Charles Fischer

A good way to start the weekend?

I read he has speed in the 4.40s, and we need that BAD--to have a RB with breakaway speed again! If he can catch, then match-ups on slower LBs could create a number of first downs. Thanks for posting it McDuck!

OL Coach Steve Greatwood spoke of how tons of players had the natural ability, but he was trying to find out what was "here," as he was patting his heart. Agreed, my friend!

You can spin this a number of directions....that Stars DO matter the majority of the time. Of course another way to look at it is how over a THIRD of 5-Star players don't get drafted. How do YOU interpret this article? On3 data reveals 5-star recruits have 63% draft rate WWW.ON3.COM Data collected by On3 from the past five NFL drafts show that the major recruiting media companies have been getting it right when handing out stars.

EUGENE, Ore. – Senior guard Will Richardson has been named to the USBWA District IX All-District Team as well as the NABC District 19 All-District First Team, it was announced today. The second team All-Pac-12 selection averaged 14.1 points (.454 FG%), 3.7 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.3 steals in 30 games (all starts) this season and scored in double-digits in 22 games with seven 20-point games. Twice named Pac-12 Player of the Week this season, Richardson has helped Oregon to two regular season Pac-12 championships and two Sweet Sixteen appearances. One of 37 players in program history to record over 1,000 points at Oregon, he ranks ninth all-time in both assists and steals for the Ducks. Richardson is the first Ducks player to earn the USBWA honors since both Chris Duarte and Eugene Omoruyi did so last season. In 2020, Payton Pritchard made the team and was named District IX Player of the Year. Oregon has now had a total of seven players named to the USBWA team under coach Altman, with Dillon Brooks and Joe Young each making multiple appearances. Brooks was the 2016 District IX Player of the Year in 2016, while Altman earned district Coach of the Year that same season. Full USBWA District XI Awards below: DISTRICT IX Region: Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Oregon, and Washington. PLAYER OF THE YEAR Drew Timme, Gonzaga COACH OF THE YEAR Tommy Lloyd, Arizona ALL-DISTRICT TEAM Terrell Brown Jr., Washington Chet Holmgren, Gonzaga Johnny Juzang, UCLA Christian Koloko, Arizona Bennedict Mathurin, Arizona Isaiah Mobley, USC Andrew Nembhard, Gonzaga Will Richardson, Oregon Drew Timme, Gonzaga Azuolas Tubelis, Arizona The full NABC Team is below: District 19 First Team Johnny Juzang - UCLA Bennedict Mathurin - Arizona Isaiah Mobley - USC Will Richardson - Oregon Azuolas Tubelis - Arizona Second Team Terrell Brown Jr. - Washington Tyger Campbell - UCLA Jaime Jaquez Jr. - UCLA Christian Koloko - Arizona Jabari Walker - Colorado Coach of the Year: Tommy Lloyd - Arizona

I really don't think it was, but I do think he was responding to "the talk" that fans heard from the prior coach. In a recent interview, a sportswriter asked him, "that since Oregon IS a big gig, and he had no head coaching experience....doesn't this put him at quite a disadvantage?" (In other words...could you be in-over-your-head?) At that moment he had the perfect opportunity to tell us all he was going to do, to tell us his lofty goals, to effectively feed us a ton of what we wanted to hear. He decided to NOT write checks on accounts that were yet known...and his answer was... "Just watch. Just watch us." He was telling everyone to forget the hype and look at the results, as our friend Jon Joseph would suggest. I LOVE this, as it conveys a confidence that is even more attractive than any hype he could have blown our direction.

Tomorrow I will have an article published about another aspect of the Georgia program that has both good and negative impacts....

I believe it was 1991, but we were down to 4th string in 2007, as we won the Sun Bowl with Justin Roper at QB, who later transferred to Montana. THAT was a heck-of-a-coaching-job by Chip...

