Oregon Ducks win CBI

 Last night, the Oregon Ducks beat the Creighton Bluejays 2-1 in the best of 3 College Basketball Invitational finals, 71-69. It was a great game, completely back and forth, with EJ Singler making the game winner with 2.0 seconds left. Their was a somewhat controversial call that gave the Ducks the ability to have that last shot, with a back court violation being called, on our almost camouflage center court line. Though it was a back court violation, the excuse is the line is incredibly difficult to see. Nonetheless, great game and a tremendous end to the season for University of Oregon’s basketball team.

The interesting thing about this finals was that Dana Altman went up against the school he had just left. The first game was a blow out by the Bluejays at their home court in Omaha, the second a blow out at Matt Knight Arena in Eugene. The last game was also played in Eugene, but it was down to the wire and no team ever built a big lead.

The Bluejays had some very nice players, particularly the coaches son, Doug McDermott. Doug is a 6-7 freshman hybrid forward, who finished the season averaging 14.9 ppg and 7.2 rpg, shooting over 50 and 40 from the field and 3. He is definitely a player to watch for the future. They had a great floor leader in Antoine Young, and while I do not know if he is NBA material, he is a nice college player. In the first 3 games of the CBI, he had 27 assists and 0 turnovers (though he made up for it with 17-14 ratio in the last 3 games, nonetheless the first stat was impressive).

Their post man, Greg Echenique, might be another possible NBA prospect. He was a highly rated HS player, and started out at Rutgers. He is a load, 6-9 and 270, who was doing well in the Big East before he decided to transfer to Creighton. Originally from Venezuela, he is an aggressive player with a soft shooting touch and very tough to stop down low, and unlike most post players at this stage, shoots free throws at a decent rate. The last Bluejay I will mention is Kaleb Korver, Kyle’s bro, who was a senior who could shoot, but his NBA prospects are slim to nil. 

This is the point where my post might get a little gushy. I want to say, Dana Altman had I believe the best possible season a coach could have with our team. This team was one of the smallest teams in the nation, had incredibly inconsistent shooting and we played a 6’8 swing man at center  and a 6’6 (if that) bowling ball at PF. Oregon was projected as finishing dead last in the Pac-10, after we had lost not only our 4 year starting PG in Tajuan Porter, but also a former McDonald’s All-American in Michael Dunigan. If that was not enough, we lost 4 other players to transfer and in essence, our depth at the post and wing position.

What Dana did was he prided our team on defense, rotating guards constantly and he transformed us from a bottom feeder into a legit opponent. We beat two out of three tournament teams in the Pac-10 and came close to beating Arizona. When a team that I assumed might win 0-2 Pac-10 games, we went 7-11, had numerous close contests and we won a post season tournament. This may only make us 21-18 and technically the 101st best team in the nation, but if you are a fan of a school or went/go to a NCAA school (or even otherwise), you know that is still kind of awesome. To me, Dana had an incredible first year and was an excellent coaching hire. I may be biased, but he is the coach of the year in my mind. He destroyed our pre-season expectations, won games with very little depth and without any big recruits or previously proven players for the most part.

I will probably post later about some of our other players, though I wanted to focus on one in particular, and this post was supposed to be an ode to him, but I will save that after mentioning some key players for this season. EJ Singler was our most versatile player, he has exceeded expectations ever since he came to campus and is very similar to his brother Kyle in the all-around skill he provides to the team. The guy can shoot, he has too constantly defend out of position, he hits the boards and is incredibly unselfish. Very glad we have him at Oregon for 2 more years and while I am not sure of his NBA prospects at this point, I would not count him out.

We have two seniors, and while he only played one year, Jay-R Strowbridge killed it for us. He was a very streaky shooter, well travelled (played at Nebraska and Jacksonville St. before becoming a Duck), but at 5-10 the kid has long arms and played intense D. Malcolm Armstead was our starting PG for most of the year, and he was also a specialist on D and probably our best driving guard. Also give a lot of props to Tyrone Nared and Jonathan Loyd, our two man recruiting class. Nared played Center, and played his butt off. 6-8, nice athlete, long arms and he should be a perimeter guy, but man did he step up. Jeremy Jacob (our only legit Center, who is also 6-8) unfortunately missed most of our games due to injury, so Tyrone really stepped up for us. Jon, struggled at times, but played a valuable roll at only 5-9 and is tough as nails as a frosh. Finally, much props to Oregon’s own Garrett Sim, this kid can ball. He was incredibly big for us in the Pac-10 and CBI tourneys. 

Finally, if you are still reading, this is my ode to Joevan Catron, the MVP of the CBI. If I had to compare Joevan to anyone, it would be Charles Barkley with WAY less athleticism, meaning his NBA status is slim to none. My brother informed me (and I could see from BTPH’s post), that Joevan, a senior, was not invited to the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament. He is, after all, a 6-6 PF who has serious athletic limitations and has always been a bit on the bigger side. I will admit, in his freshman year, I was not a big fan. I cringed every time he dribbled, I hated having a 6-6 PF and I was almost hoping he transferred. At no time did I expect this guy would be a person that carries a college team.

This year, Joevan Catron carried the Oregon Ducks basketball team. He was a 5th year senior, coming off of a major injury and I knew he was going to have to have a huge season for us to be any good. Well, had no idea that he was going to be an All Pac-10 worthy player who at times absolutely killed it for us. He improved his shooting, finished through contact constantly and improved as a player incredibly over time. The guy put in a lot of work and played his heart out.

When he won the tournament MVP, he was crying his eyes out, and honestly, it was good to see. This guy has so much heart, and proved so many people wrong. He wanted this tournament so bad, and left college a winner. Not many people can say that. For the season, he averaged 16 and 6.7, and for the tournament he was at 19 and 9. In yesterdays game, he finished with a career high 29 points and did it in a variety of ways, including a number of old fashioned three point plays. It was just so amazing to see a player improve to the point Joevan reached, he will more than likely never be an NBA player, but he will play pro ball somewhere and work hard. Congratulations to Joevan, you had a fantastic end to your college career and have made me a complete believer in your abilities as a player and I wish you the best in your future endeavors, basketball or otherwise. GO JOEVAN, GO DUCKS!