Jon Rothstein’s Oregon Basketball Tweetathon

Everyone’s favorite College Basketball tweeter, Jon Rothstein, spent yesterday in beautiful Eugene, Oregon, with the 2019 Oregon Basketball team. I love Rothstein, and, without a doubt, he is one of my five favorite twitter follows. He cracks me up with his unparalleled in-depthness and infatuation with the most obscure college basketball tidbits. And, as he does during the offseason, Jon took his reporting talents to the great state of Oregon to watch practice and to offer his thoughts up to the ether of college basketball twitter.

So, what did I do when I learned this? I decided to collect all of them for you Oregon basketball fans to see. After all, Rothstein is a good analyst, so his opinion has some pedigree. Here’s his chronicle, from Eugene.

Wow! Jon is coming out firing! His first comment after arriving to Matthew Knight Arena is that Oregon is the top dog in the Pac-12. Who’s to say he’s wrong? UCLA is a mystery, Arizona just lost every player who doesn’t suck, and Arizona State faded last year and lost its leading scorer and best player. Oregon has the hype — the type that Jon is buying.

This one about Wooten is highly encouraging. Wooten was a little stick figure-ish last year. If he’d adding size without losing any of his athleticism and mobility, then he will for sure be a force to reckon with. And can we actually install a trampoline on the court? Hey Rob Mullens, can you help us out? Wooten’s head may burst through the ceiling.

Jordan Bell? The shot-blocking, slam dunking, and now NBA champion who dominated the University of Kansas in the Elite 8 two years ago? Yes, please. With (probably premature) comparisons of Bell to Wooten, Jonny’s already got me pumped up on this nice Thursday morning.

Is this a good thing? I guess. Two years ago we had Dorsey, Ennis, Bell, Boucher and Brooks who were all upperclassmen. They were the most talented players on that team, and obviously ended up leading the 2016 team to the Final 4. This year, according to Rothstein, our blue-chip 5-star freshmen, Bol Bol and Louis King, are our most talented players on the team. It’s good to hear that the younglings are developing well; but I hope this isn’t a slight at some of the older guys.

Hey, aside from Wooten, this is the exact lineup I predicted a few weeks back. This lineup should be dominant on defense. They just should. Bol is an athletic freak, and for the sake of excitement, I’ll forget that he’s kinda lazy on that end. King is crazy long and athletic so he should be a very capable defender. Amin is a thief in the backcourt. Wooten is apparently the second coming of JB. And Pritchard should improve once again on that end. Man, we could be in for some low scoring games this year.

But this lineup is solid. I back it 100%.

VJ, not Victor? Whatever he goes by, I like his game, a lot. If he contributes 8-10 points off the bench, then my lord, look out. This team could have some serious offensive firepower. In his second year, Bailey is expected to take a step up. And X-factor status would be more than welcome.

I know Jon Rothstein believes that there isn’t one bad basketball player in the country, but his promotion of Norris and Okoro still has me excited. These two, as he mentions, will likely struggle to see the court for extended stretches in their rookie campaigns. Nevertheless, basketball talent is always welcome, even if it does take a few years to develop.

The great Oregon-Iowa college basketball matchup of 2018! I can’t wait, and neither can Jon.

Kentucky? Second in the nation after Kentucky? That’ll do. If we’re really that intimidating, then we’ll be seeing a lot of this Sean Miller:

All of the coaches on our schedule are going to look like this if Oregon Basketball lives up to even half of Jon Rothstein’s expectations. Of course, that’s only if Brian Bowen’s daddy doesn’t throw Oregon under the bus this afternoon.