NCAA preview by DSH basketball columnist Brian Mahuna
Tuesday night featured one of the best regular season double headers in recent history for college basketball fans. Game one had the makings of a title fight with the first ranked Kentucky Wildcats, with their insanely deep freshman class featuring freshman phenom Julius Randle, facing off against the second ranked Michigan State Spartans, led by a Adreian Payne and Keith Appling, neither of which are freshman showstoppers, but rather big time veterans in the college game.
The second game was a showcase of two of the best freshman to hit the court since Isiah Thomas and Dominique Wilkins were getting their feet wet in college so many years ago. Jabari Parker and Andrew Wiggins, both of their names were synonymous with “Number One Overall Prospect” depending on who you asked. Parker possessing the kind of athleticism, strength, and overall skill to be lauded as a Carmelo Anthony type of scoring Forward with elite defensive skills, and Wiggins being arguably the most athletic player in the class mixed with the skills of Kevin Durant and LeBron James. It was a night to remember for fans.
Drive, he said: led by a coach with fire and intensity, the Oregon basketball Ducks looked prepared and focused for a run at the nation’s best in college basketball (AP photo from 750 The Game).
That type of night can leave fans thinking about how far their team has to go to gain the type of national prominence that these four teams carry. Their reputations are that of winners and they hold a special place amongst the college elite. And for Duck fans, they wonder when a school known for flashy football uniforms and being Nike’s lab rat for innovation on the gridiron, will be a household name for those who talk about the College Basketball Elite. It’s clear these teams get the best recruits, unlike football, lauded recruits tend to only land amongst the Powerhouses. The Dorial Green-Beckham type of players don’t land at Missouri if football was like basketball.
Teams like Duke, North Carolina, Kansas, and Kentucky land the top prospects simply because their winning tradition is the best in the land. But a team like Oregon, where the tradition isn’t as great but is surely present, (the Ducks were the first ever NCAA Tournament champions remember) is seemingly on the rise in the eyes of the national perspective.
Everyone talks about a team like Kentucky, who bring in the best classes and win a lot of games, and they are so quick to give them the first overall ranking at the beginning of this season. Those people say that teams like Oregon, Arizona, and Oklahoma State, with their less lauded recruiting classes aren’t a match for a team like Kentucky. They are miles away from earning the type of respect that a team like Kentucky already possesses. Well that Kentucky team lost in the first round of the NIT last season, and also tonight against a tough MSU team. That Kentucky team struggled to defend the fast break, and turned the ball over too many times in a prime time match up. If it hadn’t been for a huge second half from Julius Randle, a 2014 lottery pick, the Wildcats would have lost by double digits.
The Ducks, simply put, are on the doorstep of basketball elite-hood this season. And will be for seasons to come. All it takes is having that first big recruiting class, and all of a sudden, a team is atop the rankings for the next half decade. We all remember Coach Calipari’s class that included John Wall and Eric Bledsoe, a team that was bounced out of the Tournament by a well coached West Virginia squad. That team went on to put five players in the first round, four of which being freshman. Since then Kentucky has been atop the mountain of college basketball after a period of obscurity under coach Billy Gillispie.
The Ducks signed one of the nation’s best point guard’s in their class last year in Artis. And this season, the Duck’s have signed a bevy of elite transfers to fill scoring roles for Phil Knights favorite basketball team, a trend that Duke, another elite program has been following for a few years now. Remember Stephan Curry? The electrifying guard for the Golden State Warriors. His little brother played one year at Liberty, a smaller school in a mid major conference. Seth Curry enrolled at Duke, lit up stat sheet for a few years and ended up averaging over 17 points during his senior year. This season Duke as added the talents of Rodney Hood, a 6’8” wing player from Mississippi State. An athletic 6’8” wing/forward, that sounds really familiar. Maybe because the Ducks signed two this season in Amardi and Moser.
The Ducks are on the right track to become a fixture in the national spotlight. A few key wins, plus another strong showing in the National Tournament, and the Ducks position in recruiting battles will begin to strengthen. There has never been a program built overnight. Much like the Duck football program, it has been a process started in the Mid 90’s by Rich Brooks, continued through Bellotti, Kelly, and now Helfrich. Coach Ernie Kent had a strong team for many years, Aaron Brooks and Malik Hariston leading their team deep into the tournament. That tradition hasn’t been forgotten. Without that team, Oregon Basketball wouldn’t be where it is now.
Fans of the the Sea of Blue in Lexington Kentucky will never admit it because they have been to the top of the college basketball mountain in more than a few eras of the game. They have seen the game change, with it’s team still atop the summit. But make no mistake, Oregon has begun it’s steady climb to be recognized. It’s climb has been arduous, filled with trials and tribulations, but they have kept climbing, and soon, maybe sooner than most care to acknowledge or ever predict, the Duck’s have a chance to stake their claim to a patch of land atop that mountain and build a foundation for future Duck teams to build off of.
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