Game Day Preview – Oregon Ducks
By Mark Knight
University of Oregon (Public)
Mascot: Ducks
Location: Eugene, OR
Enrollment: 24,000
Current Record: 10-3 (1-0 in Pac-12)
RPI: 82 SOS: 106
Coach: Dana Altman (2nd Season)
First Thought: This Oregon team has been through a lot of drama this year but this hasn’t stopped them fromwinning. They are now 10-3 and just off a fresh win against Washington State. They have a little momentum going and have put some of the past drama in the past.
Best Win: 83-76 win over Nebraska (RPI 114)
Worst Loss: 54-67 at home versus Virginia (RPI 64)
Last Game: 92-75 win over Washington State (RPI 124)
Synopsis: The Oregon Ducks have played exactly how many thought they would so far this season considering their schedule. They have beaten the teams that they should have beaten and lost to the teams they should have lost to. Their strength of schedule was alright but they lost to the 3 teams that would have helped them look good, out of conference: Vanderbilt, BYU, and Virginia. They haven’t beat anyone impressive, the highest RPI of a team they won against was 114 and they have played 4 teams over 200 in RPI and 1 team over 300 (Stephen F. Austin).
Oregon has also been surrounded with drama in the early stages of this season, losing their top 2011 recruit Jabari Brown to transfer. They also had another 2011 recruit, Bruce Barron, transfer out. In spite of those things, Oregon hasn’t let it affect their season.
My analysis: Both teams will be looking to get a 2-0 start in Pac-12 play. UW has more talent but yet can still show inconsistencies on the floor, especially on the defensive end.
The Ducks have 3 players that average over 10 points a game; Devoe Joseph, Garrett Sim, and EJ Singler. However, Singler and Sim have been the most consistent at being deadly on the Oregon team. They can score a lot on teams as they put up 92 on Washington State. However, they also can sometimes struggle on offense as they have had 2 different games of less than 50 points, granted these were both on wins.
Oregon likes to keep the tempo high and will look for a lot of fast-break points. However, the Ducks struggle with turnovers and had 17 against WSU. With UW generating close to 15 turnovers per game against their opponents look for UW to exploit this fact.
Oregon will look to contain Tony Wroten and Terrence Ross but in the end UW is the better team and should they play at the same level as the Oregon State game, they should win this one.
My Prediction: UW 87 Oregon 81