Oregon @ Arizona (7:30 PM Thursday)

[greenyellow]

For the first time in as many years as I can remember, I think our offense is worse than our defense. We have nobody that can consistently hit shots.

I think that is the biggest problem. They have open shots but just don't hit them. There's just no dead-eye shooter that you can count. Porter hasn't been on all season. Armstead is very streaky of a shooter and doesn't really take many 3s. Humphrey has been hitting lately but is also very streaky and doesn't get very many minutes. Singler, Longmire, and Williams can hit mid-range jumpers but they hardly look for their shots. I can't remember the last time Sim hit a 3 when it mattered (only in junk time does he hit one). It also doesn't help that the people who handle the ball the most (Porter, Armstead, and Dunigan) can't hang on to the ball or make a simple pass.

I agree, we can usually survive with poor defense, but our offense is atrocious right now. Kent lives and dies by the three. The last two years, he's showed that he really isn't a good coach. I think great players in two different season made him look like a lot better coach than he really is.

It doesn't help that they missed like 10 lay-ins during the game. You make at least half of those and the game is in single digits. If Oregon stays in a game, they seem to fight to the end, but if they start trailing by double digits, they seem start making mental mistakes by trying to win the game on every possession instead of making the simple play to chip away.

[uostudent]

Armstead did an ok job of creating, but Porter handles the ball way too much and is an awful playmaker. Too many times tonight, Humphrey had to create for himself off the dribble or take a shot with little time left on the clock.

Prediction of what Ernie Kent will say about the game:
The team has experienced a lot of adversity this season. We really battled tonight and I liked the defensive effort. These are young guys who continue to show improvement ("only" lost by 13, compared to 20 last week). We had open looks but the shots didn't fall. These young men played hard tonight, but some of their shots just didn't fall.

[duckgrad99]

I want Dunigan to get more touches, but at the same time, he needs to be more aggressive and stop fumbling the ball away. Sim has been useless. I'm not sure why Wiley never gets any minutes. Also, I'm actually more impressed with Singler than Wilson so far. Meanwhile, Gonzaga and Mark Few crushed St Mary's tonight.

[greenyellow]

Armstead did an ok job of creating, but Porter handles the ball way too much and is an awful playmaker. Too many times tonight, Humphrey had to create for himself off the dribble or take a shot with little time left on the clock.

Prediction of what Ernie Kent will say about the game:
The team has experienced a lot of adversity this season. We really battled tonight and I liked the defensive effort. These are young guys who continue to show improvement ("only" lost by 13, compared to 20 last week). We had open looks but the shots didn't fall. These young men played hard tonight, but some of their shots just didn't fall.

That's about what he said on the radio to Jerry Allen tonight. Also said they need to cut down on turnovers, specifically mentioning the run at the end of the half when they could have increased their lead instead of letting Arizona have it.

[UOducksTK1]

I want Dunigan to get more touches, but at the same time, he needs to be more aggressive and stop fumbling the ball away. Sim has been useless. I'm not sure why Wiley never gets any minutes. Also, I'm actually more impressed with Singler than Wilson so far. Meanwhile, Gonzaga and Mark Few crushed St Mary's tonight.

This is where I disagree with everyone. Dunigan gets the ball WAY too much outside of the key. And that's where most of his turnovers come from. And we take forever to get him the ball, which allows defense to collapse to him.

Almost all the time, when he gets the ball on the low block or in the key, he scores, goes to the FT line, or at least puts up a very high percentage shot.

The coaches need to do a better job of teaching the PGs when to get him the ball, and to help him get that low block position. I swear these coaches have never dealt with a big man before...

[UOducksTK1]

Oh and Armstead has been struggling a bit lately. Trying to do too much.

[gofightingducks]

If Kent doesn't get fired I will be pissed.