Fresno State @ #15 Oregon (Nov 5 Tuesday 6 pm)

[Boom]

Guard play looks great. Mathis & Duarte seem to be pretty big upgrades compared to last year. Defense should be solid, especially when Dante gets in the mix.

The thing that this roster is missing is the 6-8+ perimeter 3pt shooter. There's no one like King & White on this roster. Hopefully Walker can mold into that role as the year goes on.

[dd10snoop28]

One thing for sure, we need Dante if we're going to be a team that goes to the 2nd week of March. Rest is kind of too early to tell. Guys like Shakur/Duarte are going to take 10 games or so to adjust to the new team. Otherwise, we just don't have the talent level we had last year, or even close.


Positives:
I like Lawson's feel for the game
Duarte is going to be pretty good.
Defense overall was pretty good tonight.
Mathis is a better defender than I thought.
Okoro is still a beast.

Negatives:
CJ Walker was grossly overrated as a 5*. He's a pretty good athlete with an OK shot for a big guy, but his skill is pretty bad overall for someone who clearly wants to play a bunch on the wing. If he's a 5*, Bol and King were 8*'s.
Patterson looks like a guy that's going to take awhile to adjust as well. Like a guy that was a stud in HS but is a bit lost at this level.
Turnovers are going to be an issue with this team, I like I thought based on #'s.

Way too early to tell on CJ Walker. He had a rough game, sure, but the potential is there. Let's see what he looks like @ end of year.

[dd10snoop28]

One thing for sure, we need Dante if we're going to be a team that goes to the 2nd week of March. Rest is kind of too early to tell. Guys like Shakur/Duarte are going to take 10 games or so to adjust to the new team. Otherwise, we just don't have the talent level we had last year, or even close.


Positives:
I like Lawson's feel for the game
Duarte is going to be pretty good.
Defense overall was pretty good tonight.
Mathis is a better defender than I thought.
Okoro is still a beast.

Negatives:
CJ Walker was grossly overrated as a 5*. He's a pretty good athlete with an OK shot for a big guy, but his skill is pretty bad overall for someone who clearly wants to play a bunch on the wing. If he's a 5*, Bol and King were 8*'s.
Patterson looks like a guy that's going to take awhile to adjust as well. Like a guy that was a stud in HS but is a bit lost at this level.
Turnovers are going to be an issue with this team, I like I thought based on #'s.

I disagree that this team is not as talented as last year. This is a much deeper team. Pritchard and Okoro have improved. Duarte is a big upgrade over Amin or White. Juiston is in my opinion a better overall player than Wooten. Really, the only downgrade is King to Mathis in the starting lineup. The freshmen played as such in their first collegiate game against a pretty decent opponent. Walker isn’t a scorer like Bol or King, but he also wasn’t expected to be. His athleticism and defense was a big reason for his 5 star rating. If Dante gets cleared, this team could have a rotation of 10-11 guys, while last year they struggled to have a 7 man rotation. This team at the end of the year will be better than last year’s team. You guys are overreacting to 1 game where the team also happened to shoot incredibly poorly.

This 100%.

[dd10snoop28]

My takeaways:

1- I always focus a lot on Richardson b/c I think he has a lot of potential that goes untapped. I am hoping for much more aggression in attacking the basket this year. Didn't see much improvement last night but it's early. I don't see anybody on our team that is great at attacking the basket off the dribble except PP so we need WR to set up.
2- We are going to be thin at the big man position until Dante comes back.
3- Pritchard's confidence is off the charts. That was the only thing holding him back the last 2 yrs. He's gonna be a beast this yr.
4- Juiston looked shaky in the first half but settled down and showed that he has good play-making ability. He'll be really good for us. Paul white type IMO.
5- Lawson - TBD. Hard to tell.
6- Walker couldn't get into a rhytme last night, Tough game but his skill, athleticism, and versatility were on display in small flashes. Going on a limb to say he will be a starter by years' end.
7- Like what I saw from Mathis. Plays smart. Solid driver, shooter and defender.

[mattc94]

Few things I noticed:

1. Pritchard seems more natural going to the basket. Knows when to make take advantage of the defense and when there are times to specifically draw a foul. Last year he seemed much more hesitant.

2. Okoro is the middle is huge. Going to need him to play any time we go up against a decent front court. Fresno State were bruisers and Juiston was having some problems early on. But I think the both of those guys together will be effective rebounding.

3. Think Altman eventually seems Lawson in that kind of "stretch four with the ability to hit a 3" role that Boucher performed so well in. Altman mentioned Lawson amongst the guys he expects to have the ability to shoot from distance.

