spartan2785

Oregon 37- Indiana 29 This is what I thought the Ducks would be like, Angel and Bamba being offensive threats and picking up the slack when Bittle isn't scoring much, unfortunately it didn't happen much during the league season. Very good run at the end of the half

I don't think anybody is saying that staying at Mac Court was the answer, nobody in their right mind would say that, it had to be upgraded, it had to happen as much as the atmosphere was never going to be the same. There are better built facilities that are new, if you look at Auburn and Ole' Miss' facilities, those are much better designed to keep a raucous atmosphere. They were a bit burdened by the fact that they did need to make sure it could be used for various other events, so I'm sure that had an effect, but the athletic department didn't do a good job establishing a feel for the stadium when they moved, it was such a jarring change in how the game was presented, some of that is totally to be expected, but they leaned way too much into the pro style of presentation than they needed to. If we're being honest it's probably too big of an arena for the size of the city and the fanbase. 10,000 or 10,500 might have been better. I'm not sure if that would make much of an effect. A lot of arena are now being built smaller. Texas had a huge downsize in their new arena, Baylor did the same despite their programs being good.

My thoughts are this I would argue there are more people that don't got to games due to the lack of atmosphere than those who didn't got to Mac due to the infrastructure. I don't go to that many games solely because there is nothing at Matt Court that would get me to go to a game, it's cavernous, no atmosphere, kiddie environment, completely misses the point of college athletics, why would I go to the game when I can get the same experience at home? Mac Court was unique and the environment was second to none, you could legitimately say it was a singular experience in college basketball, no other arena had that sort of design, it was one of the loudest, most intimidating atmospheres in the country. People went because it was place where anything could happen despite Oregon not being a great basketball power. Matt Court has produced a few games where it felt intimidating, the UCLA Dillon Brooks buzzer beater comes to mind, but those games are few and far between because the university has done a TERRIBLE job with their fan experience. There really should be nothing when it comes to music other than the band and SHOUT!, there shouldn't be any sort of kiss cam or anything else on the big screen, make everything about what is on the court. I will say the student body is atrocious now when it comes to their support, but that could be different if the environment was different, it's not like the student body is bad at football games. Unfortunately the design of the building isn't great, it doesn't feel very cozy, it's not the worst building, but there is nothing that feels unique or something other than the court design that tells you that you are at Matt Court. In the end it's on the University for not understanding what got people to attend games at Mac Court, they thought people wanted a comfortable setting where they can take the family and relax, but what people want is a intimidating arena which opposing teams both look forward to and dread going to.

You could see the lack of a third scorer in this game, Shelstad had one of his games where he just doesn't show any desire to score at all and was very passive, partially due to Bittle being a such a beast and UW did a good job limiting his easy looks. Classic trap game, I wasn't surprised to see the Ducks struggle in this one, it's survive and advance at this point, nothing else matters now.

Yeah, I think they have as good a chance as anyone else but I don't think they are a big favorite, certainly a wide open race in the B1G this upcoming year. PSU just has more certainty, but I don't think Aller is going to take much of a step further, Moore and Sayin probably both have higher ceiling this upcoming year. PSU also doesn't have the receiving talent to really expect them to dominate. Certainly have a good QB and two very good RBs, but I just don't see the receiving talent to blow teams away.

Yeah, that's the first thing I thought as I read that, just come on! I get it if we were someone like Minnesota, but we were the number 1 team in the nation last year, you would expect someone there to know that Boettcher is coming back. Everything else is just standard fluff, nothing interesting at all really, only thing that might be informative is some stuff on the mid level teams. All the site do it, and they all pretty much read the same, but that's me who will most likely skim these types of articles, so they're still getting clicks from me!

I still think the upside to this team is a sweet sixteen or if they get a favorable matchup an elite eight. I don't think they have the shooting to win against the best teams. At some point they'll have to have a game where they are just on fire and I don't know if they have the firepower to match up against some of the teams in the top 12 or so. Don't get me wrong, I've been impressed that they have been finding ways to win, but at some point they have to be more efficient on offense and not rely on Shelstad shooting some desperation 3 late in the game to win. Shelstad has been awesome in those spots, but it's playing with fire just expecting him to constantly hitting 28 footers late in the shot clock.

