Tag: Kel’el Ware

MBB Recap: Ducks falter in second half, lose to No. 7 UCLA 70-63

It looked promising for 20 minutes of game time, but ultimately the Ducks couldn’t hold on to upset the No. 7 UCLA Bruins.

For about 20 minutes of game time, it looked like this might be another one of those special nights inside Matthew Knight Arena.

The crowd of over 10,000 fans was rocking, and Dana Altman’s squad was playing about as well as we’d seen all season. The No. 7 UCLA Bruins were struggling to keep pace, and entered the half trailing. The Ducks were in a good spot, needing a win like this to get a bid into the NCAA Tournament.

And then the second half happened.

I’m not sure what Mick Cronin said to his Bruins at the break, but it certainly hit home. UCLA came out of the half on a 13-0 run, quickly taking the lead and growing it from there. Oregon’s offense turned to dust and the easy looks that N’Faly Dante was getting inside were no longer there.

In the end, it was a blowout loss for the Ducks that left the remainder of the season in question. Oregon has five games left, all against the bottom teams in the conference, but even if they manage to go undefeated through that stretch, it’s unclear whether or not that will be enough to get them into March Madness. For 20 minutes on Saturday night, it looked like they wouldn’t have to worry about that.

And then the second half happened.

See where Kel’el Ware falls in Hoops Hype’s aggregate NBA mock draft

Oregon Ducks center Kel’el Ware is firmly in the first round conversation of the 2023 NBA draft, despite pedestrian numbers this year.

The 2023 NBA draft is still over six months away, but with the college basketball season across the halfway point it’s not surprising to see mock drafts out in full effect.

The folks over at USA TODAY’s Hoops Hype aggregated nine different mock drafts to provide a consensus of how NBA draft hopefuls are being viewed by the industry at this point.

For Oregon Ducks freshman center Kel’el Ware, the returns remain promising. Ware came in at No. 15 on the aggregate mock draft, and while that is his first time outside the lottery it is clear he is viewed as a near lock to go in the first round of the draft in June.

Despite playing only 19.1 minutes per game, Ware ranks seventh in the Pac-12 in blocks per game (1.4), and his ability to stretch the floor beyond the arc (.308 three-point percentage) intrigues NBA talent evaluators.

“Ware reminds me of Willie Cauley-Stein with three-point shooting ability,” an NBA executive told HoopsHype.

Ware’s numbers on the season don’t exactly jump off the page, as the freshman from Little Rock is averaging 7.4 points and 4.1 rebounds in about 19 minutes per game.

Still, his blend of size, athleticism, shot blocking ability, and outside shooting make him a tantalizing NBA prospect, and one who probably won’t be in Eugene after the conclusion of the college season.

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Kel’el Ware nearly falls out of first round in The Athletic’s 2023 NBA mock draft

It’s been a rough season for Dana Altman and the Oregon Ducks, and it’s impacting the draft stock of freshman center Kel’el Ware.

Things are not good for Dana Altman and the Oregon Ducks basketball program right now.

A win over Utah was sandwiched by two embarrassing, blowout losses to Colorado and at home against Arizona State, effectively pushing Oregon entirely out of the NCAA Tournament picture barring a surprise victory in the Pac-12 Tournament.

Injuries and inconsistent guard play have been the primary culprit for the Ducks this season, but one could argue a lack of dominance from freshman phenom Kel’el Ware has played a role as well.

The young center is averaging a respectable 8.6 points and 4.9 rebounds per game, showing flashes of the dynamic versatility that has made him such a highly regarded NBA draft prospect.

However, some of that shine has begun to wear off. Ware has mostly been mocked in the late lottery or at least the middle of the first round of the 2023 NBA draft, but the latest mock from Sam Vecenie of The Athletic has Ware down at No. 26 overall, where he would go to the Houston Rockets.

From the article:

I remain very intrigued by Ware largely due to the versatility of skill set. He’s a superb athlete with great balance and movement skills at 7-foot tall. On top of that, he blocks shots, shoots 3s and even shows a couple of flashes as a passer. I’m not totally sure he made the right college decision because he often doesn’t get to play his best position (center) due to Oregon already having N’Faly Dante. You’d also like to see him finish with more force around the basket. But there are worse bets to take than a 7-footer with skill-set versatility and this type of athleticism. He’s a project big worth investing in, even if the numbers are a bit pedestrian at 8.6 points and 4.9 rebounds per game.

