Charles Fischer

I think a sportswriter is telling the faithful what they want to hear....

For Buffalo to NOT get a chance to win or tie...is insane.

I agree with Matt Prehm, but we have to win a TON of games yet, with little to no slack.

Not a judgement I wish to make one way or the other...

Oregon's 84-56 win over Washington on Sunday was the Ducks' largest margin of victory in the history of the rivalry. EUGENE, Ore. — The struggles of late November and early December are growing smaller and smaller in the rearview mirror for Oregon men's basketball. The latest evidence was an 84-56 win for the Ducks over Washington on Sunday evening in Matthew Knight Arena. The UO men posted their largest margin of victory ever over the Huskies, winning their sixth straight game and dominating a UW team that had won three straight. Playing for the first time in more than a week due to COVID protocols, the Ducks led 24-6 midway through the first half, then scored 16 straight points to lead 40-8, on the way to a 48-13 lead at halftime. At that point Oregon's defense had more turnovers forced (14) than points allowed (13). "We kind of had a sense of urgency, and coach put a lot of emphasis on defense before the game," junior forward Quincy Guerrier said. "That's why, first half, we played really well on defense. … When everyone is locked in, connected, y'all see the result." Then Ducks led by as much as 38 in the second half before going deep into their bench. Oregon's largest margin of victory over UW previously had been 25, set a handful of times. How It Happened: After UW scored the game's opening basket, the Huskies went nearly six minutes without another field goal. The Ducks put together a 13-2 run over that stretch, including two three-pointers by Will Richardson that made him the 37th player in program history to reach 1,000 career points. After UW finally made another basket, the Ducks launched an 11-0 run that included two thunderous dunks by Franck Kepnang. Two free throws got UW within 24-8 before the Ducks went on another run, this time scoring 16 straight including three-pointers by Eric Williams Jr., Rivaldo Soares, Richardson and Guerrier. Up 48-13 at halftime, the Ducks were shooting 19-of-29 including 8-of-12 from three-point range. UW had more turnovers than points, and Richardson had more field goals (five) than Washington's entire team (four). "They were ready to play a game," said UO coach Dana Altman, whose team had a Thursday game against Washington State postponed by COVID protocols. "I thought in the first half, our defensive activity was real good. Second half it wasn't really as good, but the guys had a big lead and kind of exchanged baskets there. But the first half we forced a lot of turnovers, our activity was really good — I thought we did a lot of good things." A layup by De'Vion Harmon set up by a Richardson steal early in the second half gave Oregon its biggest lead, 55-17, and the Ducks matched that 38-point margin a couple of times later in the half. As the half wore on Altman went to his bench, ultimately playing 13 different Ducks. Among the reserves who played was Lök Wur, making his first appearance since Nov. 29. Who Stood Out: Richardson finished with 21 points on 8-of-11 shooting, reaching 20 for the third time in his last five games. Guerrier and Jacob Young scored 12 each, and Guerrier led the Ducks with four rebounds. Harmon had a team-high five assists with nine points, and Kepnang also scored nine. Oregon's defense not only forced 23 turnovers, the Ducks held the Pac-12's leading scorer — UW's Terrell Brown Jr. — to 14 points on 3-of-16 shooting. He came into the game averaging 21.4 points per game, ranking seventh nationally. What It Means: The big margin in the second half allowed Altman to evaluate his playing rotation. The Ducks are primarily using an eight-man rotation, with freshman Nate Bittle as the next man up. Bittle was able to get seven minutes of action Sunday, Isaac Johnson made his first appearance against a Pac-12 opponent and Wur was able to return after missing time due to injury. Up Next: The Ducks host Colorado on Tuesday (7 p.m., Pac-12 Network).

Oh those poor Huskies! Makes me so sad!

The NFL is just killing it. It must have incredible ratings with such exciting games...such a difference in judgement and decision between the NFL and the Pac-12.

Weird. Strange like Travis to USC. "The USC Offensive line; where running backs go to Dye"

Last year I cheered for Brady as supporting another "old-man" still at it. Now I am done with him, and am ready for new stars...

Justin Johnson was an offensive lineman who medically retired from Oregon Football, was on Spaces and he talked about how Mario was micromanaging the offense and didn't always allow the play that Moorhead wanted. I am taking this from another site, and I was not listening to the conversation, so this is second-third hand. But it would further confirm what I was stating for years, and why Moorhead left as quick as he could without any fanfare or goodbyes? Justin Johnson at Oregon

The fact it is the Huskies gets me lathered up....

