by Don Smalley
DSN Contributor
January 5, 2008

I’m never one to say, “I told you so.” I thought Oregon had a really good chance of winning at Arizona after watching the ‘Cats play the Beavers and taking the positives from the ASU loss and hoping the Ducks would build on those.

As it turned out, that happened. Oregon played the game we all know they are capable of playing. They moved the ball around and got the open jumper, just as they did in Tempe. Only in Tucson, those shots went down. The Ducks exploited Arizona’s unwillingness to move on defense. They pushed the ball after an Arizona made shot and caught the Wildcats off-guard.

But in the world of sports, you just never know what will happen. Arizona might have figured out that you need to hustle on the defensive end in the Friday practice and apply that on Saturday. They might have figured out to take the open shot instead of dribbling into the defense and see if they can make the athletic move and incredible shot. Oregon’s three-pointers might have not found the mark … again.

Fortunately for the Ducks, what was on the proverbial paper came to fruition. Oregon was not going to go 2-for-17 from behind the arc again. Instead, they went 10-for-22. Bryce Taylor found his stroke early and Malik Hairston hit some open threes as well. Even Churchill Odia knocked down a few.

But the story of the game was the maturation process I witnessed in Kamyron Brown. He had a rough night at Arizona State. But at Arizona, in the McHale Center, Brown looked solid. He gave what the defense gave him. He was able to slash to the hoop and finish. After one drive, I told my niece that looked exactly like Aaron Brooks. Brown did not force any shots. On one possession, he came down and nobody picked him up. He calmly stepped up to the three-point line and knock down the trey. Brown is not afraid.

Another bright spot was that while Arizona was making a late-game run to pull itself back into it, like we all knew was coming, the Ducks played calm and composed, making the necessary plays they needed to in order to get the 10-point win.

Not many teams will go to Arizona and do that. UCLA might, but that’s it. I don’t see anyone else beating the Wildcats at home. Once Arizona figures it out, they will be dangerous.

But it looks like Oregon has figured a few things out. Now let’s see if they can further improve with two big home games against Cal and Stanford. Mac Court needs to be rocking. I’m sure it will be.

By Don Smalley
DSN Contributor

Oregon begins the Pac-10 schedule tonight when they enter Wells Fargo Arena to face Arizona State. Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. PST. No live television.

The Sun Devils are a team that almost nobody is talking about, but ASU went through the non-conference season with a 10-2 mark. That’s significant considering the Sun Devils only claimed eight victories last season.

Arizona State usually starts two freshmen, two sophomores and a junior. They are led by freshman James Harden, a 6-4 guard that is averaging 16.9 points a game and 5.3 rebounds. Junior forward Jeff Pendergraph is the elder statesman of the team with his 13.1 scoring average and his seven boards per contest. He is also shooting at a 65 percent clip from the field.

This game could be a battle of wills, as Oregon likes to score as much as possible and play very little defense. While the Sun Devils like to play defense, and get the game in the 60’s. Oregon leads the conference in scoring at nearly 86 points a game, but the Ducks are last in points allowed at 74.8. On the flip side, Arizona State scores just 72 points a game, but the young Devils have bought into coach Herb Sendek’s defensive philosophy by allowing just 57 points a game.

In the two games they did lose, ASU’s defense fell off in just one with a 77-54 loss to Illinois in the Maui Classic. In their other loss, the Devils couldn’t shoot the ball in a 62-47 loss at Nebraska. Although the competition hasn’t been too good, the Sun Devils are on a six-game win streak. All of the wins are at home. The Oregon game is their seventh game of a nine-game home stand, so to speak.

As for the Ducks, an 81-73 win over Mount St. Mary’s last week made them feel a bit better about themselves, but Oregon still has plenty to work on, namely defense and putting inferior teams away.

The Ducks also found out that they will be missing Joevan Catron for nearly the entire first half of the Pac-10 schedule due to a tear of a ligament in his foot. Oregon will have to go to a bench that hasn’t been that productive in the early going, but they will need to.

