Exhibition: Utah @ Oregon (Fri Oct 24 7pm, B1G+)

[UOducksTK1]

Cool they're televising these exhibitions.

First actual game will be November 4th when we host Hawaii.

[Greenblood]

Thanks! And an "exhibition" game with Utah is no ordinary exhibition game. Same with the one at Stanford the following week.

For me, though, the bigger news here is that the men's basketball schedule is now entirely set with all the game times and TV network for each game. I hadn't seen that that was announced.

[Ghost of Tajuan Porter]

Anyone heard anything about an open practice/scrimmage this year prior to this?

[greenyellow]

Really interested to see how the team looks without Shelstad.

[greenyellow]

Oregon is absolutely dominating Utah. They led 17-0 before Utah hit their first basket. Bittle is dominant on both ends. Wei Lin is showing why Altman went out and got him with his playmaking ability. Much better rebounding team than the past couple seasons.

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[Ghost of Tajuan Porter]

The team looks interesting. This is the deepest roster we’ve had in years. Altman teams always end up with an 8ish man rotation… I don’t know if I could predict that rotation right now. Lots of minutes up for grabs.

Some first half takes… Bittle looks like an all-American. Lin looked like Ridnour for a few minutes. His shots aren’t falling, but he’s clearly got a ton of game. A Lin/Shelstad backcourt could be special. Demir is an absolute mountain. And his footwork and touch on the low block are more polished than I expected. Pryor looks like the newest iteration of the Emory/Benjamin mold that Altman likes. Long and bouncy.

Lots of super ugly shots from the perimeter, though. I’ve been worried about this roster’s ability to shoot from three all off-season. You just can’t win without being able to shoot from deep.

[greenyellow]

Demir is looking like an absolute late summer steal with how he works down low and rebounds. Sean Stewart is going to provide them some invaluable length and rebounding off the bench.

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[Ghost of Tajuan Porter]

After the final whistle, my thoughts… Bittle, Lin, and Demir all looked awesome. Pryor, Lindzay, and Stewart showed promise.

I am extremely worried about Simpkins. He looks underskilled and overly confident. He played exactly how you’d expect if you watched his tape and looked at his stats for the last few years.

Overall, this team looks deep, and with the way Lin and Demir are looking, there’s some serious potential when Shelstad comes back.

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Some highlights from the game:

[UOducksTK1]

Most interesting team we’ve had in a while! Lin was so fun to watch. Such a great add.

I actually really liked what I saw from Dez too. He hustled, got rebounds, and did the nitty gritty stuff.

[Greenblood]

Just saw my recording of the game last night. Generally a pretty fun watch. I agree that this looks like a team with depth. So I find myself wondering if Altman will be able to settle on a rotation of more than eight. But I don't suppose you can teach an old dog new tricks . . .

Really liked Lin. I could see him, fresh coming over from China, being a real "story" this season in the B1G, if not nationally, if the Ducks are at least reasonably successful this year. Loved Demir as well. Can see a lot of minutes for him backing up Bittle, and possibly even complementing him at times (I thought I saw him out there with Bittle for a little while). Certainly Bittle looked solid as I would expect. Hopefully he'll be able to hit his 3-pointers at something close to 1 out of 3 to keep the defense on him honest.

At this point, I don't feel particularly worried about Simpkins and liked his energy. Perhaps he can be reigned in a little bit. I don't see him as another Elijah Brown (from the 2017-18 squad, who, as I recall, seemed like he was much more interested in hoisting up shots instead of getting the rest of the team involved).

[OregonFan4Life]

I watched a replay last night since Colorado - Utah wasn’t entertaining at all. I really liked Win Lin! I wonder if he’ll stay in the staring lineup when Shelstad gets back, I think he’s a better true PG than Shelstad though not a better player. I wonder how it would work if Lin played PG and Shelstad played SG once he’s back.

We also have a lot of size, this should be one of the better rebounding teams in the nation.