STF Super Awesome Team Previews: #13 Oregon Ducks

#13 Oregon Ducks


Team: Oregon

Conference: Pac 10

2006 Record and Ending: 29-8, lost to Florida in the Elite Eight

Key Players Returning: Tons of talents returns from this Elite Eight squad. Gone is point guard and catalyst Aaron Brooks, but the return of G Malik Hairston, G Taj Porter, PG Byrce Taylor and F Maarty Leuen means that the Ducks will score in bunches and a return trip to the Elite Eight is not out of the question.

What's To Love: With Hairston, Taylor and Porter all in the backcourt, there is a good possibility that the Ducks will break a few scoreboards this season. Outside of maybe North Carolina, no team will be able to score as much as the Ducks. The offensive weapons are almost too numerous to count. Also, this group has now been playing together for 2-3 years, look for that experience to show up in tournament time.

What's Not To Love: The success of this team will come down to tow key aspects: replacing Brooks and playing defense. Brooks was Mr. Everything for this squad last season, it will be interesting to see who can fill in his 17 ppg and more importantly 4.3 apg. Even with the amount of points this team is expected to score, a minimal defensive effort will be needed to survive the brutal Pac-10

Key Player: Tajuan Porter is going to have to replace Brooks. We already know how good a shooter/scorer Porter is, now we need to see how good he actually is at handling the ball and leading a team. His play at point will determine how far this team will advance

Best Case: The Ducks don't miss a beat without Brooks and still light up the scoreboard, Porter transition to point doesn't take away form his shooting, big men Mitch Platt provides some inside toughness and allowes Leunen to roam, the talented backcourt plays some defense, Hairston finally gets to play Carmeo in San Antonio

Worst Case: Undersized Porter struggles at the point and defensively, the offense sputters without catalyst Brooks, the big men of the Pac 10 dominate a weak Oregon frontcourt in a halfcourt game, this squad reverts back to 2005 form.

STF Prediction: Torn a bit on this team without Brooks, but way too much talent returns to expect a significant dropoff. 2nd or 3rd in the Pac 10, Sweet 16.