I personally don't think Bittle will be an NBA player, in today's NBA you need to be able to guard out to the perimeter, I just don't think he has the foot speed to keep up. He would have to become a 40% plus 3 point shooter (which he might be able to do). He's a classic very good college player who has a long career over in Europe. In today's NIL world it will be interesting to see if it's to his benefit to just stay another year. I would like to see him try to become that type of shooter by next year. That is what I think he'll need to work on along with just improving his pick and roll defense.

Yeah, after the Wiscy game I said I really thought he has completely turned his season around, his shooting hasn't come back, but he plays so damn hard that you have to keep him in the game even if he isn't a threat at all from the outside. Feels like he is the soul of this team. Guys have found their role. You see Evans really finding his niche, even guys like Moss have found a way to help the team even if they aren't a threat on offense, it's cool to see.

Good game, important game since Indiana was a dangerous team desperate for a win. Now finish up with a strong game against UW and you will be looking at a possible 4 seed which is important since it would mean Oregon would be closer to home. Nice turn around they've had. Altman does it again I guess. Really does come down to defense and effort. Might sound simple, but this team isn't an offensive juggernaut, they score a bit, but it will defense that will get them wins. They don't have the consistent shooting to just win a shootout.

Blazers are in a very very weird place. They have some interesting pieces in Avidja, Camara, Sharpe, Scoot, and I think eventually Clingen. None of those players though are a superstar, I think you could get one all star out that group, Scoot has had a very good developing year after looking awful last year. Billiups is an awful coach who has stifled the development of the young players. They're too good to get a high draft pick, not good enough to do anything in the playoffs (if they get there, which would be a miracle). They also can't get rid of Simons or Grant since those two have no value. They'll have to settle for a very meager package for either one, but it's the right thing to do in order to put the young guys as the featured players. It's a mess, a GM who won't pull the trigger on anything, a bad coach who is coaching to win instead of coaching to develop, and finally an owner who has no interest in this team but for whatever reason won't sell the team either! In the end I actually like a lot of the players they have, I even like Ayton this year! But it's not a team that is in a position to actually become a contender due to not committing to a full rebuild which is the worst thing to do as a franchise!!!

Ducks have 3 very winnable games to end the year, they could then win one tourney game, and could possibly get up to a 4 seed even, amazing considering where they were just a week ago. They could also lose all three, get bounced in the first game in the conference tourney and end up a 9 or 10 seed. So who knows with this team.

God I love those uniforms! cream whites are the GOAT when it comes to baseball uniforms (Cardinals and Phillies come to mind), even better with the classic green and yellow. Certainly seems like a very very good class that has come in this year.

Charles while I would love to think that the B1G will care about baseball, they don't seem to have ever really cared in the past since the conference has been horrible in baseball forever. I honestly think they might care more about Wrestling and Hockey (nothing wrong with those sports btw). Baseball and Softball are the only things that I'm kind of bummed out about when it comes to moving to this conference. The Pac-12 wasn't as good as it used to be in Baseball but it was still fun when a good Stanford, Zona, or ASU came to play. I just don't get excited about Ohio St or Minnesota baseball. I'm guessing we'll be pretty dominant in Baseball and T&F.

I have a lot of thoughts I only just watched the game. I had stuff to do on this Saturday, was able to watch the first half until we got down by around 10 or 12. After I got down with my errands I checked the score thinking we probably lost by around 18 or so based on what I had saw so far. Pleasantly surprised of course. After watching the game we got a bit lucky, Wiscy missed some open 3s, not a huge amount, but enough that I thought a normal shooting night by them probably dooms us. What we did do well was play active defense, and it really showed why Angel needs to see his minutes reduced to around 10 a game. Bench him, he give us nothing unless he's hitting some shots. This team needs Evans and Cook getting the majority of the minutes at the 4, they don't give us much in shot making, but the defense is so much better! I will take Evans giving effort and energy, he'll get some hustle buckets and the defense is immensely better, the rebounding is better, everything is better other than the shooting. Cook as well needs to be averaging at least 12-15 minutes a game, he hustles, he can switch on defense, and he'll also give us something in the transition game. We need to go small from here on out. We just can't matchup on defense when we play Angel and Bittle/Cook. I might try Angel at the 5, but I don't think that will go well at all. Bamba really bums me out. If he just had an average shooting season compared to his first 4 years he would be a fan favorite, he has never gotten down on himself, he takes pride in his defense and he seems to be a team first guy, I know that his shooting woes have probably upset himself more than anyone else. He's broken in that regard, but he is still finding ways to help the team. Shelstad is simply clutch, nothing more to be said. Bittle battled, he's trying to lead the team, came up big in the second half and the overtime. He needs help from his teammates on the pick and roll action, but he's working down low. In the end this could be a turning point, it really frustrates me that it took this long to finally bench Angel for significant portions of a game. He's a good player, but he doesn't work in this system as a 4, and I don't see the complementary players that could allow him to play as a 5. I don't think you completely forget about him, but if he's not shooting he needs a tight leash on his minutes.

