Tag: Will Richardson

Will Richardson, Quincy Guerrier enter their names into the NBA draft

Will Richardson and Quincy Guerrier have decided to put their names into the NBA draft, but they have until June 1 to make final decision.

It was thought Will Richardson’s time at Oregon was done. But Quincy Guerrier is a different story.

The 6-foot-7 forward, along with Richardson, has entered his name into the NBA draft, but has yet to sign with an agent. Both players have until June to decide which direction they want to go with their next basketball journey.

Having Richardson test out his draft status isn’t a surprise since he went through the Senior Night ceremony in Oregon’s last regular-season home game. It was almost a given the left-handed point guard would be moving on.

Guerrier still has a year left in his eligibility status and until now, it was assumed he would be back in a Duck uniform for the 2022-23 season. In his first season in Eugene, the transfer from Syracuse averaged 10 points a game and 5.3 rebounds. He started all of Oregon’s 35 games.

This news comes a day after De’Vion Harmon announced his intention to transfer out of the program. Losing Guerrier would leave a void on the roster that Dana Altman would have to peruse the transfer portal in order to replace.

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Early look at Oregon Duck basketball’s 2022 projected starters, key players

With Altman’s usage of the transfer portal, it’s tough to project the starting lineup for next season, but we gave it a shot.

We’ve certainly talked about what a disappointment the end of the Oregon Ducks’ 2022 basketball season was, with early-season tournament expectations fizzling down to a second-round loss in the NIT tournament. The final 10 games of the regular season saw seven losses, and because of an illness that was deemed mysterious for the better part of a couple of weeks, the Ducks’ leading scorer — Will Richardson — was nowhere to be found down the stretch.

We don’t need to look into that any further, though. Now it is time to look ahead. After the season officially came to an end with a loss to Texas A&M last weekend, head coach Dana Altman talked about what he thought needed to change with the team, and how they could get better going forward.

Related: Dana Altman is ready to hit the reset button

“We’re gonna have to make some adjustments to our staff, figure out our players who want to be there, the transfer portal,” Altman said. “We’ll probably have some guys go and some guys stay, and that’s their right. That’s their opportunity. I only want guys that want to be at Oregon and are fully invested in our program.”

While we know for sure that a couple of players — Jacob Young and Eric Williams Jr. — will be moving on, there’s still a chance that a lot of players come back. Richardson has another year of eligibility if he wants it, and other players like N’Faly Dante, Quincy Guerrier, and De’Vion Harmon could significantly benefit from another year before trying their hand and the professional level.

As the offseason settles, we will surely see some players enter names in the transfer portal — we already saw it earlier this week with Isaac Johnson looking for a new team — so trying to project a lineup or rotation for the 2022-23 season is a bit of a crap-shoot.

That’s not going to stop us from taking a stab at it, though. Here’s how we project the Oregon Ducks’ basketball team to look like next season in a way-too-early projection.

First … Oregon potential starters

Dana Altman opens up about Will Richardson’s illness that ended his season early

With the season now over, Dana Altman opened up about the illness that kept Will Richardson sidelined during the final stretch.

The 2021-22 season for the Oregon Ducks men’s basketball season certainly fizzled, finally coming to an end on Saturday morning with a loss to Texas A&M in the second round of the NIT tournament.

The Ducks closed the regular season by losing 7 of their final 10 games, then proceeded to get bounced from the Pac-12 tournament in the second round, and were sent home from the NIT in the second round as well.

While they certainly didn’t play up to expectations, it was hard to ignore the absence of Will Richardson, the veteran guard who was their leading scorer this season. Richardson missed the season finale with a non-COVID illness and was forced to sit out the Pac 12 tournament and NIT as well.

After Saturday’s game, head coach Dana Altman finally opened up about the ailment that has sidelined his senior guard.

“I want people to know he’s fine. He finished the quarter, he’s in his room, he didn’t leave Eugene, he doesn’t have any stress problems, he just got sick,” said Dana Altman. “I hope that he can get this mono taken care of and get back to work.”

With Richardson missing so much time, and no confirmed reason other than an illness being given by the team, a lot of rumors started to pop up about what could be ailing him, whether it was stress or a lack of desire to finish out the season. Altman also addressed that on Saturday.

“In this era of social media, everyone wants to know everything, know everybody’s business,” Altman said. “Some people told me there was a lot of stuff. Rumors. Will finally allowed me to say he’s got mono. He started feeling poorly maybe as early as the Arizona game,” said Altman. “He didn’t want me to say anything and I didn’t. I talked to him last week and I said ‘I heard people were saying stress and he left the team.’ No. He just wanted to be left alone. You know WIll, he’s really quiet. He’s reserved. He didn’t want anyone knowing his business. I understand that.