We have not had the "total-package" as a coach at Oregon. I felt that each of Brooks, Bellotti, Chip and Taggart/Cristobal were good at one or two of the three areas (Recruiting, Xs and Os, and being a CEO) but not all three, and very, very few coaches are. Usually you figure out the weakness of a coach gradually, as while MC struggled with the Xs and Os, the other coaches were not as good in recruiting. Lanning has the potential to be the best of all three areas needed, and it will be fun to watch his growth as a HC. We watched Georgia change their game-plan under Lanning from the SEC Championship to the NC, so I have faith we won't see two "Utahs" again!

He was injured while playing Oregon, but he caught the ball out of the backfield extremely well downfield. He is a little guy, like Dye, who is 5'9" while Travis was an inch taller. He did get over a history of two knee injuries in the past...

Lenoir is a backup DB with San Francisco, and Johnny Mundt is on the Rams, but out for this game, but Justin Hollins is there playing on Sunday as a backup. Kenjon Barner is playing for the Bucs, so a few Ducks are still alive.

To be a great football coach--you must have the Xs and Os as Cristobal demonstrated with his lack of expertise in that area. (IMHO) But you also must be a great recruiter, and MC was that for certain. But you also must be a great CEO, to have supreme management skills, which to me, is what you are referring to. Very few coaches can do the Xs and Os like a CPA, yet recruit like a Master Salesman and yet be a truly great CEO. You have Urban Meyer, Nick Saban, Bill Belichick, Bill Parcels,....a few you can name within two hands are skilled at all three areas. Over time it is darn few who have champion CEO skills in addition to the other two skills. So yes, it will be interesting to me to watch that aspect of Lanning's coaching, but being a CEO is more than Organizational Management, IMHO. It is establishing a culture that makes sense in reference to all else happening with the team. I will be interviewing some people at Georgia in the near future to give us a glimpse of what we might expect in the "culture" area. So I will politely disagree with "most of the results coming from Organizational Management over the years." I believe the OM is part of being a CEO, but the game-planning, in-game adjustments (Xs and Os) along with recruiting great talent are all equally important. And it is really hard to be good at all of them. Here's hoping he is, and I will agree that it will be quite fun to watch. Thanks for a great post to ponder...

This does not bode well for Verdell returning if they are bringing in this guy for a look.

Oh I love that....you gotta bring that up this fall!

Lanning and staff are hard at work, and cross our fingers!

No doubt they will be good if he gets his quarterback, but we have not yet seen what Lanning can do with a defense. The Pac-12 is going to be surprised... And if this means that both Oregon and USC are in the nations TOP-TEN, that is good for the conference.

What I wrote above is not directed at Oregon fans, as we agree with you and are quite thankful. I have a whole section of nice articles about Phil Knight in the Oregon Football Repository. But yesterday morning we had two posts written by a new member who was here to do the usual, "you are nothing without Phil," and since I've seen and heard that so many times, (and will continue to get it in emails and posts by Trolls) I decided to have a "template" made above where I can copy and paste it or send them the link. While some of it is jealousy, a big part of it is a rationalization as to why THEY are not doing well, when Oregon is. It is their "Go-To" excuse, as they do not want to face the truth of their own fund-raising or bad decisions stacked up for years by their athletic administration. People are critical of Rob Mullens, (and yes he has made some mistakes and is not perfect) but without him and the ADs before him....we would have the record of our neighbors to the north. BTW....95% of you did not see what the Troll wrote, as our Moderators do a great job catching the bad posts, and hiding them from public view until I deal with the violator. So nice to not have to read that crap!

I agree with that feeling, and it points to Verdell returning. But he would have had better run blocking at Oregon!

Unfortunately, this might be the "Canary-in-the-Coal-Mine" that Oregon got outbid in NIL, and that doesn't sound right...does it? I appreciate what he did for us, but he is a treasonous enemy now. Travis....you will find that running behind the USC offensive line is..."where great backs go to DYE."

This is not about fair, but factual. Washington has three times more Billionaires in their Alumni than Oregon, and a much bigger alumni base to draw from. Oregon's enrollment is 18,000 and Washington's is nearly double at 35,000 and thus twice as many donors to solicit. There are no excuses for anyone in the Tyee Club to be complaining about a lack of money in Montlake. And you do not have to be an alumni of the university to be an influential donor; Thomas Autzen went to Oregon State....

As a side note--the two posts written this morning were not seen by many as a moderator caught them right away. So nice to not have to even read that nonsense!

I hope this gives fuel the fire inside the current players. This is more than a gut-punch... No more pictures of him in the background of this forum!