Let’s not get too cute here or anything: Joseph Young is Oregon’s best and most important player. He knows that; Dana Altman knows that; I know that; you know that; and, all of the teams the Ducks will face this year know that. So, I’m not gonna waste my time or yours pretending to convince you that somebody else is more important to the success of this team. Young is going to get the bulk of Oregon’s shots; he’s going to get the opposing defense’s full attention; and still he is probably going to score 20 points per game in an incredibly efficient fashion — knocking in somewhere in the neighborhood of 90 percent of his team-high free throw attempts, 40-plus percent of his shots from behind the arc, and 50-some percent of the rest of his shots.

Joseph Young Is Mighty Indeed. (AP Photo)

But this is basketball, a team sport. And unless there is a rule change that I missed, the Ducks are required to run five guys out on the floor every time the ball is in play. We may not have great familiarity with who four of those five guys will be, or in what configuration they’re going to be run out there, but this cannot be an exclusively one-man show if the Ducks hope to have any type of success this season. The question then becomes: Who will be the Robin to Young’s Batman? Perhaps the only other name Pac-12 fans will remember from last season’s team is that of Elgin Cook, he of the high-flying dunks and the shoplifting arrest. He’ll certainly play a huge role for Altman this year, not only scoring the ball but also getting on the glass and being a disruptive defensive presence. It’s likely that he will be the team’s second leading scorer, and maybe its top rebounder. But on a roster chock-full of new names, Cook counts as a known entity.

Everywhere else on the roster, however, we still need to see what we can make of this team. Young is not only likely to be this team’s leading scorer, but he’ll also be its main playmaker. Young freshman guards like Dillon Brooks and Ahmaad Rorie, while important from a depth perspective, may not be quite as crucial as Oregon’s frontcourt players — of which the Ducks have few options. With JuCo transfer Michael Chandler still struggling with a knee injury, freshman forward Jordan Bell is the only active player taller than 6’7”, so clearly he must play a big role. And with his skywalking act already creating plenty of buzz in Eugene, you can bet Bell will earn his legion of fans.

Dwayne Benjamin’s Versatile Skillset Will Be Important For The Ducks (John Sperry, 247 Sports)

The other player who will be vital to the Ducks’ season is another JuCo transfer, versatile 6’7” forward Dwayne Benjamin. In the team’s opening exhibition game, Benjamin not only tied for the squad’s lead in rebounds, grabbing eight in just 19 minutes of action, but he also blocked a couple of shots and made some nice plays with the ball in his hands — including a couple of Benjamin-led fast breaks. For a team without a lot of experience or depth on the roster, Benjamin’s ability to do a lot of different things – rebound in the paint; handle the ball on the wing; defend a wide variety of players; and score in an efficient manner – will be heavily relied upon. And given that he’s an upperclassman who played 56 games in junior college, he’s got a level of experience that few other players here have. That combination of experience, talent and versatility earn Benjamin the title of “second-most important player.”

AMurawa (999 Posts)

Andrew Murawa Likes Basketball.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 11th, 2014 at 6:55 pm by Andrew Murawa and is filed under microsites, pac 12. Tagged: dwayne benjamin, elgin cook, Jordan Bell, joseph young, michael chandler, oregon. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.