GeotechDuck

Looks like we are playing the winner of the Indiana vs osu2 game

Well....I guess it is an improvement from the calling us the University of Oregon Beavers.

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The difference right now is defense and rebounding. What a huge improvement since the 5 game skid. Tonight they shot 39% from the floor and 24% from three and still won by 9. That translates to solid defense, dominating the glass, and making FTs. All the little things. If they can keep that up, they are going to win games in the tourney. Bamba almost shot 40% tonight. Almost. If they could just get him to be consistently at 40%, that might be good enough come tourney time. He is flat out shutting guys down on defense.

The best part about this win is that USC might be joining UW and watching the BIG tournament on TV. I hope they lose out and have to stay home with the Huskies.

How Angel is starting over Evans right now is one of the biggest mysteries in the entire Universe.

Did Oregon just secure a 1st round bye in the B1G tourney? I think they are 2 games ahead of OSU for the final bye spot, with two games to play, but hold the tiebreak?

Nice to have the lead at half. Would be nice to connect on a few of those deep balls, but overall good effort after sleeping through the first 5 minutes.

That would be awesome, especially since my wife is a diehard AZ Wildcat fan.

IMO, we have 3 pretty well rounded players in Bittle, Shelstad, and Evans that could likely earn starting rolls with several other BIG teams. Key and Tracey are on the fringe and maybe could find a starting spot somewhere, but are more 6th man type of players. The rest of the roster is filled with players that do 1 or 2 things well, but are liabilities in other areas. Altman has done an amazing job fitting those pieces together to create some balance and getting the most out of this team.

Altman is amazing. He once won 20 games when Joevan Catron was the best player on the roster. He should be in the Hall of Fame just for that.

. I’ve been pretty critical of Bamba’s shooting for months, but he was a lock down defender today. He did an excellent job.

I think it is amazing what Altman has done with this bunch. You essentially have a bunch of players that are good in one area of the game and not very many pieces that are “complete players”. Bittle and Shelstad are the closest things to “complete players” but can be streaky and inconsistent at times.

And they played defense like they wanted to win in the second half. They forced 17 turnovers and shut down their scorers. If they gave that kind of effort on the defensive end every game, they might be in the top 4 in the conference standings. Let’s hope they figure it out.

Evans has been a real bright spot the last month or so. He had a lot of Angel’s typical minutes in the second half today and I think the team played better with him on the floor. IMO, Oregon needs Evans to continue to play like that and take that spot on the floor in order to make a run in March. If Angel is not making 6-8 shots a game or consistently getting to the line, then he is not adding a ton of value when in the game. I think an announcer said it best about a week ago. Angel is not a great athlete, but he is a very good basketball player. That sums it up perfectly, and is the reason he struggles on the defensive end.