sports fan

College baseball roster limit: 34, includes both scholarship and walk on players. Teams can offer up to 34 scholarships. Exceptions: Some programs potentially operating under a 40 man roster limit, if they opted out of certain House settlement terms. Designated Student Athletes (DSA). Existing players with a DSA tag may allow teams to exceed the 34 man limit temporarily as they finish their careers. According to the Duck baseball website, they currently have 39 players on their roster. Of this number, 23 players are listed as pitchers. However, three of these players, Naulivou Lauaki Jr., Hudson Carvalho and Cooper Markham are listed as pitchers/infielders. After eight games played, 18 pitchers and 16 infield/outfield players saw the field. That's 34 players. The five players who haven't made an appearance are Tyler Wick, infielder and four players who are pitchers. They are Jonah Barkoff, Blake Crawford, Tyler Jones and Cooper Strawn. It will be interesting to see if these guys play any games this season. If they do, then they will be over the 34 roster limit.

Looking ahead to the Diamond Ducks games in Las Vegas, I was shocked to see the Arizona Wildcats have lost seven of eight games this season. They used to be one of the better teams in the old Pac-12. U.C. Irvine is 5-2, Vanderbilt at 6-2. While an 8-0 record looks impressive, our Ducks will be facing much better competition. These games will give us a better perspective of where they stand. Of the 23 pitchers on the team, Coach Wasikowski got 18 of them in the games these past two weeks. There are four more games on the schedule before B1G Ten games begin, starting with a road trip to West Lafayette to play the Purdue Boilermakers. They are not to be taken lightly. They just beat the Beavers 5-2 yesterday.

So many to choose from. A few that I enjoyed are To Kill A Mockingbird, as Boo Radley. It's a cameo appearance from his first movie. I'm surprised nobody mentioned M*A*S*H* as Major Frank Burns. Also enjoyed Falling down and Open Range.

Taking a quick look at some of the games played this past weekend. The Indiana Hoosiers, who are expected to be a challenge this season, lost all three games to a ranked North Carolina team. The games were played in Chapel Hill. USC won all three and UCLA went 2-1, losing a close one to U.C. San Diego. Although the Michigan Wolverines aren't expected to be much of a threat, they played well, winning against Arizona, Stanford and split a two-game series with the Rodents of Corn Valley. The Ducks play Michigan at Ann Arbor the first week of April. And I have saved the best for last. The Leg Lifters LOST all four games this past weekend in Puerto Rico. Here are the results: North Carolina St. 13 Washington 0 Wake Forest 5 Washington 0 Boston College 10 Washington 0 Houston 8 Washington 7

I was unaware of the PAC-12 recruiting rankings so I looked it up. Here are the results: The rankings are identical with the exception of San Diego St. and Texas St. 247 Sports Boise St Colorado St. Fresno St. San Diego St. Texas St. Utah St. OSU WSU ON3/Rivals 1. Boise St. 2. Colorado St. 3. Fresno St. 4. Texas St. 5. San Diego St. 6. Utah St. 7. OSU 8. WSU

On a side note, for those who may have missed it, Baylor's Tyce Armstrong hit three grand slams in his Baylor debut yesterday. It's only the 2nd time a college player has accomplished this. His homers game in the 2nd (401) 4th (407) and the 7th (386). Baylor defeated New Mexico State 15-2.

Wow! What a way to start the season. Keep it going, guys.

Following up on my last post, OBD play's host to three of the top six teams, USC, Nebraska and Indiana. Only UCLA will be on the road. Oregon won't face Iowa this season, unless it's during the B1G conference championship series.

Finally...the B1G ten announced their baseball preseason rankings. But they only listed the top six teams in the conference. That tells me their not to invested in baseball. Other sites are behind a paywall so I can't access them. Nonetheless, here are the top six. UCLA Oregon USC Nebraska Indiana Iowa

Per the House settlement, NCAA roster limits for D1 baseball power 4 schools CANNOT opt out of the new roster limits. D1 schools who are not power four have the choice of opting in or out. Power 4 schools AND schools who have voluntarily opted in will be limited to a 34 man roster. D1 schools who have opted out will have a 40 man roster limit. Listed below are the B1G ten schools, their roster number and their number of pitchers. I don't know why some of the schools are over the roster limit. Illinois 34 20 Indiana 44 24 Iowa 37 20 Maryland 39 20 Michigan 41 21 MSU 32 19 Minnesota 36 20 Nebraska 41 22 Northwestern 35 17 Ohio St. 38 22 Penn St. 39 23 Purdue 37 18 Oregon 39 23 Rutgers 39 18 UCLA 40 21 USC 40 20 Washington 36 18