Oregon will probably start freshman Kamyron Brown at point guard and go with a small lineup with Frantz Dorsainvil the first one off the bench and then Mitch Platt.

But with Churchill Odia not providing much and Drew Viney and Ray Schafer hurt, that means the Big 4 of Bryce Taylor, Malik Hairston, Maarty Leunen and Tajuan Porter will have to log in some serious minutes and be productive for Oregon to win this game or any game in the Pac-10.

By Don Smalley
DSN Contributor
12/31/2007

Oregon played nearly a perfect game in every phase of the football game in a dominating display in a 56-21 win over South Florida.

In the first half, the Ducks played well and scored 18 points. Many were not sure the Ducks would score that much in the game. But in the second half, Oregon showed that they are one of the best teams in the country.

The shock of losing Dennis Dixon clearly affected this team in the Arizona and UCLA games. The Ducks were beginning to snap out of it in the Civil War, a game that should have been won.

But the Ducks showed their true selves today by scoring a Sun Bowl record 56 points, 38 just in the second half.

South Florida has had some good wins this season, but it was clear they were not ready for the speed and the power the Ducks had in store for them. For a team that was once ranked No. 2, Oregon made them look pretty ordinary.

Justin Roper made the quarterback situation an interesting one as Spring ball comes. He made a huge case to be the No. 1 guy despite the recruits and the junior college transfers. Roper did not make a mistake and made plays.

Jonathan Stewart set a Sun Bowl record 253 yards and was running free and easy. The offensive line blocked very well and opened up those creases that we saw earlier in the year. Stewart told the Oregon Sports Network that he hasn’t made a decision whether or not to go to the NFL. But after this performance on national TV, it’s hard to believe that we’ll see Stewart in a Duck uniform again.

It was also great to see Garren Strong score one more touchdown for the Ducks and his brother and to see what a good receiver Jasison Williams is capable of being.

The defense played great and hit hard … very, very hard. Ask South Florida’s Matt Grothe how hard as he missed much of the second half with a major concussion.

Oregon ends the season 9-4 and perhaps there is more excitement around the football program than there ever has been before.

By Don Smalley

DSN Contributor

Going into the Nebraska game, we all heard how the Cornhuskers were a lower-level Big XII team and even though it’s a game on the road that was on a neutral floor, Oregon would have an easy time of it.

But the Ducks put themselves in adverse situations and the result was the second loss of the year.

Nebraska jumped out to an early 9-0 lead and the Ducks had to play catch-up for the entire game. When a team is battling a deficit the entire time, the energy level is drained quickly. This “strategy” worked at Kansas St., but Oregon failed to overcome the deficit.

It seemed like the Ducks were not on the same page and were standing around and watching too much. Oregon needs to play as a team. The Ducks have been great in recent years at playing as a unit and making the extra pass for the wide-open shot.

That kind of offense didn’t happen too many times in Omaha. On many possessions, the Ducks were watching Tajuan Porter dribble around and then make a wild three-point shot as the shot clock was winding down. Today, he made several of these shots and that was the only reason why the Ducks were even in the game.

Despite all of that, Porter’s last wild shot with nine seconds left tied the game and he had the chance to give Oregon the lead with the free throw. Porter, who had missed nine free throws all season a year ago, missed his 10^th free throw and the game went into overtime.

So why isn’t Porter automatic any more? A friend of mine pointed out that Porter might be in a strength program and his muscles are changing, which is why he is having troubles from the line. He hasn’t adjusted to the change in his body yet.

Losing this game won’t be the end of the world for the Ducks. Although Nebraska will be their last true test before the Pac-10 season starts where every game will be a test. But you never want an opportunity to slip away, but the Ducks did just that.

There were some bright points from this game. Malik Hairston had his best game of the year so far by pouring in 25 points, including 8-of-9 from the charity stripe. Porter, despite his free throw line problems, was hitting his shots. But he was forcing up too many shots.

But they were the only two players who were consistent. Bryce Taylor, Joevan Catron and Maarty Leunen were not big enough offensive threats. Oregon needs more than two go-to guys, especially when the conference season starts.