Oregon men’s basketball’s season depends on transfer guards, per CBS Sports

When the transfer portal opened, Dana Altman made it clear that he wanted to recruit an entirely different style of team. After losing standouts such as Jackson Shelstad, Nate Bittle and Kwame Evans Jr., the Oregon Ducks needed a reset.

Altman brought in a host of talented transfers to redefine the team’s identity. There is plenty of size and defensive versatility with Taylor Bol Bowen and Dwayne Aristode, and the Ducks brought in multiple scorers from the wing, including Tyrone Riley IV and Andrew Meadow.

Advertisement

Still, the Big Ten is possibly the best conference in the country in men’s hoops, and CBS Sports doesn’t have high expectations for the Ducks to improve much upon their 12-20 finish last season. CBS Sports ranked the Ducks 15th in their way-too-early rankings of the Big Ten. Oregon leads “the basement” tier, despite earning predictions from other outlets to crack the NCAA Tournament field.

“Oregon has gone from zero two-way wings on the roster last year to like five this season,” CBS Sports’ Isaac Trotter wrote. “Buffing up the perimeter size and defensive versatility was clearly a major point of emphasis for Dana Altman. When it’s right, Altman weaponizes depth as well as anybody. With nine or 10 guys slated to play real minutes, Oregon should come at teams in waves with all these big wings offering the ability to junk it up defensively with fullcourt pressure, switching man-to-man or some hybrid zones.”

The Ducks should be able to compete with an influx of size and two-way ability across the floor, but the one thing Altman might have missed on was a point guard to facilitate the offense. Shelstad was marvelous in that role and could find clutch baskets when he needed to. Altman struck out on a couple of his top transfer targets before ultimately landing Boston College’s Fred Payne.

Payne averaged 15.8 points and 2.7 assists last season and can be a great shooter from range, but it remains to be seen if he can lead an offense with multiple scoring options….

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/oregon-men-basketball-season-depends-125705331.html

Author :

Publish date : 2026-06-02 12:57:00

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.