This season in Oregon basketball has to be counted as a success, and one of Dana Altman's best coaching jobs. The Ducks finished 25-10, his 15th consecutive season of 20 or more wins since coming to Eugene from Creighton in 2010.
They made the NCAA Tournament in their first year in a new conference. Matt Prehm of 247 Sports notes it was just the fifth time in program history that the Ducks won a game at the tournament in back-to-back years.
In the round of 32 they ran into a basketball buzzsaw in Caleb Love, the sweet-shooting Arizona point guard who scorched No. 1-seed Duke for 35 points in the Wildcats' 100-93 loss in the Sweet 16 Thursday night. Oregon "held" Love to 29, but he was 5-7 from three, crushing the Ducks' hopes with made three after made three during their furious comeback late in the game.
An unreal 35-point performance from Caleb Love in the Sweet 16 🤯
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 28, 2025
Left it all out on the floor 👏 #MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/EHPTLcqvA7
1. Stay away from Caleb Love
That's the first thing they have to do, but that one is easy since the 6-4 guard is a senior. This time next year he'll be torturing the Dallas Mavericks and Portland Trailblazers in the NBA, no danger to the Ducks in the tournament.
2. Recruit your own players, bringing back Jackson Shelstad, Nate Bittle and Kwame Evans
Those three are the key to a successful nucleus at Mat Knight Arena, each with a promising pro future but in need of another year of polishing in college. Evans, a 6-9 forward from Baltimore, was productive off the bench after going off for 23 points in the Ducks' opening game of the season against UC Riverside.
His role grew steadily. At the end of the regular season he hit for double figures three times in four games against Washington, Indiana and Wisconsin, putting up eight off the bench versus USC, Iowa and Rutgers.
Evans is athletic, active and long, a strong rebounder who grabbed six or more boards in Oregon's last six games of the year, 11 against the overtime win over the Huskies, nine in the 77-73 road win over No. 11 Wisconsin on February 22, part of that eight-game winning streak Altman and his team engineered to make the tournament.
Shelstad enjoys a lucrative NIL deal in Eugene and he's blossoming as a player. Returning to college would be his best move also, allowing him to further refine his game and learn to be more assertive and consistent. At times he's brilliant. Other times he grows colder than Peanut Butter Cup ice cream in a Willamette Valley ice storm. Another year as a team leader and best shooter could help smooth out some of the peaks and valleys, find his happy place more consistently.
As to Bittle, he blossomed in 2024 as a top big man after an injury-shortened season as a junior. With an extra year to get stronger, he could cement himself as an NBA draft pick. He showed how dominating he could be with a 36-point, 12 rebound performance against Washington on March 9, and during that win streak he showed how devastating he can be as a rim protector.
Nate Bittle’s been a block machine recently 🚫#B1GMBBall pic.twitter.com/Q5cHaP0S6t
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) March 2, 2025
3. Work the portal with purpose
Oregon's biggest weakness in 2024 was a tendency to suffer stagnant periods on offense, and their biggest need for next season is to find an igniter who can score, rebound and defender, their next Jordan Bell or Dillon Brooks.
Altman has said he doesn't want to hire a general manager and he doesn't need one; he has five full-time assistants. He and Tony Stubblefield can find the players. A college basketball roster is 12-15 players with the rotation going 8-9 deep most seasons-- it isn't the monumental management challenge a program has in football.
Early talk has centered around West Virginia freshman guard Jonathan Powell, 6-6, 191. Powell shot 38 percent from the field this season, just slightly worse than TJ Bamba. The object of the game is to get the ball in the hole. Oregon needs a dependable scorer to complement their big three.