Oregon basketball too low in CBS Sports’ way-too early 2021-22 rankings

Oregon basketball has had one heck of an offseason. The Ducks have picked up a quartet of talented transfers, three of which have come from power conference programs.

In fact, the Ducks added Rutgers guard Jacob Young, Syracuse forward Quincy Guerrier, and Oklahoma guard transfer De’Vion Harmon. The latter two had originally declared for the NBA draft before announcing transfers to Oregon but recently withdrew their names. Dana Altman also added guard Rivaldo Soares who was a JUCO All-American.

The Ducks did lose Eugene Omoruyi, LG Figueroa, Chris Duarte, Amauri Hardy, Chandler Lawson, and Jalen Terry this offseason to graduation as well as the transfer portal so some major attrition did happen.

All-in-all, though, the Ducks seemed to come out on top and they bring in one of the nation’s best big men in Nathan Bittle as well as former four-star center Isaac Johnson from the 2019 class to add to an improved roster that won the Pac-12 regular-season title last season.

Despite all of this winning by Altman on and off the court over the past few months, CBS Sports didn’t give the Ducks much respect in their preseason Top 25 and 1 rankings.

Oregon came in at No. 13 in the rankings which may not seem all that bad, but the Ducks have a top-10 roster and are coming off a regular-season conference title and Sweet 16 appearance. Plus, Altman is one of the most underrated coaches in America.

There’s no way this team is worse than No. 10.

Who should Oregon basketball be ahead of?

With Oregon comfortably lower than I would have ranked it, who should the Ducks be ahead of?

Kentucky (No. 12), Texas (No. 11), Houston (No. 10), and Arkansas (No. 8) are just a handful who the Ducks arguably have more talent and experience than. The Ducks had a better offseason than each one of those teams outside of maybe Texas who improved at the head coaching position and added some talented transfers, but Oregon is just an eyelash ahead, in my opinion.

Oregon should be a top-10 team entering the 2021-22 season. There aren’t many starting fives that will rival what the Ducks will run out every night.