While many Oregon fans want to see Ware stay and join the incoming class of 2023 – highlighted by KJ Evans, Mookie Cook, and Jackson Shelstad – it seems pretty likely he will still head to the NBA as long as he is projected to go in the first round.

It just might not be as high as initially projected.

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MBB Recap: Oregon Ducks outlast Oregon State Beavers, 77-68 on New Year’s Eve

The Ducks needed that victory badly, outlasting the Beavers and heading into the new year on a positive note.

The Oregon Ducks looked much better after that 10-day break than they did before it, that’s for sure.

After struggling in the early parts of December, going into the holiday after a loss to Utah Valley, Will Richardson was able to lead the team to an impressive victory over the Oregon State Beavers on New Year’s Eve in Matthew Knight Arena.

The Ducks weathered an early storm from the Beavers but were able to utilize an 18-2 run in the first half that gave them a comfortable lead going into the break. While the Beavers managed to regain the lead briefly in the second half, Richardson and N’Faly Dante ultimately held them off and got Dana Altman’s team a much-needed win to go into the new year.

Oregon MBB recap: Ducks turn in underwhelming opening-season win over Florida A&M

A win is a win. There’s a lot to clean up for the Ducks, but they got the job done against Florida A&M on opening night.

It certainly wasn’t pretty, and it left head coach Dana Altman wordlessly frustrated at times, sitting on the scorer’s table with his arms crossed in front of his chest, head down and shaking side to side.

Chalk this 80-45 win over Florida A&M up to early season jitters, or growing pains, or the fact that this Oregon Ducks’ team has been so riddled with injuries at times this offseason that they’ve struggled to field a full practice.

Whatever you want to blame, just hope that it’s something that can be fixed relatively quickly. While the Ducks have a couple of easy games coming up, they soon go to Portland for the PK85 tournament, where this type of play won’t stand.

Here’s everything you need to know about Monday’s season-opening win.

Dana Altman’s Ducks look to kick season off with veteran leadership, healthy N’Faly Dante

Injuries have slowed Oregon’s progress this offseason. They’ll now rely on a veteran group of leaders and a healthy N’Faly Dante to get things started.

Dana Altman has never been one to mince words. If he doesn’t feel confident about his team or is frustrated by where they currently stand, then he’s going to let you know about it.

So when Altman spoke with fans and media members last week ahead of the Oregon Ducks tip-off to the season, it shouldn’t have come as much of a surprise that the head coach was rather honest about where his team currently stands heading into their first game of the season against Florida A&M on Monday night.

“We’ve got to make some progress. We are way behind where we should be,” said Altman. “We just haven’t had the practice time with enough guys to get them reps.”

Injuries have been an issue this offseason for the Ducks. Not only has 5-star freshman Kel’el Ware been dealing with a leg injury, but Rivaldo Soares is questionable to play in the opener, while Jermaine Couisnard, Brennan Rigsby, and Lok Wur have already been ruled out.

“There is no magic wand for guys missing practice. Conditioning suffers, your timing suffers, your ability to focus on what we are doing, it’s hard to make progress and put new stuff in when guys are missing practices.”

A new report from Jon Rothstein shows that the Ducks are hoping to have both Ware and Soares healthy for Monday’s game, but that doesn’t nullify the fact that Oregon is still playing catchup before the season even starts.

Fortunately, they may have a pair of veteran players who can make it so those blemishes don’t tank the season.

Fifth-year PG Will Richardson returned to Eugene for one last hurrah this year, and veteran big-man N’Faly Dante is as healthy as he’s been in years, looking every part of a dominant center who could hear his name called in the first round of the NBA Draft next spring.

“We know we can throw the ball to [N’Faly] Dante, and we’ll do that a little bit. We know that Will [Richardson] and Keeshawn [Barthelemy] can handle it, so we know their experience will help there,” Altman said. “Here early, we’re just going to have to grind some out, get guys going, get some timing offensively with new guys. There is no magic wand, it’s going to take a lot of time and a lot of time in practice.”

The Ducks won’t have very long to figure things out, though. While the first few games on the schedule look winnable, Oregon will quickly be put to the test against the No. 3 Houston Cougars before heading up to Portland for the PK85, where they will play UCONN, and potentially Michigan State or Alabama.

It’s not a song and dance that is unheard of in Eugene. Every year, Dana Altman goes into the transfer portal and throws a bunch of pieces together, It usually takes some time to align the Rubik’s Cube.

We’ll see how long it takes this year.

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8 notable quotes from Dana Altman as Oregon basketball dives into fall practice

“Our guys are getting in (the gym) more on their own. This isn’t rocket science. If you’re not putting time in it’s hard to be really good.”