You honestly probably know more about the 4 former Pac12 members than they do. It's funny, I actually really liked Hummell as a player, great stretch 4, kind of reminded me of Maarty Leunen. It's going to take about 4 more years for everyone to get used to us, and for us to get used to them. Even at the end Colorado and Utah still felt like outsiders. Heck my parents talked for quite a few years about how they remember when the Arizona schools were the newcomers.

I'll have to admit I don't go to the spring, barely watch any of it at all, so I don't really care at all about the spring game, I'm focused on baseball at that point.

Hummell played at Purdue, but basically the same thing, these guys don't really know much about Pac-12 teams. I

One difference between us and the teams out east is that we don't really deal with snow (we had a day of it, but that's it), all of those states deal with snow during this time of the year. Washington is the comparable team to us, and it is interesting to see them playing so many road games compared to us. I really would have wanted to see us play a Big 12 or a SEC opponent at least once. Feels like a cupcake schedule, but maybe it's a way to develop confidence in the pitching staff. Who knows?

I'm going to be incredibly harsh on the ducks, but those losses against MAC type of opponent have to be kept at a minimum if they want a high seed or host a regional. Reality is that we just aren't going to play many high quality opponents, our league is the weakest of the major conferences (by a lot). So we can't afford to be letting a team like Toledo get their first win against a ranked opponent since I think they said 2017? That's incredibly harsh on a team that has a young pitching staff. I'm not putting the team down, just stating facts that if Oregon wants to achieve incredible things they'll need to start getting sweeps against lower level opponents at home. I really want to emphasize that I don't think it really means anything that we lost a game against Toledo, just that if we want to be a top 15 team, those losses will need to be few and far between simply because we might only play 2-3 ranked opponents this season. Didn't cost us this week, but it might over the long haul. Offense looks good, but it will be the pitching that decides if we will have a chance to do something cool this year. Last few seasons we've had no depth to our pitching, need to find multiple guys who can be relied on.

Very meh, Rutgers is a very weird team, they have 2 top 5 picks...but as a team they suck. It's a win, they shot better, hopefully the confidence from these two wins helps, but the same problems are very evident, it's not an efficient offense and the defense is just not at a caliber where the Ducks will be threat. I hope I'm wrong.

yeah, it's always been a wonder how the Lakers seem to always get gifted great players. 3point shot hasn't ruined the game. 90s basketball was awesome, it's the analytics that has ruined the game. It's the same with all sports, the math guys basically say what is the right way to play the game, and if you don't play that way you're stupid and should be fired. NBA would improve if they eliminate the corner 3, allow hand checking, no longer allow zone defense, basically put the rules back to where it was in the 80s/90s. Allow the players to police themselves, yes you'll get some fights, but it will improve the game, players might actually start to hate each other again instead of acting like everyone is best friends. I want to see Knicks/Heat, Bulls/Pistons, Blazers/Lakers type rivalries again. Force teams to play physical. We need more Oakleys and less Wemby's who look like they would be broken in two if they played in the 80s/90s I also severe fines and penalties for resting players, players are soft, they don't play hard, they have a slight boo boo and they sit instead of actually work for their pay, it's ridiculous. I know they changed some of the rules for how many games a players has to play to be eligible for awards. I would make it at least 70 games for the season, if you got actually hurt, tough break, but you shouldn't be allowed to rest simply because it's a back to back, toughen up and act like an adult.

Has the best physical tools since Herbert, just has to put it together with a strong mental game, I have more confidence in him than I've had with most of our younger QBs in the past.

Maybe we need to tell them they'll get a bonus for every win for the rest of the season. I guess they're motivated by money rather than just money. Edit: motivated by money rather than just money...hmmmm I think I wrote this a bit too quickly. Obviously I meant rather than just trying to win.

I like Hockey, but I've never had a team to follow, I already follow so many sports I think Hockey just gets left behind. Stanley Cup playoffs is the best postseason in sports, incredibly competitive, incredibly compelling.