Dunigan gone?

[gofightingducks]

It was obvious early on that Kent would be fired. Oregon had every opportunity to screen and contact a list of candidates for the position. It would have been difficult for the Athletic Department to screw this up more than they did.

Had the coaching search not looked like a Keystone Cops routine we probably wouldn't be having this discussion.

I agree with this.......

I understand Kent needed to be fired........ and we needed to move in a different direction..... but we should have known who we were going to hire ahead of time...... and it shouldn't have been a no name mid major coach that hasn't garnered a lot of interest from major programs.

I agree as well the way the whole thing was handled was a mess and took too much time. I am not disappointed with the hiring of Altman because I think he will be able to turn the program around. I will wait a a couple of seasons before passing judgment. Obviously the University thought that offering a huge contract would lure one of the big name guys to town but like Wounded said I think because of the success in the tournament of many of their targets that kinda put a kink in things. Only time will tell whether this was a good hire or not.

[woundedknees]

I don't know enough about Altman to make a legit argument for or against his skill set, but I do know that his teams were 12-4 against Mark Turgeon coached teams. Many of you were rabid to hire Turgeon, so maybe it is worth giving Altman a shot before passing judgement.

http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindducksb ... _choi.html

"Former Iowa and USC coach (Raveling spent 11 years at WSU, before coaching at Iowa, and is highly respected.) George Raveling told Kilkenny to talk to Altman. UNLV coach Lon Kruger told him to talk to Altman. Texas A&M coach Mark Turgeon told him to talk to Altman. Numerous agents told him to talk to Altman. Eventually, a month into the search, Kilkenny talked to Altman."

That's a prettty decent group of coaches to be recommended by.

[oregontrack]

The fact that "sweeping the LA schools" was the first thing you mentioned when recalling how we showed promise last year is all that really needs to be said. We swept a pair of schools who combined to go 30-32? Sign me up! The blowout home loss to Montana takes far more precedent than than sweeping a pair of bad schools.

In '01 and '06, we beat several ranked teams and in '06, specifically, things started to click towards the end of the season that served as a good lead-in to the '07 Elite Eight year. Weren't we a double OT loss to Cal -- played without Brooks -- away from the Pac-10 Tourney title game? We had a lot of close losses that year, several late game Brooks implosions, and we played in a MUCH, MUCH more difficult Pac-10. We got some wins this year because the Pac-10 was horrific. If Oregon played anything resembling a legit OOC schedule -- heck, or even the one the '06 team played, when they played @ Vanderbilt (another game that flashed the '06 team's potential), Georgetown, and Illinois -- and if they didn't play in arguably the worst Pac-10 of all time, they wouldn't have even sniffed .500. Not even close.

I don't think the fact that there were 8 sophomores on last year's team matters, either. In addition to the 3 future NBA Draft picks that Ernie Kent absolutely has to have to win an NCAA Tournament game, one of them has to be a 1st round PG prospect. I like Malcolm Armstead as much as the next guy, but he's not sniffing the NBA. Where's the All American (Jones/Brooks)? Where are the shooters? Malcolm and Humphrey were our best longball shooters, and they are/were inconsistent as hell, nothing like the barrage of shooters we had in '02 (Rid, Jackson, Jones, Davis, Lever) or '07 (Brooks, TP, Taylor, Malik).

There's just no similarities between this team and Kent's good teams from earlier in his regime. The ceiling was always through the roof for the other groups, and you had serious talent just waiting to explode. The only kid who had that kind of potential with last year's group was Jamil, and I think he was at least another year away, and that's if he stayed (which is no guarantee, even if Kent was retained).

Unless your North Carolina or Kentucky with a top 5 recruiting classes....... Then the age and experience of the team matters..... Young teams get better as they mature.