Many fans may recognize the month of October as the middle of football season, but across the bridge from Autzen Stadium, inside Matthew Knight Arena, Dana Altman and the Oregon Ducks are getting the basketball season underway.

It looks like a promising one, as well.

With veteran leaders like Will Richardson, N’Faly Dante, Quincy Guerrier, and Rivaldo Soares all back for one more go-around in Eugene, the Ducks also have an incredibly talented group of young players like 5-star center Kel’el Ware, plus JUCO transfers Tyrone Williams and Brennan Rigsby. On top of that, Oregon also got Colorado transfer Keeshawn Barthelemy in the mix, along with South Carolina transfer Jermaine Couisnard.

The Rubicks’ Cube is set for Altman, now he’s getting to work assembling it.

After practice on Monday, Altman spoke with media members to preview the start of the season. Here are some of the most notable quotes:

See where Kel’el Ware falls in Sports Illustrated’s 2023 NBA big board

The latest 2023 way-too-early big board came from Sports Illustrated’s Jeremy Woo, and has Oregon Ducks center Kel’el Ware at No. 17 overall

The 2022 NBA draft is only two months into the rearview mirror, but with college and international hoops starting shortly the NBA draft pundits are already crafting their mock drafts for 2023.

Jeremy Woo of Sports Illustrated released his first big board, acknowledging what he has is more of a watch list at this point in the process.

Oregon Ducks incoming freshman center Kel’el Ware came in at No. 17 overall on Woo’s list, the third seven-footer behind Victor Wembanyama and Dereck Lively.

Ware has done a lot for his profile over the past six months between the All-American circuit and FIBA competition, intriguing scouts with his size and length, rim-protecting capacity and developing jumper. While his motor can still be a bit sporadic, he seems to have turned a bit of a corner in that department as he gets further accustomed to impacting games with his physicality. It’s fair to wonder how strong his production is going to be at Oregon, but Ware offers so much of what teams look for in a shot-blocking big that he’ll warrant some patience as he makes the jump in level. I’ve heard some positive comparisons to Jarrett Allen at the same stage, which would be a high-end outcome for him, but Ware has a pathway into the first round if he continues on his current trajectory.

Ware is next in a long line of high-level recruits to join Dana Altman’s program in Eugene, with fans hoping to see production match the hype – something that didn’t come together with N’Faly Dante, Bol Bol, and (to date) Nate Bittle.

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Kel’el Ware projected top-10 pick in 2023 NBA mock draft

Oregon Ducks freshman center Kel’el Ware is projected to be a top-10 pick in the 2023 NBA draft according to experts.

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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Oregon’s incoming star Kel’el Ware listed as top-10 pick in way-too-early 2023 NBA mock draft

Oregon fans may need to enjoy watching Ke’el Ware in Eugene while they can. New 2023 NBA mock drafts show him as a top-10 pick following his freshman year.

As is the case with the football season, the end of the NFL draft does not mean that we stop talking about it for the next several months while the prospective participants hone their skills and get ready to make a jump to the next level. No, instead we will turn around the very next morning and talk about the way-too-early look at the 2023 draft.

That’s what greets everyone on Friday morning after the closing of the 2023 NBA Draft on Thursday night. Many of the new picks may not even have touched down in their prospective cities just yet, but already we’ve moved on. We’re now looking at who is going to be the No. 1 pick a year from now.

It seems to pretty much be a consensus opinion that 7-foot-3 athletic freak Victor Wembanyama out of France will garner the top spot. After he is off the board though, things get interesting.

For fans of the Oregon Ducks, this is where you may want to start focusing over the next year.

According to the latest mock draft from Yahoo! Sports, Oregon’s Kel’el Ware will be taken with the No. 10 overall pick. We obviously don’t know to which team just yet, but that puts the Duck’s incoming freshman well inside the draft lottery. Here is what Yahoo! had to say about Ware:

No future NBA prospect has garnered more attention in a short amount of time than Ware. He improved from every high school all-star event in the spring with NBA scouts in attendance and was the leading force in the lane, blocking everything during the FIBA U18 Americas Tournament.

“I’m a center that can shoot the ball, post up, score and defend well and get blocks,” Ware told Yahoo Sports. “So I’m just trying to showcase my versatility and be consistent.”

It will be extremely fun for Oregon fans to watch Ware in Eugene next season, but they may need to enjoy it while they can. Chances are he’s going to be off to a new team after just one season.

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