Tag: oregon basketball

Pac-12 Power Rankings: UCLA stays on top despite loss to Arizona

Arizona pulled an upset over UCLA, Arizona State went 0-2, Oregon lost again, and Cal smoked Oregon State in a wild week of Pac-12 play.

The Pac-12 continues to prove itself as a solid basketball conference at the top, although the bottom half remains pretty ugly as we inch closer and closer to March.

The big result this past week was UCLA’s loss to Arizona. The Wildcats were led by Azuolas Tubelis and Oumar Ballo, who combined for 30 points and 18 rebounds to down the Bruins and hand them their first conference loss.

However, Mick Cronin’s squad remains atop our power rankings, with only one loss to their name and a very solid resume on the year.

Elsewhere around the conference, Oregon’s loss to Stanford bumps them out of the top half in the conference power rankings, while a nice week from Utah bumps them back into the top five.

USC moves up to three with a nice week, and they have a chance to really make a statement and push for an NCAA Tournament at-large bid with a win at home against UCLA this week.

Without further ado, here are our Pac-12 Power Rankings for the fourth week of January:

Report: LeBron James discusses Dana Altman, Bronny James ‘mutual’ interest with Oregon Ducks

Is Bronny James’ interest in the Ducks real? LeBron James provided some clarity on the subject over the weekend.

By all accounts, it’s been a tough few months for Dana Altman and the Oregon Ducks, who look to be on track for another disappointing trip to the National Invitational Tournament rather than a spot in the NCAA Tournament in the middle of March. Despite that, there is some positive buzz around the Oregon men’s basketball program, thanks to the recruiting prowess held by the Ducks’ head coach.

Oregon has already signed the No. 8 recruiting class in the 2023 cycle, and there’s a chance that could get better going forward. Last week, 4-star recruit Bronny James, the No. 33 player in 2023 and son of NBA legend LeBron James, reportedly narrowed his recruitment down to three schools; Ohio State, USC, and Oregon.

While the Buckeyes have a close connection to the James family from LeBron’s upbringing, and the Trojans are the current hometown option, it’s Oregon’s relationship with Phil Knight and proximity to Nike that is keeping the Ducks in the mix.

LeBron was in Portland over the weekend for a game against the Trail Blazers, and The Oregonian’s Bill Oram (subscription required) caught up with the Lakers’ superstar to gauge how real his son’s interest in the Ducks really was.

“Dana knows,” James said. “He knows the interest. And it’s mutual.”

While the prospect of going to ‘Nike University’ is certainly appealing to a high school player that has already inked a lucrative NIL deal with the brand, James talked about how impressive Altman’s success has been in Eugene over the past few years.

Will all of that be enough to put the Ducks out front in Bronny’s recruitment? It’s too early to tell, but we will know more in the coming weeks and months as the eldest James son plans to commit at the end of his basketball season.

Bronny James’ Recruiting Profile

Pac-12 basketball bubble picture gains clarity with Oregon losing to Stanford, CU losing to Washington

If there was any lingering doubt, Oregon and Colorado torched their NCAA Tournament resumes with bad losses. They will need to win the Pac-12 Tournament.

We entered the past week in Pac-12 men’s basketball knowing that if Oregon and Colorado were going to make any move in the pursuit of an NCAA Tournament berth, they needed to get on a roll and stay hot for several weeks.

That very clearly did not happen this past week.

Oregon lost to Pac-12 bottom-feeder Stanford on Saturday night. The Ducks’ pattern of going from elite to awful and back again continues. The team which crushed Arizona by 19 one week ago turned into a pumpkin against Stanford, a team which entered Saturday’s game 1-7 in the Pac-12. This has been Oregon’s modus operandi the past two seasons, not just this one.

Ducks wire had more on the story:

“On Saturday night, Oregon closed out their Bay Area road trip with a disastrous loss to the Stanford Cardinal, falling 71-64 to the last-place team in the Pac-12. It feature abysmal shooting, poor effort until it was too late, and another head-scratcher for Altman in a season that’s been full of them,” Ducks Wire editor Zachary Neel wrote.

“The Ducks’ chance at an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament is all but dashed, and it’s seeming likely that it will be another trip to the NIT for Oregon.”

Meanwhile, a few days before Oregon face-planted, Colorado lost at home to Washington. The Buffaloes got swept by the mediocre Huskies this season, having lost in Seattle in early December. Colorado has lost to Cal and is 3-6 in the Pac-12. CU’s NCAA hopes — barring a Pac-12 Tournament championship run — have been put to bed.

