Barstool Contender Series: Oregon's Finally Starting to Resemble the Preseason Hype
This is something I plan on doing over the next couple of days. Who are teams that aren’t getting enough ‘respect’ that should be viewed as Final Four contenders vs teams that I think are on the overrated side. I gave out Gonzaga and Notre Dame so far as people to start paying attention to as legit Final Four contenders. Today we’ll look at Oregon, who was a top-5 preseason team before quickly being dismissed due to struggles on the offensive side of the ball early. If you have any nominations for teams that are contenders or pretenders let me know @barstoolreags
As I mentioned, Oregon entered this season as a consensus top-5 team and was even picked No. 1 by a certain publication. That immediately got dismissed when they lost at Baylor and to Georgetown in the first round of the Maui Invitational. After that they struggled with Tennessee in Maui, but they haven’t lost since.
Most of that is due to weak scheduling. The toughest team they played for the rest of the nonconference was Alabama at No. 65 and that game was in Eugene. But, more importantly it’s because Dillon Brooks finally returned from injury.
More importantly, the inclusion of Brooks has made Tyler Dorsey great again (I think I did that right). In the two losses Dorsey had an ORtg of 78 and 19. Since Brooks came back full time, Dorsey has constantly been over with his ORtg. The reason why is simple. He can take advantage of the opponent focusing on Brooks and the mismatches the two provide. Dorsey is a 6’4” guard while Brooks is a 6’7” four.
With Brooks on the floor, the Ducks have been able to run more. They are in transition over 21% of possessions this season. It’s by far their best offense, scoring 1.12 points per possession, which is good enough for the 80th percentile in the country. This is where Dorsey thrives. He’s pitching it 1.386 points per possession himself while running transition.
You can see here against UCLA, Dorsey taking advantage of this. The moment the ball is missed, Dorsey fills the right side lane. This is something he can get away with when Chris Boucher and Jordan Bell are in the game. With Dorsey, Brooks, Ennis, Pritchard and Benson all capable of handling the ball, the moment Oregon gets the rebound they can leak out. In this case Ennis gets the rebound as Dorsey takes off from under his basket as does Benson. Ennis makes the right read, as UCLA is all leaning left, the side of the floor he has the ball. The outlet, leads to a one dribble layup, where Dorsey uses his length to get to the rim. This is what is turning Oregon around.
This team is made to run. Guys like Boucher, Bell, Dorsey are all athletic to run with anyone in the country. But, when they aren’t running, it’s the Dillon Brooks spot up that is helping them in the halfcourt offense. He’s had 45 possessions of spot ups, resulting in 1.11 points per possession. This is thanks in part to the mismatches he can create.
Granted this is against Washington State, who, well, they suck, shows this type of mismatch. The first play of the game is designed to work around the Brooks mismatch. They use the cross screen by Bell to clear out the lane as Brooks cuts through before circling back up to the top of the key. On his first touch after that he sizes up his guy and decides to run a dribble handoff with Dorsey. After Dorsey tries to attack the smaller guy on him it’s another dribble handoff to Pritchard (a trend here). As Pritchard is able to get in the lane he delivers a quick pass out to Brooks, who gets up an uncontested shot. This is something that Oregon excels in by running this 1-in, 4-out offense and having Brooks as your four.
Now, the things Oregon can always rely on this year? Defense and blocking shots. They are first in the country blocking 20% of all shot attempts. This is really due to Chris Boucher and Jordan Bell, who are both blocking more than 2 shots a game. Defensively, the Ducks are giving up just .78 points per possession this season. Again, you can say that’s due to some poor scheduling, but you can tell they are just a good defensive team.
They play a ton of zone, about 37% of the time and it’s pretty equal to their man-to-man when it comes to points per possession. Now, what I do like is the fact that Oregon will press you. They press 13% of possessions, and they will mix up the press. We’ve seen some with Brooks on the ball and two guards taking sides, a 1-2-2 with a trap until halfcourt. We’ve seen them bring four guys up the top of the opponent’s key in a diamond formation. What I really enjoy out of their press is the ability to go to either a 2-3, 1-3-1 zone or man-to-man in the halfcourt. Again, Oregon is balanced enough to pick up guys and switch almost any screen so going into man quickly is another added benefit.
Now as I mentioned with Gonzaga and Notre Dame, there’s a common theme here with these teams. They are deep, balanced and versatile. Oregon is the same way. Altman will play nine guys over 10 minutes with five of them averaging between 10.2 and 13.7 points per game. So while Brooks is absolutely the guy who makes this team go, especially on the offensive side, you have to pay attention to everyone else on the floor.
Do I think they are better than UCLA? No, I don’t. But, this is the clear second best team in the Pac-12 for me and has a legit shot to get back to the Elite Eight and Final Four. People love to harp on experience come March, which personally is a little bit of a lazy take, but they have plenty of experience if that’s your thing.
Again, this is a team I expect to see more transition out of as the season goes forward. With multiple ball-handlers and uber-athletic bigs like Boucher and Bell, this team is made to run. As you saw in the clip – and that’s just one example of many – they also know how to fill the lanes. Rarely do they get congested and typically you see two guards out in front with the big coming down the middle.