Where to begin, when summing up this season of seasons for the Oregon men’s basketball team?
We could start with the history, and how the Ducks took red ink to the archives, rewrote every book in every Oregon
basketball library.
Or we could start with the future, and how it looks with the big holes left by Freddie Jones, Chris Christoffersen and Anthony Lever, among others.
Or we could start with the present.
“I’m disappointed that this team’s over with,” Luke Ridnour said. “I’m going to miss being around these guys.”
The Oregon players, dejected after a loss to top-seeded Kansas in the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament, could only think afterwards of what it will feel like to be without their friends and teammates for the next few months. The words of the Ducks emphasized what head coach Ernie Kent said all season, that his team is more a family than a basketball team, much more of a group than a group of individuals.
“Experiencing what we have this season has been something really special,” forward Luke Jackson said. “I’m really going to miss all the guys on the team that are leaving.”
And what of those guys leaving? Jones has only solidified his prospects to be a first-round NBA draft pick in recent weeks. On top of the 32 points he scored in the Elite Eight game and the game-winner he hit against Texas in the Sweet 16, Jones was the runner-up in the ESPN Slam Dunk contest at the Final Four on Saturday, led the NABC All-Stars with 15 points in an exhibition win over the Harlem Globetrotters on Friday and was named a Third-Team All-American by the Basketball Times last week.

But despite his exciting future, Jones said we won’t forget his past.
“My teammates have made it real fun for me this year,” Jones said. “They brought be back to the focus that this is a game and that we can have fun with it. That’s the part I’m going to miss the most, just being around them and playing with them on a
day-to-day basis.”
Christoffersen could go in the NBA Draft because of his skill and his size. For Lever, Ben Lindquist, Mark Michaelis and Kristian Christensen, their basketball future
is uncertain.
Kent gushed over his seniors to the point where he couldn’t form complete sentences any more.
“Just the character of Michaelis, Lindquist and Lever,” Kent said, when asked what he’ll miss the most about his seniors. “And I can’t say enough about Freddie and Chris.”
While it will be hard to replace the athleticism of Jones, the Ducks will get help in the post when Matt Short and Ian Crosswhite end their stints as redshirts next season. And further down the road, the Ducks will have the athleticism of Jordan Kent, a senior at Churchill High School and the coach’s son, who has stated he will run track next season before joining the basketball team in 2003-04.
But before looking too far forward, the Oregon team members will simply bask in the glow of all the accomplishments from this historic season.
And perhaps the most historic accomplishment, according to the Ducks, is the sense that a true team was forged at McArthur Court during the 2001-02 season.
“I don’t think I have ever, ever been around a team like this before, where young people are just completely submitted to winning and coming together as a team and playing with such a tremendous amount of heart and courage,” Kent said. “We’ll be down for a little bit, but we need to stop and sit back, reflect and celebrate some of the things we have gotten done this year.” So that’s where
they’ll begin.