Desert Duck

The floor is definitely innovative. But the bummer is that, while creative, it looks like crapola on TV. In person, it's not quite as bad. But I feel like we're kind of the basketball equivalent of Boise State's vomit blue Smurf-Turf.

Facts and data can just be so darn inconvenient sometimes.

Yep... that thing, while creative, has gotta go.

They went from hitting 12% of their 3s against the Buffs, to hitting 44% today. Nice. And they were smokin hot from the 2 at 60%.

I think they heard your call from over the interwebs... Only 1 TO in the second half.

What a bummer. With 11:55 to go in the game, Dante has missed a shot. He's only 6/7 so far. Dude really needs to regroup and step it up. C'mon Ducks... Finish this game strong!!

Plus three times zones. If I was a betting man, I'd have to go with SC. However, I had Oregon getting bounced in the first round of the PAC 12 championship too. Regardless, GO DUCKS!

The defense absolutely won the game against Colorado, forcing 13 TO's and picking up 9 Steals. They just smothered the Buffs. And to have won by 7 while only shooting 12% from the 3, further underscores the exceptional defensive output.

I'm going out on a limb and predicting that the Ducks will shoot better from the 3 than the 12% they hit last night.

No doubt that teams will now double, and even perhaps triple team, Dante. Especially after Oregon shot a horrendous 12% from the 3, opponents will likely feel some freedom to give our shooters some room and focus on defending Dante. So, hopefully, our shooters will be feeling it and nail some early shots from downtown.

3 games against the Huskies in a span of about 12 months... losing each by 3. I'll be honest, that sting is going to linger for a while.

I was having flashbacks to Oregon's great Greg Ballard. And yes, that play near the end where Dante came way out to swat the daylights out of that attempted Buff 3, chase it down to keep it from going out of bounds, while tossing it to a teammate, seriously displayed his athletic talent & high b-ball IQ. It's my favorite play of the game.

Dante's performance tonight truly reminded me of shades of Bill Walton in his playing days at UCLA -- with the exception of Bill's freaky-amazing passing ability. Tonight, Dante's performance was a thing of beauty. Plus, his story of perseverance is incredible & inspirational.

After last night, I wonder if Arizona has shades of Princeton 2023 dancing around in there heads.

Buffs shot 33% from the 3. We shot 12%. They hit 91% of their FT's (21-23). We hit 71%. Rebounds were fairly close... Buffs 35 - Ducks 31. Looking at those stats, I was trying to figure out how we won this game... and it was all Defense (and of course, Dante). We destroyed them on steals 10 to 1, and TO's 13 to 3. Plus, Dante was a beast on altered shots. I doubt there are many teams that are going to want to face us in the first round.

Actually, he was better than magnificent. He was absolutely perfect. 12-12 & 1-1. Plus, there was only one block in the entire game... and, of course, that was Dante coming to the 3 point line at the end of game to slap that three-point attempt... only followed by him saving it from going out of bounds, while passing it to his teammate to seal the game.

Good for Chip. Seems like a very good move for him.

The Land of Mario... Where great QBs go to die.

Love Bill, but I just can hardly listen to the guy anymore. I recently watched The King's Speech and as I listened to Bill a bit last night, I was reminded that he once has a pretty severe speech impediment. This was naturally inflamed when Bill had to speak in public. He hated the cameras in college because of it. But the truly amazing part is that he chose to work his as off to overcome it. It's really quite remarkable and impressive. I can only imagine the amount of hope he has given, and gives, to those who struggle with this challenge. And now, the "Conference of Champions" Dude can't even begin to shut his yapper 😉 .

Nice road W. If they get Bittle healthy, and put it together down the stretch, we could have some fun in the Madness and win 2 or 3. Some stats that jumped out to me, for starters, were free throws, as Oregon got to the line 21 times and hit 18 for nearly 86%. Dang, that's an exceptional night. SC only got to the line 6 times making all 6. The other stat that actually cause my jaw to drop were blocks. Oregon averages a respectable 4 per game. Last night they had 6. But that's not the block stat that caught my attention. It was USCs blocks. They average a healthy 6 blocks per game but last night they had 14. I thought it was a data error when I first saw that, but it is legit. I can't remember when I've ever seen a team get 14 blocks on an opponent playing in the same division. It's actually quite stunning. Usually, there is no way an opponent is going to win if they are dominated by blocks anywhere close to that. I only watched a little bit of the game, but I'm guessing we must have recovered a fair amount of those blocks. USC even shot the 2 ball better by about 20%, and also made more (27-24). SC shot 41% overall. The Ducks 3 ball % was slightly better as we made 12 triples compared to 9 for SC. And yet overall, we only shot 37% from the floor. Rebounds were equal, except we dominated them on the all important offensive glass 17-12. Assists and steals were pretty much a push. And yet, we still won by 9... on the road. Thank goodness for 21 trips to the line followed by an ice-water-in-veins FT % of 86%, and nearly 38% 3 points shooting. All-in-all, this team might just get quite interesting down the stretch. Let's hope for another amazing Altman late season run.

74° degrees and sunny tomorrow, with a wind chill taking it down to 73°. Thankfully, I think we're going to make it.

I've gotta believe that our guys wanted it. Sometimes, one team just gets beaten.

Fisch is a strong possibility that I hadn't thought about. The Arizona athletic programs are in a world of financial hurt, and it is not going to get better anytime soon. "Arizona’s athletic department was given a $55 million loan during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic that hasn’t been paid back..." UArizona will not cut sports under plan to shore up financial difficulties WWW.FOX10PHOENIX.COM The University of Arizona will not cut any sports as it tries to...

If I were a Husky, I'd suggest maybe dusting off Rick Neuweasel.

I'm pretty sure that nobody is expecting them to win the tourney this year, but when you have two of your bigs out with injuries, and yet you can still put together a good early season record, it is encouraging. And those two wins last week against the Washington schools on the road, is nothing to shake a stick at.