Oregon Basketball Highlight: How Good Can This Year’s Ducks Be

A look at how good Oregon basketball can be as the Ducks enter the home stretch of the 2015-16 season.

You’ll be filling out your NCAA Tournament brackets before you know it, but there still is plenty of time for good teams to become great and the current great teams to come crashing to the ground like the top of a cheerleader pyramid. Every team that has itself in a position to reach the Big Dance has dreams of winning a national championship, and it’s important to understand what it is that will make a team a contender or just another crossed-off name on the bracket.

Today’s team for your consideration is the Oregon Ducks.

The essentials

Head coach: Dana Altman

The Ducks are leading the Pac-12 and have the inside lane to take home the conference title. Their lead is slim, but Oregon’s schedule is pretty soft down the stretch with a battle with Utah Sunday and only Washington (Feb. 28) and USC (March 5) to truly worry about. Dillon Brooks is a fun scorer, and Chris Boucher is a strong big who can score and rebound while also playing the stretch-4 role that is so difficult for teams to defend. This is a team with balance and purpose, and the Ducks feel like they’re being overlooked.

Why they’re a threat to win a national title

Oregon plays hard every time it hits the floor, and it knows how to step on the necks of its opponents. This is a team that isn’t just winning games. It’s winning them comfortably, which allows Altman the luxury of letting off the gas a bit and giving his starters some time to rest during what is normally the biggest grind of the season. During Oregon’s current five-game winning streak, nobody has gotten closer than eight points, and the Ducks’ 20-point hammering of Colorado showed the team’s lack of mercy. Brooks is a go-to guard who can score from anywhere on the floor, but he’s not alone. Elgin Cook and Tyler Dorsey force opponents to guard all over, and Boucher is the consistent big who tears out the heart of teams. Oregon is steady, puts up a lot of points and shoots the ball well from the field. Oh, and did we mention the Ducks are pretty solid defensively, too?

Why they’re no threat at all

The Ducks might move the ball well and have good balance, but this isn’t a team that can live from the perimeter when opponents are clogging the lane. They shoot worse than 35 percent from beyond the arc collectively, and Brooks can politely be described as “streaky-at-best” from distance. Yeah, he can make shots, but he’s far more comfortable going to the rim. If the lane isn’t there, he can be limited. Oregon also can be a bit too sloppy with the ball, which allows opponents to score off live turnovers. Altman hasn’t quite found his team’s middle ground when it comes to being aggressive vs. taking care of the ball, and that’s a trait that needs to develop during the stretch run. Brooks can also get a little shot-happy instead of making the extra pass, and the Ducks’ depth is a bit of an issue. The top four scorers are great, but the drop off is pretty substantial, especially when you get past the starting five.