Oregon Ducks Still Waiting For Respect, Move To 11th In National Rankings

Oregon moved up to 11th in the Associated Press and 12th in the Coaches poll this week and lead the Pac-12 Conference, but where is the respect?

More from Autzen Zoo

• Oregon football: Ducks and Coach Prime playing it cordial leading up to Saturday
• Oregon Basketball: Non-conference slate features Michigan coming to Eugene
• Oregon football: Ducks find complete game effort in win vs Hawaii
• Oregon Ducks must get run game going against Hawaii
• 8 Pac-12 teams represented in Associated Press Top 25 after Week 2

The Oregon Men’s Basketball team is on a mission. They are undefeated at home. They have reached 20 wins on the season for the sixth straight season under Head Coach Dana Altman and right now they have a two game cushion in the Pac-12 standings. Dillon Brooks has become a candidate for the Pac-12 Player of the Year and leads the team, putting up 30 points in his last outing against Utah on Saturday.

Altman as a key player on Defense in Chris Boucher who is a shot blocking machine with 4 against the Utes. Tyler Dorsey can hit a three point shot when it is needed the most and sixth man Dwayne Benjamin is getting key minutes and making the most of them on the court. You would think a team on the verge of the Top 10 would be getting respect, and at 20-4 they are. Some projections have Oregon as a 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament next month, but there is still a lot of basketball to play. ESPN is among the outlets that knows this and is also eager to point out that one team has a big advantage and is not dead yet.

Arizona will finish the year with 5 games at hone and that is where the focus is, not that Altman has built a program in Eugene that could rival other Conferences in the country. Respect has to be earned and after dominating for so many seasons, the Wildcats are still the story until they prove otherwise. The win at the McHale Center last month will resonate the rest of the season for Oregon, but a slip up on the road could be disastrous to the hopes of a Conference Championship for Oregon.

The Oregon Ducks need to focus on one game at a time. This week Altman’s team faces Cal and Stanford on the road before returning home for games against Oregon State, Washington State, and Washington. There is a cautious optimism right now with this Oregon team, and the report from ESPN ay not be right, but it is appropriate. Oregon is now the target for the Conference to beat, and Brooks needs to be able to lead this team through the final stretch of the regular season.

Next: Oregon Women's Basketball: Cazorla Named Pac-12 Player Of The Week

Oregon faces Cal on Friday night at 6pm on ESPN2.