I have to admit, when the idea of the
Oregon men’s basketball team accepting a bid to the National Invitation Tournament first came about, I didn’t think too highly of it.
A spot in any postseason tournament is something you’re supposed to earn, and the Ducks didn’t earn anything.
Oregon blew several opportunities to
qualify for the Pacific-10 Conference
Tournament — road losses to California
and Oregon State and home losses
to Washington and Stanford stand out —
and finished with a disappointing
6-12 conference record.
But the more I thought about it, the
fact that Oregon even had a chance to win those games is impressive.
The Ducks lacked leadership. They had
five freshmen, six sophomores, three
juniors and no seniors on their roster
to start the season and lost one of those
juniors when Ian Crosswhite was dismissed for an unspecified violation of Athletics
Department policy.
Of the five freshmen on the squad,
head coach Ernie Kent relied on three of
them — Malik Hairston, Bryce Taylor
and Maarty Leunen — for big minutes
during most of the season, and all five —
including Chamberlain Oguchi and Ray Schafer — were major contributors by
season’s end. When the youngsters struggled, there were no veterans to pick them up.
Sophomore Aaron Brooks, who missed
10 games during his freshman campaign
with a broken bone in his right wrist,
experienced many things for the first
time. Crosswhite struggled before his
dismissal and was actually a liability at
times on the floor.
This left a talented but inexperienced
group of players on the court to try and
figure things out for themselves. When
that’s the case, heartbreak and frustration
are imminent.
For those reasons, Oregon should accept
an invite to the NIT if one is offered after
Selection Sunday.
Give the freshmen a chance to get
some postseason experience. Give Brooks
an opportunity to continue improving
his leadership skills. And most importantly, give a young team with loads of potential
one more chance to put together the kind
of run it was always so close to starting
during the season.
This team will be much better next season, especially if Kent can recruit a player with
an inside presence to take the place of
Crosswhite. This team will be a legitimate NCAA contender in two years barring injury or an early NBA departure by Hairston.
The NIT wouldn’t be the most glorious ending to a season that started with so much hype.
But it would certainly be a building block for the future.

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