There were issues Monday night at McArthur Court.
Issues such as 15 Duck turnovers, 5 of 14 shooting from the free-throw line and 27 rebounds compared to the EA Sports All-Stars’ 32.
Oh, well. Big deal. Time to move on.
Oregon players and head coach Ernie Kent said after the game they were concerned with those numbers, but in an exhibition game, those figures really don’t matter. Those numbers are just statistical figures that get wiped out when the Ducks open the regular season Friday against Fresno State.
Worry then if those kind of figures pop up again.
With a young team playing at McArthur Court this season, growing pains are expected. The starting five of Ian Crosswhite, Mitch Platt, Luke Jackson, Andre Joseph and Aaron Brooks has little experience playing with each other.
Platt and Brooks started just their second games at Oregon, and Crosswhite didn’t start full time last year. Joseph was the sixth man off the bench in most contests.
The only starter from the game Monday that saw significant action early on in games last year was Jackson.
No worries.
The Oregon offense can be described as high-octane, a run-and-gun kind of fun. The fans at McArthur are going to be on their feet more than last season, more so because of the kinds of plays the Ducks are able to pull off.
They will be fast and they will be acrobatic, which was exactly what the Ducks showed on Monday.
The problem is, they passed the ball a little too much and turned the ball over a few too many times.
There were highlights, though.
If Brooks wasn’t passing behind his back, he was picking off an errant EA Sports pass. He had one turnover and was credited with seven assists.
Jackson shot 6 of 14 from the field for 17 points. Much like the rest of the starting offense, he got off to a cold start, but picked it up in the end.
“Maybe we didn’t click that quickly,” Crosswhite said. “Maybe there were some cobwebs.”
Maybe, but there shouldn’t be any worries in the minds of Oregon fans. The Ducks are a faster team than last season. It will just take some time for the starting five to get used to one another.
Once that happens, watch out.
* It was good to see Ed O’Bannon back at McArthur Court.
He scored 21 points to lead EA Sports. It wasn’t, however, the fact that he scored so many points or grabbed 10 rebounds.
Having O’Bannon back in McArthur Court was a sign of the good times of the Pacific-10 Conference. His presence harkened back to the days when UCLA was competitive.
The Bruins have been a shell of what they once were. A lack of quality recruiting and less-than-stellar attitudes have doomed UCLA in the past few seasons, dropping it to the bottom of the conference.
If the 2003-04 season can be a different one this season in Los Angeles, it will benefit the Pac-10 as a whole.
Granted, nobody in Eugene probably wants to see the Bruins back at the top again, but a more competitive UCLA would mean better games at McArthur Court. And as we’ve found out with the Bowl Championship Series, strength of schedule really does count.
Imagine if Oregon was bumped from a No. 6 seed to a No. 8 seed in the NCAA tournament this year because of strength of schedule. That could happen if the Pac-10 has a down year.
* I don’t know what was a bigger mismatch: Watching Jordan Oathes — the University freshman who won an EA Sports contest last week to be able to suit up for the team — trying to box out Oregon’s Adam Zahn or the Ducks’ secondary against Arizona State earlier this season.
Tough call.