His brother was defensive lineman Gary Baker for the Ducks back-in-the-day! Some good athleticism in that family, and always fun to read about "falling-in-love" with Oregon. 2024 Offensive Lineman Recruit Brandon Baker Breaks Down Visit to Oregon Ducks Football - Sports Illustrated Oregon Ducks News, Analysis and More WWW.SI.COM Baker grew up watching his older brother don the Oregon uniform, and he got his chance to this weekend

He has been incredibly gracious to a bunch of players who would not listen to him... Oregon goes to Utah State and gets a convincing win to extend their season 247SPORTS.COM The Oregon Ducks went to Utah State without two of its starters, fought off one of the toughest home court advantages they saw all year, battled through foul trouble,

I think this is good planning, as I would assume that by the end of fall camp...one of the two remaining sophomore QBs will probably enter the portal, and you MUST have three QBs at least going into a season? Your thoughts? Oregon Ducks add preferred walk-on QB to roster for 2022 season DUCKSWIRE.USATODAY.COM The Ducks made a roster move on Tuesday, adding a PWO quarterback to the depth chart and filling out the QB room.

Canzano: Oregon Ducks Prized Commit Jackson Shelstad Doesn't Let the Madness Get to Him State's best basketball player is locked in at UO. Four-star high school star Jackson Shelstad is committed to the Oregon Ducks. Jackson Shelstad tells me he’ll be at Moda Center for Thursday’s opening round NCAA Tournament games. UCLA and Gonzaga will be there, too. Noticeably absent? The Oregon Ducks — the university the four-star West Linn High School point guard committed to last November. The junior guard told me this week he remains “100 percent committed” to playing for Dana Altman. “I thought they had good talent,” he said of UO’s season. “There’s some dudes that had injuries and weren’t on the court at the same time. They played hard. It was always like they played better against higher-ranked teams.” Shelstad, 16, is the most gifted high school basketball player in the state. His coach, Eric Viuhkola, told me that he believes Shelstad could have played football, baseball or lacrosse and earned all-state honors in any of them. “Jax is the best athlete I’ve ever coached,” Viuhkola said. “He’s got Allen Iverson athleticism. He is so quick, explosive, has unbelievable body balance and eye hand coordination.” Everyone wants to make a Payton Pritchard comparison. It’s a natural leap. They played for the same high school coach, wore the same No. 3 West Linn High jersey and have worked out together for years. But they’re very different point guards. “Sorry not going to do the comparison,” Viuhkola said. “They both absolutely hate it.” Payton Pritchard and Jackson Shelstad after West Linn won its fourth state title. Shelstad and Pritchard are gym rats who share a work ethic and a zip code growing up. Let’s leave it at that. The high school basketball season ended last Friday, for example. Shelstad showed up in the gymnasium at 6:30 a.m. Saturday morning for a workout. Then, he came back the next day, same time. Said Viuhkola: “He’s been coming into the high school gym four days a week at 6:30 a.m. since he was a fourth grader.” Portland drew a terrific pool of NCAA Tournament games. Gonzaga is the No. 1 overall seed in the bracket. UCLA is coming off a Final Four season. Saint Mary’s, Memphis and Boise State are all interesting and capable of advancing. But it’s Shelstad I thought about this week because I wonder how long it will be until we see him lead the Ducks on a deep tournament run. Dana Altman coached the Ducks in an NIT game on Tuesday night. A few days earlier after a Pac-12 Tournament loss in Las Vegas the UO coach said: “We've tried to set a standard at Oregon that we try to meet and I just felt like for the first time in a long time we didn't meet that standard." I left the conversation with Shelstad knowing he’s locked in at Oregon. I’m now eager to see how far a home-grown player might one day help carry the UO program. And I gained an appreciation for what highly-recruited high school basketball players endure. “It got pretty stressful,” he said. Jackson’s father, Darin, told me, “It was overwhelming. There were times there would be 10-plus calls a day. Texts, calls, a lot of Zoom calls. I was overwhelmed. If Jackson was working out and didn’t immediately reply to a text the coach might call me and ask, ‘Is everything ok with Jackson?’ “I’d tell him, ‘Yeah, he’s working out.’ It’s tough. You start building relationships with these coaches and schools. They’re really good at (recruiting). It was wild for a long time.” The younger Shelstad had UCLA and Gonzaga among his finalists. “Jackson was really intrigued by UCLA,” his father said. “We thought it was UCLA for a while. I really think it was a relationship with coach Altman and wanting to be the hometown guy. The whole, ‘This is the place for you’ pitch. That ultimately ended up winning.” Jackson Shelstad had a terrific junior season. He carried his team to the state 6A semifinals despite every opponent game-planning to stop him. “Everybody wants to come out and lock me down,” he said. Thursday, he’ll get to watch some great college basketball up close. After that, there are plans for a family spring break trip to Palm Springs. Then, it will be offseason workouts and Shelstad will play in a handful of tournaments as part of the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League. Pritchard will be home from the NBA season in the summer and the plan is for the two to work out together every day. Said Jackson: “He’s shown me what it takes to get to the next level.”