Duck baseball fans, we are a week away from the opening pitch. I am looking forward to a potential successful season. The one thing that I have a problem with is opening at home in the cold Pacific Northwest. Did you know that Oregon, UCLA and USC are the only B1G schools starting the season at home? I can see the Bruins and Trojans playing at home in the the warmth of Southern California, but why Oregon? All the other B1G schools are starting their season on the road. Wouldn't it be beneficial to both players, coaches and fans to start the season in some warmer weather? One other game that I will have a mild interest in is following the Portland Pilots, as they square off against the Purdue Boilermakers in a four game series in Sugarland, Texas.

And the hits keep on coming. According to Coach Altman, Devon Pryor has a groin injury and could potentially miss the rest of the season. Ege Demir's shoulder injury required surgery that will sideline him for the remainder of the season. What a nightmare scenario. Baseball coach Mark Wasikowski said the program's growing NIL infrastructure credited the Ducks for keeping the team competitive in the modern era. Without it, we don't have a chance. And the same can be said to Coach Altman and the basketball program. Without the proper funding, the outlook is bleak.

Lowest point in the Altman era, 15 years. Starters Bittle, Shelstad, Simpkins and backup Demer out for tonight's game. Can't win when so many players are banged up.

Hoosiers 35-17 1 1 289

Yikes! Coach Altman just said Nate Bittle will be out for a month, maybe longer. And Jackson Shelstad is still not available to play. I hate to say this, but looking at the upcoming schedule, I don't see a single win for our Ducks with two of our best players out of the lineup for the foreseeable future.

I was curious how Oregon's players lined up with other players around the country. But I found that the NIL value is undisclosed and not recorded as public record. But I did find a list that shows the top 20 paid athletes. The figures are in millions of dollars. 1. A. J. Bybantsa BYU 4.1 2. J. J. Toppin Texas Tech 2.8 3. Yaxel Lendenborg Michigan 2.3 4. Boogie Fland Florida 2.1 5. Donovan Dent UCLA 2.0 *** 6. Jayden Quaintance Kentucky 1.9 7. Braden Smith Purdue 1.9 8. Moustapha Thiam Cincinnati 1.8 9. Oscar Cluff Purdue 1.7 10. P. G. Haggarty Kansas St. 1.7 11. Bryce Hopkins St. John's 1.7 12. Owen Freeman Creighton 1.6 13. Malik Reneau Miami 1.6 14. Ian Jackson St. John's 1.5 15. Josh Dix Creighton 1.5 16. Henry Veesaar North Carolina 1.5 17. Cameron Boozer Duke 1.5 18. Bennet Stirtz Iowa 1.5 19. Dayyrn Peterson Kansas 1.5 20. Darrion Williams N. Carolina St. 1.4 *** Here's an example of what can happen even if you spend a lot of money on a player. Donovan Dent at UCLA is bringing in a cool two million but that doesn't guarantee a spot in the NCAA tournament. As of today, according to ESPN's bracketology, the Bruins are currently listed as the first team out. As my Duck friends who commented on a previous article, Oregon would have to spend some series cash to make them competitive. Spending more on basketball would probably cut back on football funding. How do you guys feel about this? Keep it the same, with our football program close to the top of the football pyramid and basketball floundering at the bottom of the standings or make basketball more interesting and exciting to watch. It takes a lot of money for a lot of football players to achieve that 'natty' we so desperately crave. But with basketball, probably two players and a strong supporting cast could bring a championship caliber team to Eugene.

