Oregon Ducks Chemistry Coming Together As Team Wraps Up Exhibition Victories

Oregon Ducks Basketball Head Coach Dana Altman is coming off several consecutive successful seasons at the helm, including appearances in the Pac-12 Championship Game and NCAA Tournament appearances. Enter the 2014 season which officially begins on Friday night as Oregon hosts Coppin State at Matthew Knight Arena and there are several noticeble differences with this team.

Several players return, including now Senior Joseph Young, along with Elgin Cook and Jalil Abdul-Bassit. Gone from the team are a major distraction from the Spring of 2014 and an alleged rape/assault case. Brandon Austin, Dominic Artis, and Damyean Dotson. Enter new faces including Dwayne Benjamin and Ahmad Rorie along with Dillon Brooks and Casey Bejamin who will play valuable minutes as Freshman this season. Not necessarily by design or choice but because Altman needs bodies on the court and these young players will get some solid early career experience with the Oregon Ducks that could pay big dividends down the line, perhaps even this season.

Through two exhibition games the team has crossed the one-hundred point mark twice in two victories. The most recent, a Monday night 104-55 performance against Western Oregon. The Oregon Ducks pulled away at the end of the first half and never looked back in the final twenty minutes. Senior Joseph Young went five for ten from the floor and was responsible for eleven points. Benjamin and Cook led the team in scoring in the game.

Altman enters the season with a team looking to gain some quick experience and chemistry together on the court. That part seems to be working itself out. Now, how will this team perform once Pac-12 play begins and can they learn quickly during the non-conference slate to play together as a team? Time will tell, but if there is one thing I know for sure, an Altman coached team always finds a way to pull off a few surprises. He is a coach that finds a way to get the job done.

The first chance that counts happens on Friday night as the Oregon Ducks open at Matthew Knight Arena against Coppin State. (9pm PT, Pac-12 Networks).