We beat the Aggies, and now get to play....the Aggies! (Texas A&M)

Ducks Secure Coach Altman’s 300th Win at Oregon LOGAN, Utah — Oregon men’s basketball defeated Utah State 83-72 tonight in the opening round of the NIT. The Ducks advance to play Texas A&M this weekend. How It Happened: Utah State scored the first bucket of the game, before Oregon went on a 10-0 run, making their first five shots in the paint. Franck Kepnang and Rivaldo Soares each scored four to kick things off for the Ducks. The Aggies followed with a run of their own behind four three-pointers from Steven Ashworth. Utah State built up a four-point lead before big three-pointers from De’Vion Harmon and Jacob Young tied it back up at 21 with eight minutes left in the half. The game of runs continued with the Aggies scoring 11 unanswered points to go up 32-23 at the four-minute mark. Oregon answered and was able to cut the lead to four, trailing 37-33 at the half. UO came out strong in the second half, starting on a 12-5 run to go up 45-42 at the 16-minute mark. Things continued to go the way of the Ducks from there, as they outscored the Aggies 30-13 in the first 12 minutes of the second half. Oregon pulled away and led by as many as 17 points in the half. The Ducks ended the night shooting 51 percent from the field and 42 percent from three-point range. Oregon also dominated in the paint, outscoring the Aggies 48-28. Who Stood Out: Harmon led the team with 19 points, with Young following with 17. Soares finished with a career-best 13 points and four rebounds, followed by Kepnang with nine points and nine rebounds. What It Means: Oregon has now won 20 or more games in 12 consecutive seasons. Coach Altman’s 300 wins make him the fourth Pac-12 coach in the modern era (since 1978-79) to win 300 or more games at a Pac-12 school. Up Next: The Ducks await their game time on either Saturday or Sunday, facing Texas A&M in College Station, Texas.

Although Oregon at 10-6 is not in the top 25 Baseball yet....as a conference we have: No. 5 Oregon State No. 12 Stanford (whom Oregon just beat two out of three down there) No. 16 Arizona No. 25 Gonzaga I mention them as I believe we have a game with them later this season. For Softball the conference is loaded: No. 4 UCLA No. 7 Washington No. 9 Arizona No. 11 Oregon! No. 22 Arizona State I love what I see of OBDs on the baseball diamond!

We are so screwed.... We Can Do it!

LOGAN, Utah – Center N’Faly Dante and guard Will Richardson did not travel with the team to Utah State for the opening round of the NIT due to non-COVID-19-related illnesses. Dante has started 27 of 31 games played, notching 8.0 points (.669 FG%) and 6.1 rebounds per game. Richardson averaged 14.1 points (.454 FG%), 3.7 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.3 steals in 30 games (all starts) this season.

Axel...I and my Cat GIFS bow to your humor...we love it!

Ouch! Ouch! OUCH!

And we love you for it! No NIT? As shamed as I feel about the NIT....it is GREAT to have the Huskies STILL Below us!

Thanks for the insights savage--we appreciate it!

