30Duck Moderator No. 1 Share Posted February 11 How many Wildcats fans are going to start watching this game at 10:00, how many of us are going to start 2 hours earlier? Northwestern vs. Oregon prediction, pick, college basketball odds CLUTCHPOINTS.COM Northwestern and Oregon battle in a matchup of two teams near the bottom of the Big Ten standings in this college basketball... 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeotechDuck No. 2 Share Posted February 11 Agree. This is a must win. They are going to have to slow down Martinelli. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
30Duck Author Moderator No. 3 Share Posted February 12 Well, we won't have MacLean, he's doing Penn State @ USC, 21 point lead for the Trojans and MacLean just said that the Ducks really need to win tonight. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
30Duck Author Moderator No. 4 Share Posted February 12 Nate Bittle won't win the Kareem Abdul Jabbar Award. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
30Duck Author Moderator No. 5 Share Posted February 12 Wide open 3 for Bamba...brick. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave23 No. 6 Share Posted February 12 Bamba and Bittle with poor shots and now they're on the bench. Moving the ball and getting open looks, so far so good. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
30Duck Author Moderator No. 7 Share Posted February 12 Ducks still vulnerable in the paint defensively, but they're moving the ball on offense, Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeotechDuck No. 8 Share Posted February 12 (edited) Why is the defense soooo bad?? Someone needs step up and stop letting other teams shoot 50%+. Shots are falling now, but what happens when the drought hits. Edited February 12 by GeotechDuck Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
30Duck Author Moderator No. 9 Share Posted February 12 On 2/11/2025 at 8:38 PM, GeotechDuck said: Why is the defense soooo bad?? Someone needs step up and stop letting other teams shoot 50%+. Shots are falling now, but what happens when the drought hits. Yep, boring game really, looks like the NBA, neither team is playing defense, just going back & forth taking open shots. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeotechDuck No. 10 Share Posted February 12 (edited) Bamba just missed that baseline runner by 17 feet. Wow. Finally some defense. Edited February 12 by GeotechDuck 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
30Duck Author Moderator No. 11 Share Posted February 12 11th place Indiana just beat 3rd place Michigan State, 71-67 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
30Duck Author Moderator No. 12 Share Posted February 12 How many Northwestern fans are going to stay watching to the end? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
30Duck Author Moderator No. 13 Share Posted February 12 I have never seen a team so bad at defending in the paint! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeotechDuck No. 14 Share Posted February 12 On 2/11/2025 at 9:23 PM, 30Duck said: I have never seen a team so bad at defending in the paint! Yeah. This team is terrible on the defensive side of the court. Might be one of the worst in the Altman era. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeotechDuck No. 15 Share Posted February 12 (edited) And there goes the lead. They just continue to give teams wide open looks and allow them to shoot 50%. Unreal. Someone d-up already! Northwestern shooting better than 60% in the second half. Edited February 12 by GeotechDuck 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Joseph Moderator No. 16 Share Posted February 12 Game Wrap Up - Oregon Ducks Snap Losing Streak: Jackson Shelstad's Career Night Vs. Northwestern WWW.SI.COM The Oregon Ducks snapped their five-game losing streak in a 81-75 win over the Northwestern Wildcats. It was a much needed win for the Ducks as they were in a c Hard to win in this conference. As noted above, Indiana took down Sparty and Michigan beat Purdue. Parity and mediocrity or solid teams that will surprise in the Tourney? The SEC came in with all of the pub last season and flamed out. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duckdude No. 17 Share Posted February 12 On 2/11/2025 at 8:14 PM, 30Duck said: Nate Bittle won't win the Kareem Abdul Jabbar Award. Shouldn’t even be nominated for it. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duckdude No. 18 Share Posted February 12 On 2/11/2025 at 8:18 PM, 30Duck said: Wide open 3 for Bamba...brick. As usual Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeotechDuck No. 19 Share Posted February 12 (edited) What’s wrong with the defense? Usually at this time of year Altman teams pick it up, defend and rebound, and do the little things to make a run. This team is the exact opposite. They have been tragic on the defensive side of the ball for the past month and a half. They just let the 3rd worst shooting team in the conference shoot 52% from the floor and 42% from three. And it is not like Northwestern just got hot. There were wide open shots all night long all over the floor. Northwestern, MSU, UCLA, Illinois, Minnesota, Nebraska, and others have all shot better than 50% from the floor over the past month and a half. I don’t remember seeing an Altman team play this poorly on the defensive side of the ball this late in the year. There are 6 games left. If the defense doesn’t get fixed, I would be shocked if they win three of them. Edited February 12 by GeotechDuck 1 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
spartan2785 No. 20 Share Posted February 12 I only was able to watch the last 4 minutes or so due to high school basketball commitments, but I saw twice late in the game where a simple pick and roll led led to wide open layups, because Angel couldn't keep up with his defender, the guard did nothing to disrupt the action, and Bittle got sealed off with ease. This is basketball 101, like the most simple play possible, and we looked helpless to defend it. It's such bad basketball, Angel and Bittle are probably the two worst inside defenders of the Altman era. Bittle is okay when he is just matched up on the inside, and he can block some shots, but he is awful at defending anything on the perimeter, same with Angel, but Angel can't rebound or block shots. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles Fischer Administrator No. 21 Share Posted February 12 Look at the bright side... We got No. 12 in the nation Baseball starting Friday! Mr. FishDuck Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
