In the next three weeks leading up to season tipoff, the Pac-12 microsite will be evaluating each of the league’s 12 teams. Today, we head to Eugene.

Oregon Ducks

Eleven wins in Oregon’s final 13 conference games earned the Ducks a second-place conference finish, a Coach of the Year award, and a Player of the Year award (the latter two of which sent a certain southwestern state into an apoplectic fit) last season. Well, that Player of the Year – one Joseph Young – is gone, but all told, five of the Ducks’ eight players who averaged more than 10 minutes per game last season return. And, per usual, head coach Dana Altman has a couple impact transfers on the way to pair with a trio of talented freshmen. In short, expectations in Eugene remain high.

Minus Joseph Young, Dana Altman Still Has A Talented Roster (Michael Arellano/Emerald)

Strengths. There are a lot of them, but we’ll opt for two for the sake of succinctness: depth and versatility. First, there are those five returning players – Elgin Cook, Dillon Brooks, Jordan Bell, Dwayne Benjamin and Casey Benson – each of whom played at least 47.9 percent of the Ducks’ possible minutes last season. To that mix add a touch of senior point guard in Villanova transfer Dylan Ennis. Throw in a little reigning National Junior College Player of the Year Chris Boucher. And then toss in a jumble of three different four-star recruits for good measure. If Altman chooses, his team can go 10 deep and can play in a variety of different ways. Benson’s a true point type of guy, but he’ll compete for playing time at the one with Ennis and freshman Tyler Dorsey, both of whom can also play off the ball. Cook and Bell up front may well be the bouncy combination Altman likes at the four and the five spots, but he could go big with the 6’10” Boucher or 6’9” freshman Trevor Manuel and slide either incumbent over a spot. And then on the wing? There are two big walking mismatches in guys like Brooks and Benjamin. Altman’s certainly got a lot of fun mix-and-match toys to play with this season. Read the rest of this entry »