The Oregon Ducks are having the same problems that plagued them last year, and it was a head scratcher when Ernie Kent, instead of being let go, was signed to a contract extension. He had a solid veteran team last year, and to say they were a disappointment is an understatement.
The Ducks were coming off their NCAA tournament run the previous year, and there were high expectations for the team. Ernie Kent has a similar approach to Don Nelson, so his players have a green light to shoot. Last year the Ducks had a solid core of shooters in Maarty Leunen, Malik Hairston, Tajuan Porter, and Bryce Taylor.
The start of this year has been the same story for the Ducks. They are currently 3-3 on the season, with losses to Texas, North Carolina, and Oakland. They have wins over Northern Carolina, UC Irvine, and Alabama.
This year the Ducks' leader is Tajuan Porter, who is currently the second-leading scorer for the Ducks. He is the leader of the team pretty much by default because he's a junior and their most experienced player.
The leading scorer for the Ducks is heralded freshman Michael Dunigan at 15 points per game, and he's also their best rebounder at 8.2 rebounds per game. Dunigan is a load at 6'10", 250 pounds. The problem, though, is Kent not being able to incorporate Dunigan into the offense.
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The problem with the Ducks and why this season will be a long one for Duck fans is this: The Ducks take too many three-pointers, just like they did last year. As mentioned before, every Duck player on the court has a green light to shoot.
What Duck fans may have noticed is that Porter on any type of occasion will shoot the three. In fact, he averages over seven attempts per game while making a little over two per game.
His shot has been off all year, as he's shooting only 30.6 percent from the field, as well as 30.6 percent from the three-point line. His best feature this year has been his free throw shooting, which is at 90 percent from the line.
Here's why Kent wasn't the best option for the Ducks as coach. Yes, he's brought the Ducks to respectability, but he's worn out his welcome in Eugene.
The reason is since every player has the green light, the Ducks' shot selection has been poor. They take threes in transition that are just bad shots, their leader Porter lives or dies from beyond the arc, and they have not shown the ability to dump the ball to their best player in the post to let him create shots for his teammates.
If Kent wants to keep his job, he's going to need Porter to be more disciplined in shot selection. The problem for Porter is that he can't drive fully to the basketball very well because of how short he is, but if he would develop a midrange game and take higher percentage shots, he would show that Kent is actually trying to do something to make his team better.
Porter did have a pump fake and then stepped inside the line for a swish, but he has to do that more than just once to become more effective and start shooting for a higher percentage, which will help the Ducks win games.
If Kent somehow doesn't teach Porter to have better shot selection, the season is going to be a long one. The best Oregon can hope to finish in the Pac-10 is number eight.
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26 days ago
This article shows just how little you know about Oregon basketball.
--"[Tajuan Porter] is the leader of the team pretty much by default because he's a junior and their most experienced player."
--This is simply lazy writing Steven, and it is completely false. T.P. is the leader of the team not by default, but because he earned it. When Porter is able to play off the ball, he is the best three-point shooter in the Pac-10 hands down. His leadership was seen as a freshman, and he has only grown more mature. To say he is a team leader because he is a junior is imbecilic. Brandon Roy was the leader of the Blazers during his rookie season!
--"The problem, though, is Kent not being able to incorporate Dunigan into the offense."
--Again, you are completely false. Oregon has run simple post up plays since the beginning of the season, dishing the ball down to Dunigan, who has battled for position in the paint to score a jumpshot, layup, or make a crushing dunk. To say that Dunigan has not been incorporated into the offense is simply ridiculous. If your falsity were indeed true, than Dunigan would be standing off to the side doing nothing, which he obviously is not.
Face it Steven, you need to do more research on the Ducks in general. Your opinionated articles are guided by sheer emotion, and are rarely backed up by factual evidence.
Oregon's main key for success this season, is for T.P. to be able to play off of the ball. In the 2006 NCAA Tournament, when Aaron Brooks led the backcourt at point guard, Porter was able to catch passes off of screens and pick and roll plays, and was able to make wide-open shots. This is the true test for Oregon this season. Kamyron Brown showed signs of greatness last year, but has been terribly inconsistent. Garrett Sim however, who has started the past six games for the Ducks, has settled very nicely into his role as the Ducks' starting point guard. Because Sim has been handling the basketball, Porter has been able to play off of the ball, and since then has crushed teams with his 3 point percentage.
Because of this article, it appears as though you have only watched games where T.P. has had to take the ball himself, and has been victimized to the double team. So I am telling you once more, before you think about writing an article about the Ducks, please do some research first. It will do us all a favor. One, we won't have to call you out constantly, and two, you won't have to deal with it either.
from 26 days ago
For Porter to be that leader he has to be able to handle the ball and be able to take on the pressure. Why? Because Porter is the most experience Duck player. Porter was on the tournament run his freshman year so he knows what the experience is like.
Porter is going to be the center of the defenses attention. As I stated it's going to a rather long year especially if Porter isn't able to handle the pressure of being double teamed.
Against San Diego it illustrated my point beautifully. Dunigan should have been fed the ball as much as possible. Did the Ducks do that? Nope. Dunigan wasn't in foul trouble and only took four shots. Yes, you heard me four shots.
The Oregon guards Porter and Sim took 27 shots and made only eight of those shots. Porter shows why this team is going to struggle when he's off the team itself is off. They are unable to find another source for scoring and for that leadership ability that Porter has now since all those experienced players in Malik Hairston, Bryce Taylor, and Marty Leunen are gone.
Trying to compare Brando Roy on the Blazers to Porter doesn't work either. Roy is a totally different player than Porter and Roy is far superior skills wise than Porter.
Porter is a good shooter but he isn't that great of a finisher thanks to his height. You mentioned that he doesn't handle pressure situations well when teams are doubling him. Well he better get used to it especially in Pac-10 play because teams are going to force him to make decisions and Porter isn't a good decision maker with the ball.
In order for Oregon to make sure the season isn't a long one Porter is going to have to develop a mid range game otherwise teams are going to get a hand in his face and force him to shoot the ball while he's being pressured instead of being wide open. Those teams are going to dare other players to beat them.
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