“Will is a great young man…I know in this particular case he’s down. He wanted to help our team. He got sick. He’s dizzy, got headaches, and he was sick. He can’t play.”

Richardson has logged 4 seasons with the Ducks, but because of the extra year of eligibility that was given to athletes because of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is an opportunity for him to return to Eugene next season. Altman said he would welcome him back.

“I want Will to be happy. If Will wants to come back great if he wants to go and try and make it in the pros, great, if he wants to go somewhere else great. I want Will to be happy, just like I do with my other players,” said Altman. “I know if they are not all-in at Oregon, we’re not going to accomplish what we want to accomplish. I hope he comes back. I hope he comes back and gets in that weight room, works on his game, is the player that I know he is. He’s a good basketball player. His instincts are good, he’s a good defender. He’s a good basketball player.

“Whatever he wants to do, I’ll back him. If he’s tired of me, I understand that too. I just want him to be happy because I know if he’s happy and working his tail off, some really good things are going to happen.”

Over the next few weeks, we will watch to see if Richardson makes any indications that he might return, or head off to the next level.

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Oregon to be without Will Richardson for NIT game vs. Texas A&M; N’Faly Dante available

Bad news: Will Richardson is out again for Oregon vs. Texas A&M. Good news: It appears that N’Faly Dante has a chance to play.

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The Oregon Ducks will once again be without their leading scorer on Saturday morning in their second-round NIT game against the Texas A&M Aggies. According to a UO spokesperson, senior guard Will Richardson did not travel with the team to College Station for the game, which tips at 9:00 a.m. PT on ESPN.

Richardson missed the first game of the NIT, as well as the Pac-12 tournament with a “non-COVID illness.”

On a brighter note, center N’Faly Dante did travel with the team and take part in practice on Friday. Dante missed Oregon’s first-round NIT game against Utah State after coming down with the flu, per Dana Altman.

The winner of Oregon and Texas A&M will face the winner of VCU and Wake Forest in a quarterfinal on Tuesday or Wednesday.

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2022 NFL free agency: Jags bringing back backup OL Will Richardson on a 1-year deal

The Jags were able to retain backup OL Tyler Shatley last month, and on Wednesday, they retained another versatile backup lineman in Will Richardson.

The Jacksonville Jaguars made one move on the defensive side Wednesday morning by agreeing to terms with cornerback Darious Williams, then later in the afternoon, they were able to get a deal done on offense. That deal was with a former draft pick of the team, Will Richardson, who signed a one-year deal worth $2 million.

Richardson, 26, was drafted back in 2018 in the fourth-round (No. 129 overall) by the Jags and played out his entire rookie contract with the team. It expired after last season, which allowed Richardson to temporarily hit the open market for the tampering period, but the Jags were able to still retain him for the 2022 season.

With Richardson returning, the Jags have retained two of their backup offensive lineman who were pending unrestricted free agents for 2022 in addition to starter Cam Robinson. The other backup offensive lineman they retained was Tyler Shatley, who signed a two-year deal on Feb. 28.

Richardson is a backup lineman that brings versatility into the mix as he’s played both guard and tackle for the team. He’s played in over 44 games for the Jags, but has registered a total of five starts since they selected him from N.C. State.

The returns of Richardson and Shatley are pretty significant for the Jags when considering how many games Brandon Linder and Brandon Scherff have missed in the last few seasons. Now, fans can worry a little less about the Jags offensive line depth, though they could still add more to the unit in the draft.

Richardson and Dante to miss NIT first round at Utah State

Oregon will be missing both Will Richardson and N’Faly Dante tonight for the first round of the NIT at Utah State.

The Oregon Ducks men’s basketball team will be without two huge pieces of the puzzle tonight in the first round NIT matchup against Utah State.

Both point guard Will Richardson and center N’Faly Dante will not be available due to non-COVID-related illnesses. Whether they have the same ailment or different issues was not conveyed to the media.

No matter what the illnesses are, this is a big blow for the Ducks. Oregon found out the hard way what it’s like without their starting point guard with losses to Washington State in the season finale and to Colorado in the conference quarterfinals.

But now the Ducks will be without Dante’s eight points and six rebounds per game. His presence and shot-blocking ability in the middle are key to the Ducks’ defense. Seven-footers Franck Kepnang and Nate Bittle will have to make those minutes up in Dante’s absence.

Richardson and Dante’s availability going forward should Oregon advance is not known. The Ducks and Aggies are scheduled to tip-off at 6 p.m. on ESPN tonight.

