omaha, Neb. That success earned Altman the opportunity to coach a young Oregon squad, signing a seven-year contract with a guaranteed annual salary of $1.8 million.
Kent’s departure, however, took a toll on the Ducks’ roster. Sophomores Josh Crittle, Matthew Humphrey and Drew Wiley each decided to pursue other programs. Crittle signed with the University of Central Florida, Wiley transferred to Boise State, and Humphrey has yet to confirm his plans for next season.
On the court, senior guard Tajuan Porter became the all-time Pac-10 leader for career 3-pointers made (345) and attempted (896), while leading the Ducks with 13.1 points per game. Sophomore transfers Malcolm Armstead and Jeremy Jacob also proved to be consistent scoring threats in their first year with the team. Armstead’s 10.3 points per game ranked second on the team, while his 138 assists and 65 steals were both team-highs. Jacob, on the other hand, though somewhat undersized against conference opponents, was the team’s top rebounder with 153 boards on the year.
So far this offseason, Altman has inked two recruits into the program with the help of new assistant coach Brian Fish. Oregon will welcome forward Tyrone Nared from Monroe College (The Bronx, N.Y.) and point guard Johnathan Loyd from Las Vegas.
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