4. Love Duarte's game. Can make all the shots and is very smooth going to the basket. A little short for a wing but seems to take to the role of pretty well.

5. Would really love to see us with Dante up in front. A bruiser like that would totally be a game changer once we reached conference play. If there's one thing Altman has really lacked at UO it's an NBA potential center like that. Most of our guys have been strictly shot blockers. Oh well. It's the NCAA. Fingers crossed.

Anyway. Obvious the team was getting used to the new three point line and need to cut down on the turnovers. Pretty standard. On to Boise State.

[UOducksTK1]

One thing for sure, we need Dante if we're going to be a team that goes to the 2nd week of March. Rest is kind of too early to tell. Guys like Shakur/Duarte are going to take 10 games or so to adjust to the new team. Otherwise, we just don't have the talent level we had last year, or even close.


Positives:
I like Lawson's feel for the game
Duarte is going to be pretty good.
Defense overall was pretty good tonight.
Mathis is a better defender than I thought.
Okoro is still a beast.

Negatives:
CJ Walker was grossly overrated as a 5*. He's a pretty good athlete with an OK shot for a big guy, but his skill is pretty bad overall for someone who clearly wants to play a bunch on the wing. If he's a 5*, Bol and King were 8*'s.
Patterson looks like a guy that's going to take awhile to adjust as well. Like a guy that was a stud in HS but is a bit lost at this level.
Turnovers are going to be an issue with this team, I like I thought based on #'s.

I disagree that this team is not as talented as last year. This is a much deeper team. Pritchard and Okoro have improved. Duarte is a big upgrade over Amin or White. Juiston is in my opinion a better overall player than Wooten. Really, the only downgrade is King to Mathis in the starting lineup. The freshmen played as such in their first collegiate game against a pretty decent opponent. Walker isn’t a scorer like Bol or King, but he also wasn’t expected to be. His athleticism and defense was a big reason for his 5 star rating. If Dante gets cleared, this team could have a rotation of 10-11 guys, while last year they struggled to have a 7 man rotation. This team at the end of the year will be better than last year’s team. You guys are overreacting to 1 game where the team also happened to shoot incredibly poorly.

This 100%.

I don't see how you can call Juiston better than Wooten. Having help defense + shot blocking skills like Wooten is incredibly helpful defensively. Don't think we have a guy like that this year, and it'll hurt us.

[droop10]

One thing for sure, we need Dante if we're going to be a team that goes to the 2nd week of March. Rest is kind of too early to tell. Guys like Shakur/Duarte are going to take 10 games or so to adjust to the new team. Otherwise, we just don't have the talent level we had last year, or even close.


Positives:
I like Lawson's feel for the game
Duarte is going to be pretty good.
Defense overall was pretty good tonight.
Mathis is a better defender than I thought.
Okoro is still a beast.

Negatives:
CJ Walker was grossly overrated as a 5*. He's a pretty good athlete with an OK shot for a big guy, but his skill is pretty bad overall for someone who clearly wants to play a bunch on the wing. If he's a 5*, Bol and King were 8*'s.
Patterson looks like a guy that's going to take awhile to adjust as well. Like a guy that was a stud in HS but is a bit lost at this level.
Turnovers are going to be an issue with this team, I like I thought based on #'s.

I disagree that this team is not as talented as last year. This is a much deeper team. Pritchard and Okoro have improved. Duarte is a big upgrade over Amin or White. Juiston is in my opinion a better overall player than Wooten. Really, the only downgrade is King to Mathis in the starting lineup. The freshmen played as such in their first collegiate game against a pretty decent opponent. Walker isn’t a scorer like Bol or King, but he also wasn’t expected to be. His athleticism and defense was a big reason for his 5 star rating. If Dante gets cleared, this team could have a rotation of 10-11 guys, while last year they struggled to have a 7 man rotation. This team at the end of the year will be better than last year’s team. You guys are overreacting to 1 game where the team also happened to shoot incredibly poorly.

This 100%.

I don't see how you can call Juiston better than Wooten. Having help defense + shot blocking skills like Wooten is incredibly helpful defensively. Don't think we have a guy like that this year, and it'll hurt us.

Dante will fill that role if he's eventually cleared. I liked Wooten, but he was a 1 trick pony. Juiston is a better rebounder, better distributor, and better scorer. That wasn't necessarily on display last night, but I live in Vegas and have seen some of his games with UNLV. UNLV fans loved him. I just think his overall game is better than Wooten on a college level. He may not be an NBA guy, because he's a bit of a tweener, but he'll be good in this offense.