The Oregon Basketball team is coming off a shockingly bad season as the Ducks suffered the first losing season of the Dana Altman era. The roster clearly had its flaws, but the biggest issue was that Dana Altman didn't have a team that was nearly as deep as it needed to be. In the grind that is a Big Ten regular season, if you don't have scoring off the bench, you aren't going to succeed.
Dana Altman clearly saw his team needed to get deeper, and more talented leading to unique approach in the Transfer Portal. Rather than going out and shopping at the top of the market, Oregon added 8 players via the Transfer Portal giving the team a more well rounded team rather than superstars.
While Oregon's approach was to build a deeper team, one of the Ducks additions could emerge as a breakout star, changing everything for the roster.
Jasper Johnson reaching his potential would change everything for Oregon
Ranking as the 205th best player in the Transfer Portal and the 47th ranked shooting guard, Jasper Johnson is flying under the radar as an addition for Dana Altman. If you just rewound to a year ago when Johnson was the 25th ranked player in the country, it would be viewed as a much bigger addition.
Jasper Johnson's freshman season at Kentucky had flashes and bad moments as he finished the year averaging 4.9 points per game, 1.6 assists per game, and shot 34.1% from 3. The entire Kentucky team was a mess this season, and with everyone ready to fire Mark Pope, it's certainly possible the coaching staff didn't help him develop enough.
A change of scenery could be all it takes for Jasper Johnson to return to the level of player that every team wanted coming out of High School. At the High School level, Johnson was able to score at will with great creativity near the basket to go with solid outside shooting.
Dana Altman has famously found a way to maximize the talent he has on his roster, getting everyone aligned earning his famous Jon Rothstein-ism.
His name is Dana Altman.
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) February 22, 2025
And he aligns Rubik's Cubes.
Getting the most out of Jasper Johnson would mean that the Ducks could have a 1st round caliber pick on the roster. If Oregon is going to succeed this year, Altman is going to need to hit on the high-upside swings he took, and none are bigger than Jasper Johnson.
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