HDuck No. 22 Share Posted February 12 This may be the most frustratingly inconsistent - within game - Ducks team I can recall. Albeit as I age, my memory gets fuzzy. In the past, I've turned off the TV when the Ducks are playing poorly and trailing, or just being outplayed by a better opponent. With this team I find myself turning off the TV when they are leading. I can't stand the suspense of when they're going to go "full bonehead" and blow a lead. Watching off and on last night, I couldn't help but notice the entire coaching staff looks like it has aged about 10 years. Inconsistent ain't for sissies. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
30Duck Author Moderator No. 23 Share Posted February 13 On 2/12/2025 at 11:07 AM, HDuck said: Inconsistent ain't for sissies. Unfortunately, they aren't inconsistent, they've played the same all season. They got wins when teams are figuring stuff out, they were proud of coming from behind. When it caught up with them in the UCLA game, they said they had to do something. they didn't. Soft is what they are. On offense they prefer the easiest shot possible, a 3. they don't rebound or play physical defense in the paint. Making switches, communicating takes effort. Putting a team away requires taking it up a notch. Isn't going to happen. The Players only meeting didn't seem to have done anything. Altman can't coach around the problem. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GangGreen2 No. 24 Share Posted February 13 (edited) On 2/12/2025 at 10:47 AM, spartan2785 said: I only was able to watch the last 4 minutes or so due to high school basketball commitments, but I saw twice late in the game where a simple pick and roll led led to wide open layups, because Angel couldn't keep up with his defender, the guard did nothing to disrupt the action, and Bittle got sealed off with ease. This is basketball 101, like the most simple play possible, and we looked helpless to defend it. It's such bad basketball, Angel and Bittle are probably the two worst inside defenders of the Altman era. Bittle is okay when he is just matched up on the inside, and he can block some shots, but he is awful at defending anything on the perimeter, same with Angel, but Angel can't rebound or block shots. As a Duck fan, and self-described gym rat . . . man, I totally agree with you. This team plays defense in brief spurts, but generally they play team defense at such a poor level (Coach Altman and the other coaches have to be tearing their hair out with this bunch). Some of that looks like poor effort, some of it is general discombobulation, some is terrible communication, and some is that several players are weak one-on-one defenders (Angel is terrible; I think Altman leaves him in because he is a net benefit on offense in some situations, but his D stinks . . . he's slow, easily knocked off balance, and fouls too much). And that sequence where not once, but several times Martinelli drove the lane . . . which parted like the Red Sea when Angel got beat: there was no guard help, and the NW big man easily sealed off Bittle, giving M. an uncontested layup. I mean, really? And not fighting through screens, or switching when necessary? Getting beat again and again on back cuts? Knowing the high double screens are coming but not adjusting? Getting beat with the same post-timeout play again and again? These Ducks are Charmin soft on D. Edited February 13 by GangGreen2 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeotechDuck No. 25 Share Posted February 13 On 2/12/2025 at 10:15 PM, GangGreen2 said: As a Duck fan, and self-described gym rat . . . man, I totally agree with you. This team plays defense in brief spurts, but generally they play team defense at such a poor level (Coach Altman and the other coaches have to be tearing their hair out with this bunch). Some of that looks like poor effort, some of it is general discombobulation, some is terrible communication, and some is that several players are weak one-on-one defenders (Angel is terrible; I think Altman leaves him in because he is a net benefit on offense in some situations, but his D stinks . . . he's slow, easily knocked off balance, and fouls too much). And that sequence where not once, but several times Martinelli drove the lane . . . which parted like the Red Sea when Angel got beat: there was no guard help, and the NW big man easily sealed off Bittle, giving M. an uncontested layup. I mean, really? And not fighting through screens, or switching when necessary? Getting beat again and again on back cuts? Knowing the high double screens are coming but not adjusting? Getting beat with the same post-timeout play again and again? These Ducks are Charmin soft on D. I think Altman is trying to balance tradeoffs with most of these players. It seems that he doesn’t have a lot of “complete players” to work with outside of maybe Shelstad. Bamba is now shooting 37% from the floor and 24% from three on the year. That is not starting D1 SG material and he is a huge liability on that side of the floor. However, he gives you some size and strength for defense and rebounding, which this team desperately needs. Angel is almost the exact opposite player. He is efficient on the offensive end, but as you mentioned, he has a difficult time guarding on the defensive side. He is not big and physical enough to bang down low with the bigs and is too slow to stay in front of decent wing players. Bittle is excellent in 1 on 1 situations in the post, but again as you mentioned, he easily gets sealed off and struggles against physical post players. Case in point, he had 1 rebound against MSU. You could play Cook, as he is much more physical, but he finds himself out of position frequently on defense and doesn’t have much of a game on the offensive side except right around the rim. FT shooting is rough too. Key is an excellent shooter, but gives up size on the other end. We know Tracey’s ceiling. He is a serviceable DI player on both ends, but not your “go to” guy. Moss has never really seemed comfortable. It seems like the transition has been a little difficult for him. It’s a little concerning that Mookie and Phillips can’t get on the floor, given the situation. It doesn’t seem like the bar should be that high to get some decent minutes. I wonder what is happening there? If was Altman, I think the one change I would make would be to give Evans more minutes. I know he is inconsistent and disappears at times, but he has all the talent and skills to be very good on both ends of the floor. He rebounds pretty well and can stretch the floor. He usually stays in front of guys and is good at the line too. I am pretty sure at this point he has a much higher ceiling than either Angel and Bamba, so maybe you let him work it out on the floor? 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
