1 pm press conference

[woundedknees]

Honestly, assuming Masoli works his way back on to the field after his suspension next year, slot receiver may be his shot at the NFL.

I never could see him making it there as a QB.

[greenyellow]

Shouldn't this football talk be moved over since this is the basketball board. There's no need to bring it over here.

[woundedknees]

Minor sidetrack in the course of the general discussion... Unwad the panties and let's git to the rat killin'.

[Tray Dub]

I attended the press conference. Both Altman and his wife flashed humor in a stressful setting. His answers were direct with repeated emphasis on " student athletes". The press questions were typical and not insightful.

The surprising thing was immediately after the press conference. About 80% of the reporters interviewed Kilkenny and the remainder the President. That left alumni and athletic department personnel talking to Altman. A bit odd as he was initially standing by himself with no interviews.

Several players attend.

My read, Altman is not a guy to challenge. He noted several times that he only wants players that "want to play here". The emphasis seemed to suggest that it was more than wanting to play as other comments suggested you needed to sacrifice and be a team player. He stated he was looking for player that would make the "extra pass".

When asked about players he has recruited at Creighton that had asked for their releases from letters of intent he dance a bit. He said he would talk to them if they had an interest in Oregon. He followed that with a remark that he would be looking for player from across the country with emphasis in the west.

He responded to a direct question regarding Payne by saying that he would make the decision on his staff over the next to week. He did say that they met last night.

Note from todays football practice. Barner had a one handed catch that he took the distance...pure ballet. The defense won the day largely because the DBack are rockets. Paulson caught a long pass with two DBacks on his tail. I think it was Javis that punched the ball out after running Paulson down, defense recovered. On the QB side, Costa broke one that would have gone all the way. Masoli playing the slot put a move on a DBack that caused him to trip and land on his butt then caught the pass alone. Next play, Masoli just flat out beat him. DT's long passes are the future. We are going to have a vertical game this year. Dior Mathis was wicked on returns. We are really set for kickoff and punt returns. Speed, speed, speed.

Really appreciated. I always enjoy your posts.

[duckfan22]

I just watched the tape of the press conference. Came away impressed.
He seems like someone that is for the players first. Someone that preaches
team work, instead of dribble around for awhile then throw up an ugly three.
Someone that can adjust the team to reach their full potential. sounds like
he works as hard as his players. and i really like that even last night he
called recruits. And it sounded like he's been interested in this job before
he was contacted and was just waiting for the call. I really look forward to
watching the ducks play and see what is in the future for the basketball team. And the feeling i get from some of the players that are staying is they are excited for a new beginning. So i get the feeling Ernie may have lost his team somewhere along the way. Im all for giving him a chance . like i said in another thread, once he has all his own recruited players here we will be able to judge him. but he didnt shy away when asked about going to the big dance if he thought next year was possible and he said the seniors want to next year and hope to. so that's positive. i like that.
doesnt seem to be an excuses kinda guy.