Last week the expectations for Oregon Basketball season were flipped upside down as Dana Altman made the shocking decision to retire with the season on the horizon. Coming off the worst season of the Altman era, Oregon flipped nearly the entire roster, rebuilding the group with a ton of pieces via the Transfer Portal. Without Dana Altman's ability to gel unique players together, the burden falls on Tony Stubblefield to get the program heading back in the right direction.
For Stubblefield, Thursday Night brought the first exhibition game of the offseason, and provided the first chance to prove he deserves the job long-term. Oregon falling 71-65 to Seattle is far from the result the Ducks wanted, and will start to add some concerns about what this group will look like in the wake of Altman's retirement.
Oregon led by as many as 13 points in the 2nd half of the exhibition, but let the game slip away to the point that Seattle led by as many as 9 points down the final stretch. The good news is it was only an exhibition game, but while the result doesn't carry any weight, some of the concerns coming out of the game certainly will.
3 concerning issues from Oregon's exhibition loss to Seattle
Oregon's 25 turnovers are a major red flag
It’s an exhibition game so you never want to overreact, but it’s impossible not to be concerned with the fact that the Ducks turned the ball over 25 times. This wasn’t just a case of a guard having a really bad night as all but two players turning the ball over led by 5 from Fred Payne. Somehow the team managed to allow just 18 points off those turnovers, but better teams will make the Ducks play so it needs to be tightened up.
Getting beat on the boards by Seattle is a bad sign of things to come
If you’re going to turn the ball over 25 times, you better do whatever it takes to create extra possessions. On Thursday Night, Oregon was beat on the glass by 1 rebound which on the surface isn’t that bad, but is concerning. Teams in Big Ten play are going to be much stronger on the glass, and if Oregon is getting beat by Seattle, other teams are going to make that margin much worse. In Big Ten play, allowing 16 offensive rebounds could easily decide a game, and the Ducks are going to need to trim that number.
Are Oregon’s guards good enough to win in the Big Ten?
The front court played well for Oregon in this exhibition game, but the backcourt left plenty to be desired. The starting duo of Fred Payne and Tyrone Riley combined for just 10 points and 6 turnovers in 47 minutes while Jasper Johnson scored just 2 points in 10 minutes. The bright spot is Wei Lin scoring 9 points in 21 minutes, but it has to be a concern that the transfers may have some drastic swings throughout the season.
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