Rockne Roll – Rush The Court

Oregon Basketball and The Season of New: It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

Rockne Roll — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 23:28:07 +0000

Welcome to Oregon Basketball and The Season of New, a weekly Pac-12 microsite column from Rockne Roll (@raroll). His column will focus on the various issues facing college basketball through the prism of the Oregon Ducks, a program ostensibly on the rise with top-notch facilities and coaching, but still subject to many of the same problems suffered by many of the other high-major programs around the country.

Needless to say, it’s been a topsy-turvy week in college hoops. Louisville was crowned the top team in the country after all three remaining undefeated teams lost in the same weekend, only to be [...]

Oregon Basketball and the Season of New: The Big Win

Rockne Roll — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 02:39:54 +0000

There are games that every player remembers — their highest-scoring game, their last home contest, rivalry games, conference championships, and bad losses. But not every player gets the chance to be part of a [...]

Oregon State Facing Another Lost Season After Arizona Loss

Rockne Roll — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 01:15:44 +0000

Rockne Roll (@raroll) is an RTC correspondent. He filed this report after Saturday’s game between Arizonan and Oregon State in Corvallis.

Coming into this season, things were looking up for Oregon State. Its senior core was comprised of solid players; it had a contingent of younger players with high potential; and all signs pointed to the team as ready to turn things around in Corvallis. A significant remodel of Gill Coliseum and the reappearance of the Beaver Dam, OSU’s student section, seemed to be harbingers of the Beavers finally making some serious noise in the conference, or at least posting a [...]

Oregon Pulls the Plug on the “Cardiac Cats”

Rockne Roll — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 07:05:38 +0000

Rockne Roll is an RTC correspondent. He filed this report after Thursday night’s Oregon-Arizona game in Eugene.

The Arizona Wildcats have been comeback specialists all season. Against Florida, on Christmas Day, and the miracle in Colorado, the “Cardiac Cats” have earned their nickname. So when they went into the locker room of Matthew Knight Arena at halftime down 11 points to the Oregon Ducks, it probably wasn’t a particularly big cause for concern. Rather the concern was with Oregon, as they knew it was going to be an enormous challenge just to hold on. After all, Arizona had opened the game [...]

Oregon Basketball and The Season of New: Anatomy of a Rivalry

Rockne Roll — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 18:10:56 +0000

Welcome to Oregon Basketball and The Season of New, a weekly Pac-12 microsite column from Rockne Roll (@raroll). His column will focus on the various issues facing college basketball through the prism of the Oregon Ducks, a program ostensibly on the rise with top-notch facilities and coaching but still subject to many of the same problems suffered by many of the other high-major programs around the country.

Not all conference games are created equal, particularly in a conference where there’s a wide separation between best and worst. And while the Oregon Ducks have been saying that they prepare for every game [...]

Oregon Basketball and The Season of New: The End of the Beginning

Rockne Roll — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 16:16:59 +0000

Welcome to Oregon Basketball and The Season of New, a weekly Pac-12 microsite column from Rockne Roll (@raroll). His column will focus on the various issues facing college basketball through the prism of the Oregon Ducks, a program ostensibly on the rise with top-notch facilities and coaching but still subject to many of the same problems suffered by many of the other high-major programs around the country.

“Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.” –Winston Churchill

At the beginning of college basketball every year, it’s [...]

Oregon Basketball and The Season of New: Seniors that Surprise

Rockne Roll — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 20:46:43 +0000

Welcome to Oregon Basketball and The Season of New, a weekly Pac-12 microsite column from Rockne Roll (@raroll). His column will focus on the various issues facing college basketball through the prism of the Oregon Ducks, a program ostensibly on the rise with top-notch facilities and coaching but still subject to many of the same problems suffered by many of the other high-major programs around the country.

Christmas has come and probably gone by the time you read this, so instead of focusing on “the spirit of the season” and joy and all that, it’s time to discuss the real reason that [...]

Oregon Basketball and The Season of New: Breaking The Winter Blahs

Rockne Roll — Sat, 15 Dec 2012 21:00:14 +0000

Welcome to Oregon Basketball and The Season of New, a weekly Pac-12 microsite column from Rockne Roll (@raroll). His column will focus on the various issues facing college basketball through the prism of the Oregon Ducks, a program ostensibly on the rise with top-notch facilities and coaching but still subject to many of the same problems suffered by many of the other high-major programs around the country.

December is a strange time of year in the world of college sports. There are no classes for student-athletes and, at least for the Oregon Ducks, only a few games in the space of a [...]

Oregon Basketball and The Season of New: Giving Thanks and Getting Transfers

Rockne Roll — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 00:47:51 +0000

Welcome to Oregon Basketball and The Season of New, a weekly Pac-12 microsite column from Rockne Roll (@raroll). His column will focus on the various issues facing college basketball through the prism of the Oregon Ducks, a program ostensibly on the rise with top-notch facilities and coaching but still subject to many of the same problems suffered by many of the other high-major programs around the country.

Thanksgiving is a time to take a step back from the grind and routine of life and appreciate that which we often take for granted. Family, friends, employment, even simple things like food and shelter [...]

Oregon Basketball and the Season of New: A Cold Start

Rockne Roll — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 19:15:33 +0000

The weather in Oregon can do strange things. In the week leading up to the Ducks’ home opener against Northern Arizona, the weather shifted from cool and rainy to downright cold, and it was frequently the topic of conversation across the western half of the state. In the span of a day, high temperatures dropped from the mid-50s to the low 40s in what would turn out to be a bit of an omen for the Ducks as they faced Northern Arizona Saturday night.

Willie Moore loses control of his dribble as the Ducks take on Northern Arizona in [...]

Craig Robinson Notches His Second Win of the Week

Rockne Roll — Sat, 10 Nov 2012 21:59:19 +0000

Oregon State Head Coach Craig Robinson sat in front of the pressroom Friday night after with a smile on his face after his team’s home opener. It was his second win of the week, he said. The first was Tuesday night, when his brother-in-law won another term as President. And while Barack Obama’s final Electoral College score of 303-206 (pending Florida’s final count) over Mitt Romney was significantly higher than the 102-83 final score that the Beavers posted on the Niagara University Purple Eagles at Gill Coliseum Friday, Robinson sympathized with the stress his brother was under. “You think about [...]

Oregon Basketball and The Season of New: Exhibiting Some Flaws

Rockne Roll — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 01:18:16 +0000

Welcome to Oregon Basketball and The Season of New, a weekly Pac-12 microsite column from Rockne Roll (@raroll). His column will focus on the various issues facing college basketball through the prism of the Oregon Ducks, a program ostensibly on the rise with top-notch facilities and coaching but still subject to many of the same problems suffered by many of the other high-major programs around the country.

College basketball is frequently a topsy-turvy world. Indeed, one of the great draws of the NCAA Tournament is its unpredictability. Just ask fans of Lehigh or Norfolk State, who saw their teams upset two-seeds [...]