The future is looking very bright for Dana Altman and the Oregon Ducks men’s basketball program, especially after they secured a commitment from 2023 prospect KJ Evans on Tuesday.
Evans won’t make an impact on the team this upcoming season, but another high profile recruit – center Kel’el Ware – is going to be must watch basketball this year at Matthew Knight Arena.
While it’s too early to accurately know how the 2023 NBA draft is going to shake out, the industry mock drafts that have begun cropping up all have Ware going very high next year – including Bleacher Report’s Jonathan Wasserman, who has him going No. 8 overall.
“Ware earned fans during the All-Star circuit, and he continued to strengthen his scouting profile this month at the U18 Americas Championship,” Wasserman wrote. “In just 19.5 minutes, he averaged 15.7 points, 6.8 boards and 1.8 blocks, and scouts still think there is a three-ball in his game waiting to emerge at some point.”
If Ware were to go inside the top-10 of next year’s draft, he would be the first Duck to do so since Luke Jackson, who was selected No. 10 overall back in 2004.
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