So, the bubble picture in the Pac-12 is fairly clear. UCLA and Arizona are NCAA Tournament locks, leaving Arizona State, USC and Utah as three teams vying for at-large berths. ASU is currently in the best position, but not by much, after getting blasted by USC. The Trojans’ big win moves them closer to ASU, and Utah’s sweep of the Washington schools improves their bubble position.

Notably, USC is 2-0 against ASU and Utah, and will have one more game against each school in the coming weeks.

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MBB Recap: Ducks flop in must-win game vs. Stanford, lose 71-64

The Oregon Ducks saw their NCAA Tournament hopes go up in flames with a 71-64 loss to the Stanford Cardinal, the last-place team in the Pac-12.

The Oregon Ducks had a good big of momentum on their side. After the season was put on life support with a big loss to Arizona State at home, Dana Altman and his team flipped the script and turned around on a dime, beating the No. 9 Arizona Wildcats in a blowout just a couple of days later. They followed that win up with a blowout over the California Golden Bears on Thursday.

It appeared that things were clicking in Eugene, and all hope was not lost.

That’s no longer the case.

On Saturday night, Oregon closed out their Bay Area road trip with a disastrous loss to the Stanford Cardinal, falling 71-64 to the last-place team in the Pac-12. It feature abysmal shooting, poor effort until it was too late, and another head-scratcher for Altman in a season that’s been full of them.

The Ducks’ chance at an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament is all but dashed, and it’s seeming likely that it will be another trip to the NIT for Oregon.

Here’s how it all went down:

Dillon Brooks comments on halftime altercation with Shannon Sharpe

Former Oregon Ducks forward Dillon Brooks spoke out after his halftime altercation with Shannon Sharpe during the Grizzlies Lakers game.

Former Oregon Ducks forward Dillon Brooks was among a handful of Memphis players irritated with Fox’s Shannon Sharpe and his behavior during the Grizzlies’ loss to the Lakers.

“I ain’t talking about that,” Brooks said of his heated exchange with Sharpe, according to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin. “You can ask him. He’s the blogger or whatever he is. I don’t really care about all that. Next question.”

Sharpe and several Memphis players – including Brooks, Steven Adams, Ja Morant, and Morant’s father Tee – engaged in a shouting match with the Pro Football Hall of Famer, to the point where security and officials had to get involved.

Sharpe spoke about the incident, targeting Brooks specifically for his role in the encounter.

“They didn’t want this smoke, Dave,” Sharpe said. “They do all that talking and jockeying and I ain’t about that jockeying. It started with Dillon Brooks. I said he was too small to guard LeBron. He said, ‘F— me.’ I said, ‘F— you’ back. He started to come at me, and I said, ‘You don’t want these problems.’ And then Ja came out of nowhere talking. He definitely didn’t want these problems. Then the dad came and he obviously didn’t want no problems.”

Brooks is averaging 16.1 points and a career-high 3.5 rebounds for the Grizzlies, who are in second place in the Western Conference.

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Bronny James puts Oregon Ducks among top three schools

Bronny James, one of the highest-profile prospects we’ve ever seen, has narrowed his recruitment down to 3 schools. The Ducks are one of them.

The recruitment for arguably the highest-profile prospect in the 2023 basketball class is starting to heat up.

Bronny James, a four-star recruit who is rated as the No, 34 player in the nation per 247Sports, reportedly announced his top three schools on Friday morning, keeping the Oregon Ducks in the mix alongside USC and Ohio State.

While the Ducks have struggled at times this season, the future looks bright in Eugene, with a top-10 class in 2023 already signed. The class consists of five-star Mookie Cook, five-star Kwame Evans and four-star Jackson Shelstad. Evans was recently in the news for talking about the recruitment of James and trying to get him to join the squad in Eugene.

At the moment, the only recorded visit James has taken was to Ohio State with his dad, NBA legend LeBron James. We will see in the coming weeks and months if he ends up making a trip to Eugene, the home of Nike, where James recently signed a lucrative shoe deal, per reports. 

Bronny James’ Recruiting Profile

MBB Recap: Ducks blow out Cal 87-58 in must-win game on the road

It was a must-win game vs. Cal for the Ducks, and Oregon blew the Golden Bears out 87-58.

