It’s been quite a while since we’ve gotten the opportunity to last speak to Oregon Ducks men’s basketball coach Dana Altman. In fact, I think the last time I was in a room with him was the night that he went on a rant about the program, the fans, and the outlook of things going forward, making national headlines in the sport.
It’s safe to say that a lot of things have happened from then until now.
For starters, the Ducks will now be playing in a new conference starting a year from now after the University of Oregon jumped from the Pac-12 to the Big Ten. That seems like pretty major news that would be worth getting Altman’s opinion on.
After that, we have also been gifted a pretty new-look roster in Eugene, which features a few holdovers from last year — N’Faly Dante, Nate Bittle, Keeshawn Barthelemy, and Jermaine Couisnard, among others — but boasts a pair of 5-star freshmen with another highly-rated 4-star player who made up the No. 8 ranked 2023 recruiting class for the Ducks.
There’s another good topic of conversation.
With those new additions, a big influx of incoming transfers, and every other storyline that has built up over the offseason, it’s safe to say that there was no shortage of things to discuss with Altman in his first media availability on Thursday afternoon.
Here are Altman’s most notable quotes from that interview: