MBB: Altman Appreciation – Yahoo Sports

It’s always best to remember the highs, even when we finish on a low.

We try not to think of an overweight Elvis Presley gyrating in Vegas or Michael Jordan trying his best to make the Wizards respectable.

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As such, let’s not define the great Dana Altman by the mercy flush that was his final season in Eugene.

Prior to Altman’s arrival, Oregon Men’s Basketball was a model of inconsistency. Throughout the decade of the 2000s under Ernie Kent, the Ducks had gone from winning the Pac10 outright and making an Elite Eight run to exiting in the first round of the Tournament, to the NIT, to ineptitude, to hopeful, to Pac10 Tournament Champions and another Elite Eight run, to another first round exit, and back to ineptitude.

Mind you, this was all in a span of seven years.

The beginning of Altman’s tenure looked like more slogging through the mud early on, but after the dawn of 2011 and a move to Matthew Knight Arena, things began to click.

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Oregon would immediately show probably the number one staple of Dana’s coaching: late season runs.

It was too late to get to the Big Dance, but Oregon squeaked into the CBI and ended up winning the whole thing, marking the first of fifteen consecutive 20-win seasons.

In 2012 Oregon began to look noticeably more competitive and though they didn’t quite make it to the NCAAs, they had another solid NIT run.

SAN JOSE, CA – MARCH 21: Head coach Dana Altman of the Oregon Ducks and his bench react after they scored a three-pointer putting them up 49 to 33 in the second half against the Oklahoma State Cowboys during the second round of the 2013 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at HP Pavilion on March 21, 2013 in San Jose, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) | Getty Images

Then the tide completely shifted.

Oregon was Pac12 Tournament Champions in 2013 and advanced to the Sweet Sixteen. The next season they were dead in the water midseason but finished on a tear to get back and win the first round. The next season, same…

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Publish date : 2026-10-20 21:30:00

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