There’s no doubt that this is the Lukes’ team — without Ridnour and Jackson, the Ducks, well, they’re Washington State.
But it’s no secret that much of the Oregon men’s basketball team’s success this season has come when its post players play well. The Ducks are 15-0 when their big guys combine to score at least 22 points.
And, although it’s not necessarily fair to point fingers, the Ducks (16-6 overall, 6-5 Pacific-10 Conference) are 12-0 when Ian Crosswhite scores at least 10 points.
Consider that the Ducks have won six of their last eight games, but in those two losses — to USC and California — Crosswhite was held to four points in each game. And during a five-game winning streak last month, Crosswhite averaged 15.4 points, including a 22-point, 12-rebound performance against UCLA.
But Crosswhite is not taking the team’s inconsistent Pac-10 play personally.
“If I play well, fine. If we win, even better,” said Crosswhite, who averages 8.4 points and 3.8 rebounds per game. “I haven’t really looked at the stats or anything.”
“It’s not just me, everybody needs to step up. Different guys need to step up on different nights. I try my best, but hey…”

But… he is a redshirt freshman playing in his first season of Division I basketball. And adjusting to that level of play has taken some time for the 6-foot-11-inch forward/center from Australia.
“It’s taken me a little while to realize how tough you have to play in this league,” Crosswhite said. “It’s true, when the big guys have letdowns, it makes it a lot harder, and it works vice versa. We need to make plays inside so it opens up the outside.”
Oregon’s play, and its record, certainly
indicates that it is a much better team when Crosswhite is on his game.
“We notice (the correlation); we notice the numbers, too,” Oregon head coach Ernie Kent said. “When he’s on his game, he makes us a much better basketball team. But that doesn’t mean we want to put any more pressure on him.”
Last weekend’s home split against the Bay Area school is a microcosm of Crosswhite’s season. Against Stanford, he scored 14 points and grabbed five rebounds and Oregon won, 79-64. Two days later, Crosswhite had just four points in nine minutes and the Ducks lost, 86-75.
“He just has to go through it,” Kent said of Crosswhite’s learning process. “You can’t force the issue. Sometimes you need to fail, or even be embarrassed, in order to learn. Consistency will come from the day-to-day practice efforts, which carries over to the games.
“Once he can figure that out, the sky’s the limit.”

Movin’ on up
Despite its loss to Cal on Sunday, Oregon jumped a spot in ESPN.com’s Bracketology, which predicts the NCAA Tournament lineup in March.
The Ducks are projected to be the No. 7 seed in the Midwest region, with its first-round matchup slated in Oklahoma City against 10th-seeded Tennessee (13-6).
With its win over Stanford, the Ducks now have two wins over teams ranked in the Ratings Percentage Index top-25 (the other is Kansas). Oregon’s only “bad loss” is to USC, which has an RPI ranking above 100.
Remember, there’s only 32 days until selection on Sunday.