Oregon still ‘uncertain’ about Will Richardson’s availability for NIT matchup vs. Utah State

Will Richardson’s status for Oregon’s NIT matchup is still up in the air, according to Dana Altman.

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After finding out their seed in the NIT and lining up their opponent for Tuesday night, the biggest question remaining for the Oregon Ducks was whether or not senior point guard Will Richardson would be available for the final few games of the season.

According to head coach Dana Altman, that’s still a question that doesn’t have an answer.

When meeting with media members on Monday morning, Altman said that they still don’t know whether or not Richardson will be available for the game, and that he was meeting with doctors today in order to learn more. Altman also said that they had a couple of other players banged up, with N’Faly Dante and Isaac Johnson missing practice on Sunday with ailments.

Richardson missed the final game of the regular season after Altman said he “wasn’t feeling well,” and the Ducks’ leading scorer also sat out for Oregon’s run in the Pac-12 Tournament with a “non-COVID-related illness.”

Before the final game of the regular season, Richardson was cut in the head during the USC game on February 26 and received stitches at halftime during that contest. But he hasn’t been the same player since. He was 0-of-8 from the field with two points against the Trojans and was 0-of-3 with no points at Washington, although he did grab seven rebounds.

As we get closer to Oregon’s game on Tuesday night, we will anxiously await the news about Richardson. If he doesn’t end up playing, his career with the Ducks will likely be over.

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How it happened: Jacob Young leads Ducks to dominant tournament win vs. Oregon State

Jacob Young’s 23 points and 11 assists boosted Oregon to an 86-72 win over Oregon State in the P12 tournament.

The Oregon Ducks were able to get the job done without their leading scorer on Wednesday afternoon, downing the Oregon State Beavers and advancing to the next round of the Pac-12 tournament.

Of course, the victory came against the worst team in the Pac-12, and may not tell us much about the ceiling of this team that will be without Will Richardson throughout the rest of the tournament, and potentially the season.

Oregon got a great game from senior Jacob Young, who had a career-high 11 assists in the victory. There was also a nice spark from Quincy Guerrier, who provided some great scoring for the Ducks.

Here is how the game played out:

Will Richardson to miss the Pac-12 tournament due to non-COVID illness

Oregon is going to be without point guard Will Richardson for the Pac-12 tournament due to a non-COVID illness.

As if the Oregon Ducks men’s basketball team needed this news.

Point guard Will Richardson, who was just named Second-Team All-Conference, will miss this week’s Pac-12 tournament in Las Vegas due what is being called a “non-COVID related illness.”

Richardson missed the regular-season finale at Washington State on Sunday. He was cut in the head during the USC game Feb. 26 and received stitches at halftime during that contest. But he hasn’t been the same player since. He was 0-of-8 from the field with two points against the Trojans and was 0-of-3 with no points at Washington, although he did grab seven rebounds.

The Ducks need to win four games in four games in Vegas in order to make the NCAA tournament and missing their star point guard will only make that task more difficult. Richardson was averaging 14.4 points a game to go with 3.7 rebounds and 3.6 assists.

Oregon opens the conference tourney with the Beavers on Wednesday. They’re scheduled to tip off at 2:30 p.m. on the Pac-12 Network.

Oregon guard Will Richardson named to All-Pac-12 Second Team

Oregon Ducks senior guard Will Richardson was named to the All-Pac-12 Second Team after averaging 14 points per game this season.

The Pac-12 released their all-conference teams on Tuesday, one day before the start of the conference tournament in Las Vegas, and Oregon Ducks senior guard Will Richardson was named to the All-Pac-12 Second Team.

It was an extremely up-and-down final year in Eugene for Richardson, who at times looked like one of the best players in the conference while leading this team to a season sweep of UCLA, but also disappearing in big games, which cost Oregon significantly down the stretch and has them on the outside looking in for a spot in the NCAA Tournament.

Still, Richardson averaged 14.1 points, 3.7 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.3 steals in 30 games (all starts) this season, while shooting 45.4% from the field and scoring in double-digits in 22 games with seven 20-point games.

Richardson was twice named conference player of the week in January when Dana Altman’s team was absolutely rolling, but he struggled last week in losses to Washington and Washington State, and is now questionable for Oregon’s first round game against Oregon State on Wednesday with concussion like symptoms.

Richardson was Oregon’s only representative during Pac-12 award season. Arizona was the big winner, with Benn Mathurin taking home Player of the Year, while Christian Koloko was the Defensive Player of the Year and Most Improved Player.

Tommy Lloyd was also named the John Wooden Coach of the Year, while Pelle Larson was Sixth Man of the Year.

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