Tournament will bring Gonzaga, UCLA, Saint Mary's... and an Opportunity. Gonzaga is the No. 1 overall seed in the men’s NCAA Tournament bracket and will play at Moda Center. I flew into Portland International Airport on Sunday afternoon, noted the green trees and clean air. The scenery got even better later in the day when the men’s NCAA Tournament bracket was revealed. Biggest winner: Portland. The first and second round games at Moda Center on Thursday and Saturday will feature some of the most interesting and fun basketball teams in the country. I love the match-ups in Portland more than any opening-round site in the tournament. WEST REGIONAL - Saturday No. 1 Gonzaga v No. 16 Georgia State No. 8 Boise State v No. 9 Memphis EAST REGIONAL - Saturday No. 5 Saint Mary’s v No. 12 Wyoming-Indiana winner No. 4 UCLA v No. 13 Akron Portland not only landed the No. 1 overall seed in the tournament (Gonzaga), it also got a fun Pac-12 team (UCLA) coming off a Final Four appearance in 2021 and very dangerous Saint Mary’s. There’s also a juicy potential second-round match-up on Saturday between Mark Few’s Gonzaga squad and Boise State, led by long-time Few disciple Leon Rice. They’ve never coached a game against each other. Portland has suffered a well-documented public relations beat down in the last couple of years. City leadership has some heavy lifting to do when it comes to homelessness, mental illness, garbage clean-up, enforcement of laws, etc. The optics and narrative have been detrimental and clobbered the city’s brand. As I exited Airport Way and turned onto Interstate-205 on Sunday I saw a burned out RV parked alongside the freeway ramp and several tarps, piles of garbage and two other abandoned vehicles just beyond that. These are among the first images visitors will see as they fly in for NCAA Tournament games. Every big city has problems. Ours are fixable and I’m not here to pile on. Just pointing out that Portland has a massive opportunity this week to collect some wins. Can sports help fix a city’s broken brand? Absolutely. SportOregon CEO Jim Etzel is trying to land a future women’s NCAA Tournament Final Four. The Portland Diamond Project wants to bring a Major League Baseball team to our city. NASCAR’s Xfinity Series is coming to Portland in June and Worlds of Sport will take over the Oregon Convention Center for its inaugural fan-facing event on Father’s Day weekend. On Sunday, as the men’s NCAA Tournament bracket was revealed on CBS during the nationally televised Selection Show I couldn’t help but notice the on-air crew talking repeatedly about “Portland” in favorable terms. It was sweet music, wasn’t it? Gonzaga is coming to Portland. UCLA, too. Their fans and those of Saint Mary’s and Boise State are booking flights, hotel rooms, making reservations at restaurants and buying tickets for the games at Moda Center. They’re all delighted to be coming to our city. Oregon was assigned a No. 5-seed in the women’s NCAA Tournament and will play No. 12 Belmont. FAMILY BUSINESS: I was rooting for the University of Oregon women’s basketball program to either host an opening-round game in Eugene or get assigned to an NCAA Tournament site within a quick plane trip of Portland. Why? Will Graves, the youngest son of Ducks’ coach Kelly Graves, is a 6-foot-5 guard on the Gonzaga roster. Last season, the elder Graves scrambled to Indianapolis for the men’s Elite Eight and Final Four after his team was eliminated in the Sweet 16 of the women’s tournament. This season he also attended a game in Spokane to see Gonzaga play. Sunday’s bracket reveal didn’t go Graves’ way, though. Gonzaga was assigned to Portland on the men’s side. But later in the day the Ducks received the No. 5 seed in the Wichita Region of the women’s tournament. UO and Graves will face No. 12 seed Belmont in the opening round on Saturday in Knoxville, Tenn. MARCH MADNESS POOL: My annual NCAA Tournament Bracket Challenge is officially open. Join my special “John Canzano Group” on ESPN’s fantasy sports website. Fill out your best NCAA Tournament bracket and let’s have some fun. The rules: No entry fee. One bracket per person. All are welcome. Prizes to the top-three finishers. Good luck. Feel free to share this post with friends and family member. Let’s see how many of you can beat me. # This is a reader-supported newsletter with both free and paid subscriptions. Those who opt for the paid edition are taking an active role in the content by providing vital assistance to bolster my independent coverage. Feel free to forward this post to family and friends and please consider becoming a paid subscriber to have full access to all of my posts. Subscribe now Like Comment Share You’re a free subscriber to Bald Faced Truth by John Canzano. For the full experience, become a paid subscriber. Subscribe © 2022 John Canzano Unsubscribe PO Box 219 Marylhurst, OR 97036

To me, this article and what I learned explains so much of what Coach Lanning was telling us and why. Thanks Coach!

(Oregon Athletics Press Release) EUGENE, Ore. — The Oregon men's basketball team earned the No. 5 seed to the 2022 National Invitation Tournament and will travel to face fourth-seeded Utah State on Tuesday at 6 p.m. in the opening round. The game will air on ESPN. The Ducks went 19-14 in the regular season, finishing 11-9 in Pac-12 games. Utah State finished 18-15 and 8-10 in the Mountain West. This is the sixth meeting between the teams and first since 1965. Oregon leads the all-time series 3-2. Oregon last played in the NIT in 2018 and holds an overall record of 14-12 in 11 NIT appearances. The Ducks have reached the NIT Final Four in New York on three occasions: 1975, 1999 and 2004.