I know we're all disappointed in the final game so I took a deep dive into our football program and as Duck fans we should hold our heads up and be proud of our team. I just got a notification that Dante Moore will be returning! See how blessed we are. Chip Kelly 46-7 .868% Under Chip, he posted undefeated records against both Oregon State and Washington, something never before achieved by an Oregon coach. Mark Helfrich 37-16 .698% Willie Taggart 7-5 .583% Mario Cristobal 35-13 .729% Dan Lanning 48-8 .857% overall record 173-49 .779% George Horton 375-281 .572% Mark Wasikowski 206-106 .660% overall record 581-387 .600% Listening to the college baseball show with Jared Perkins, Mark Garland and Will Mossa, they pick our Ducks to finish in 2nd place in the B1G ten, only behind powerhouse UCLA. Dana Altman 378-171 .689% Our basketball program, for the most part, has been very competitive and exciting to watch. There has been the occasional bump in the road but overall have done fairly well. But this season is different. Is it the coaching, player development or NIL. For the past four seasons, there have been quite a few injuries that have derailed the Ducks. Anybody have an answers how Coach Altman can turn this around? Looking at our winning percentages in football, baseball and basketball, we should be very pleased at the winning cultural at Oregon.

Jon Wilner wrote an article that said "What's next for Oregon after another playoff collapse: The leadership and structure are right, but something's missing. (I was going to provide a link to this article but it's behind a paywall). He goes on to say it's time to whack the button in Eugene. But which one? The eject button, the panic button, the snooze button, the reset button? The Ducks are a CFP regular contender that's far from championship caliber. How far? 54 points. They were beaten by Ohio St. and Indiana by that much. Oregon losing to Ohio St. and Indiana in the CFP isn't the issue. It's the fashion in how they lost in the Rose and Peach Bowls. Only coach Lanning can uncover the glitch in his system that left Oregon embarrassed in the biggest games the past two years. He mentions how Will Stein and Tosh Lupoi have departed for their head coaching positions and who their replacements will be. To win games deep in the CFP, to beat opponents with comparable talent, you need equivalent expertise. Are their replacements up to the task? It's believed that Oregon needs older, wiser coaching staff at the coordinator level. The Buckeyes and Hoosiers staff that sliced and diced the Ducks had decades more experience at the head coach and coordinator levels. Lupoi's replacement, Chris Hampton has never called plays at the Power Four level and Stein's replacement, Drew Mehringer has one year of coordinator experience at the Power Four level, in 2016 at Rutgers that finished number 127 in the country in scoring. The Ducks appear so close and, at the same time, so far.

TOO MANY INJURIES I hope I'm wrong I hate to say this but... Indiana wins 27-17 1 1 239

The Ducks and Hoosiers both played road games at Iowa City and University Park. Here are the results. Indiana 20 Iowa 15 Oregon 18 Iowa 16 Indiana 27 Penn St. 24 Oregon 30 Penn St. 24 (2 ot) Total points for and against: Indiana 47 - 39 plus 8 Oregon 48 - 40 plus 8

All four coaches spent time at Alabama with Coach Nick Saban. Curt Cignetti 2007 - 2011 wide receiver coach and recruiting coordinator Mario Cristobal 2013 - 2016 associate head coach, tight ends coach, assistant head coach, offensive line coach and recruiting coordinator Pete Golding 2018 - 2022 defensive assistant coach, co-defense coordinator, inside linebacker coach and defensive coordinator Dan Lanning 2015 grad assistant

Ducks 31-20 1 1 269

Ducks Win 45-13 2 2 250

It's very hard to beat the same team twice in the same season. Based on that, Alabama wins a close one in Norman.

This article is behind a paywall. A Huskie fan asks; Why is Oregon Coach Dan Lanning rarely mentioned as a candidate for some BIGGER-NAME schools that have lost coaches, such as Penn St., LSU and even Florida? As a Washington season ticket holder of nearly 50 years, it would not bother me to see him go down the road to another school! -Rob M - Jon Wilner answers; Lanning has been clear about his desire to remain in Eugene, both because Oregon offers him the resources to win at the highest level and because his family is happy. In fact, he put his money where his mouth is upon signing a contract extension in 2023 (that has since been amended): The deal includes a massive buyout of $20 million, suggesting Lanning was content with the terms that most schools with vacancies would consider exorbitant. Essentially, he took himself off the market. In exchange, Oregon offered more security and more money, with a deal that was worth roughly 7 million annually at the time but has since been amended (to approximately $11 million). The Ducks have a first rate coach who wants to stay so they moved aggressively to keep him. That said, he's not a forever coach in Eugene. At some point he'll look elsewhere. There are only a few jobs that might lure Lanning away - Georgia is probably atop that list - but if the right NFL franchise has a vacancy in coming years, he could very well be tempted. I certainly enjoy all the misery the loser Huskie fans have for all things Ducks!