I left Matthew Knight Arena on Saturday night wondering if the Oregon Ducks’ blowout win over the No. 9 Arizona Wildcats would mean anything. I questioned if the Ducks would use that victory as a jumping off point for the season, ready now to make a second-half run instead of turning around and flopping, much like they did previously against Arizona State.

It appears that the momentum is currently in Eugene, as Dana Altman’s squad came out on Wednesday night and blew the doors off of a bad California Golden Bears team, winning 87-58.

Of course, this is what was supposed to happen. The Golden Bears were 3-15 coming into the season and among the worst teams in the nation. A team as talented as Oregon is supposed to blow them out of the water.

It was just encouraging to see the Ducks play up to their potential. Here’s how it all happened.

2023 5-star Kwame Evans encouraging Bronny James to visit Oregon

Bronny James, son of NBA superstar LeBron James, is being recruited to join Oregon’s electric 2023 recruiting class by 5-star Kwame Evans.

It’s hard to be any more in the spotlight as an unsigned high school basketball recruit than Bronny James, the son of NBA superstar LeBron James.

Bronny plays at Sierra Canyon and is currently ranked No. 34 in the class of 2023 at 247Sports, but his recruitment has taken on a life of its own thanks to the celebrity status of his dad – who maintains his goal is to play with his son in the NBA.

James has kept his recruitment process close to the chest, although Oregon – thanks in part to their Nike connection – remain a school squarely in the running for the six-foot-three point guard’s services.

Should James choose to come to Oregon he would join an elite recruiting class that already features Kwame Evans, Mookie Cook, and Jackson Shelstad.

Evans in particular has made it clear he wants Bronny donning the green and yellow next year.

“[Bronny] told me he likes Oregon, and I want him to visit there,” Evans told Yahoo Sports. “Everyone that’s coming in is unselfish. We all cut, move and don’t hold the ball too long, so it’s going to benefit him. Bronny can be more of a playmaker and a shot creator, and I think we would play really well together.”

It’s easy to see the appeal of adding James to this class, even without factoring in the instant boost his arrival would give the program from a watchability perspective.

Dana Altman’s ability to recruit high level talent to Eugene is unmistakable, and adding James to a class as dynamic as the one coming in 2023 would put even more pressure on the Ducks to get back into the NCAA Tournament and make some serious noise in March.

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Pac-12 Power Rankings: Oregon moves up after win over Arizona

UCLA remains the team to beat in the Pac-12, while Oregon takes a step forward after crushing Arizona at home on Saturday.

It was an exciting week of Pac-12 men’s basketball action, with the Oregon Ducks’ huge upset win over Arizona highlighting a handful of excellent performances in the Conference of Champions.

UCLA remains the team to beat, with a sparkly 7-0 record in conference play and a current 13-game winning streak dating back to a loss against then No. 5 Baylor on November 20. Mick Cronin’s team looks like a potential No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, and they will look to keep the streak going with tough road matchups in the state of Arizona this week.

USC continues to peak at the right time, playing some great basketball last week en route to a 5-2 conference record under coach Andy Enfield.

And of course Oregon showcased the good and bad this past week, dropping an ugly game to Arizona State and then boat racing Arizona for a huge home victory over a top ranked opponent.

Can Dana Altman’s team continue to right the ship and make a push for an at-large bid in the NCAA Tournament? It starts with a Bay area road trip this week.

Here is a look at our Pac-12 men’s basketball power rankings heading into the third week of January:

Former Oregon Ducks with varying levels of success after transferring

11 former Oregon Ducks are playing D1 basketball at different schools this season after entering the transfer portal. How are they doing?

Like it or not, college sports have officially entered the transfer portal era. Student-athletes now have the freedom to explore other universities during the offseason, and for the men’s basketball program it has meant a lot of turnover in the past few years.

Additionally, an extra year of eligibility due to the COVID-19 season created a situation where some players have been in college since 2017 and are still suiting up and hooping, hoping to make it into the big dance.

Here at Ducks Wire we took a look at how Oregon’s transfer departures over the last half decade have performed elsewhere – pulling numbers on 11 former Ducks playing around the country after departing Eugene.

Some have found success at the mid-major level, like Victor Bailey and Eric Williams, one stayed in conference with a team up north, and some are – unfortunately – battling injuries or ineffectiveness in other programs.

Without further ado, here is a look at each Oregon transfer playing D-1 ball this season: