Pop Quiz Hotshot! What Pac10 team is the best in football, but might just be the worst team in basketball? If you answered Cal, you are partially right and partially wrong. We are the best in football (real world results, notwithstanding). But, in actuality, it is Oregon who might be the worst Pac10 team in basketball. They were in the Elite 8 not too long ago. But Ducks migrate South for the winter (Disclaimer: I am a humanities major and my science knowledge is about as expansive as my math, engineering, business, or real world knowledge).
They cut their ties with Ernie Kent last year and first year coach Dana Altman has quite the job ahead of him. However, despite the lack of success in recent times, Altman seems to have the Ducks headed the right way, including a key victory over the Beavs last week. Could Oregon upset the Cal Bears in Saturday's game? I sure hope not!
To find out more about Oregon and their new, mind-bogglelingly odd court, we talked with Takimoto of Addicted To Quack fame. His answers to our questions after the jump. GO BEARS!
1. How do you plan to stop Cal's fast paced, no huddle offense in this game?
1. By playing defense.
2. What do you *really* think about your new court? Be as honest and unrelentingly critical as you want!
2. I have mixed feelings about the new court. I think it makes every picture from
underneath the basket look like a comic book panel. It looks like crap
on TV. I've heard it looks good in person. It's a cool idea, and it's done its job of attracting attention to the new arena, but it's more stupid than good.
3. What are your thoughts on first year coach Dana Altman so far? What do you see as his strengths, aside from not being Ernie Kent?
3. Dana Altman has been fantastic so far. Given the personell he has to work with this year, he's more than meeting expectations. When you watched an Oregon basketball game with Ernie Kent as the coach, especially in his last couple years, it looked like the team was just going through the motions of a basketball game. There wasn't a great deal of energy in the half court offense, and played very undisciplined defense. Coach Altman has the Ducks finally trying. Off the court, Altman has done a miraculous job recruiting, both bringing in transfer players to fill this year's roster and putting together a 2011 recruiting class that is currently ranked in the top 20 by both Rivals and ESPN.
4. How smug are you about your new basketball facilities, now that they seem to have landed you Jabari Brown? (Still bitter about that, btw)
4. I've got so much smug it's casting a cloud over the entire west coast. Luckily, Phil Knight built a smug prevention system into Matthew Knight Arena that keeps the city of Eugene smug-free.
5. Who is the #1 Cal player you are concerned about?
5.
Harper Kamp, because of our lack of depth down low. He's a reliable low-post threat who's playing extremely well right now, and there isn't a Duck on the roster that can contain him man-to-man. The Duck big men have to make sure they know where Kamp is at all times, and make sure every shot he takes is a contested one. Otherwise it could get ugly fast.
6. Who should Cal fans be worried about regarding the Oregon offense?
6. Cal should be worried about Oregon finding their shot early, especially from three point range. The Ducks are shooting 36% from three over their last three games, and shot 50% from the field last Saturday against the Beavers, their highest FG% since December 13th. But we have trouble making open shots much of the time.
7. Who should Cal fans be worried about regarding the Oregon defense?
7. Oregon plays an attacking press, and does very well to disrupt an offense's rhythm. This is especially important against a team like Cal who doesn't have a go-to scorer that can create his own shot. We don't have the depth to really attack like we want to, but it won't be easy to put up points. The Ducks have only allowed >70 points six times this season.
8. What is the biggest surprise for the Ducks team this year?
8. Coming into the season, most Duck fans thought this would be a long year due to the lack of both depth and talent on the roster. But this team is fun to watch! They try like hell, they're running off-ball screens and boxing out and doing all these basketball things that we never saw under Ernie Kent. And with the new arena finally here and a fantastic recruiting class on the way, things are looking up for Duck basketball.
9. Who do you want to punch in the face?
9. At the moment, here's a brief list of people or things I want to punch in the face:
- Steeler fans, the most annoying fans in football.
-
Matthew Bryan-Amaning, continuing a long and storied tradition of douchey Fuskie big men.
- The Stanford tree, since this year's version blows more than usual.
- Nick Fairley, as long as he isn't allowed to fight back. That dude is scary.