And again..... I'm not saying that they would have made an elite run...... just simply that they would be competing for the Tourney.

btw, brooks was nothing close to an All American in '05-'06 season

"Better" is the term in question, though. Better than what? And how high of a ceiling does 'better' have? Oregon State had a veteran team last year and actually took a step backwards compared to the year before. Why? They were older, but they just didn't have much talent. Oregon will be older next year, but the Ducks weren't exactly swimming in talent even before all the defections. We probably lose Wiley, Crittle, and Jamil regardless of the coaching change. Juniors tend to be better than sophomores, but we weren't going to be challenging for a postseason berth "just because we're older". Most of the Pac-10 returns, sans Cal. We were no more talented than anybody else, and everyone else is getting older, too.

I didn't say Brooks was an All American during the '06 season. I was saying he had flashed huge potential in his time in Oregon, and many were hopeful for a Fred Jones "put it all together" season season. There was no denying his talent; a lot of his problems were in-between the ears. With most of this current group, it's a matter of not having it together mentally and not having a bunch of talent, the talent part being damn hard to teach, especially from a guy like Ernie.

you could say the same thing for Dunigan & Armstead.....

I absolutely agree with Dunigan, the kid is walking potential. With the right coaching coming in and the right commitment from him, his ceiling is through the roof. I like Armstead... I really do... but his ceiling isn't as high the guys were waiting to explode in '06. He's a heady player, he's a smart player, but he's not God's gift to talent. He's a poor man's Steve Blake, a guy who isn't going to win anything for you on his own but he's capable of winning with the right parts.

Those other teams had 3, if not 4 All Pac-10 caliber talents just waiting to burst. This team had Dunigan, and maybe, MAYBE Jamil, but I think Jamil transfers regardless of who's coaching this team.

[gofightingducks]

Altman should have a tryout to join the team so he has enough bodies to make it through the season. I will go try out!!! Who knows he may find some kid that ends up being good!

[oregontrack]

We need to find some unathletic, overlooked shooters that mid-majors always seem to have in spades. We need some specialization, I don't care if he can't fly through the roof.

[uostudent]

Just heard from a friend who is close to Big Mike - Dunigan is leaving the program and won't be returning to school in the Fall...

[oregontrack]

Good, I hate winning seasons anyway.

[duck55]

Just heard from a friend who is close to Big Mike - Dunigan is leaving the program and won't be returning to school in the Fall...

So, you're saying Dunigan is Done again? I hope we can hear it official before people start ragging on him & how we don't need him any way.

[greenyellow]

With him being so non-committal at this point, I would say that he is more than likely gone. He wouldn't wait this long not to say he was coming back if he wasn't close to leaving.

[oregontrack]

Just heard from a friend who is close to Big Mike - Dunigan is leaving the program and won't be returning to school in the Fall...

So, you're saying Dunigan is Done again? I hope we can hear it official before people start ragging on him & how we don't need him any way.

Anyone who says we don't need Dunigan should be flogged. I get what you're saying, though, people will try to spin it, but... really. Brutal.

[duckgrad99]

Yeah, nobody said we didn't need Dunigan. It is very disappointing though, and I'm not happy with Dunigan.

[dd10snoop28]

He goes to Isreal to play overseas. Well I can tell you one thing, he's not going to have a successful career by playing professional ball.

Most college players that go overseas barely see ANY playing time, which makes their stock in the NBA go down. Examples would be Tyler, Jennings, and one other guy I can't remember at the moment. Dunigan would have been the #1 option here and gotten major playing time with the new coach. Poor decision on his part. Don't go for the cheap money now when you could be making more down the road if you stayed.

[oregontrack]

Well, Jennings did the right thing.

[Boom]

Jennings was a lottery pick...... and had a great rookie year.... Every kid is going to have a different experience. You can't predict how he's going to do over there.

IMO it's a smart decision. Why would you play for free on a shitty team? Dunigan will probably be making 3 figures overseas wile he polishes up his game for the NBA.

And even if it does hurt his draft stock (doubtful)..... This isn't the NFL.... Rookie contracts are scaled so there isn't much of a difference between #12 and #22.

[oregontrack]

Or, in Dunigan's case, there's not a ton of difference between the #12 pick and being an undrafted free agent trying to catch on in with a summer league team.