Oregon Basketball: Chris Boucher tears ACL, will miss rest of season

Oregon basketball loses one of their top scorers, rebounders and shot blockers in Chris Boucher.

The Oregon Ducks won the Pac-12 regular-season title and were expected to be a strong Final Four contender heading into the 2017 NCAA Tournament. Now, their status as potentially being one of the final four teams standing in Phoenix is up in the air due to the latest bout of bad news.

On Saturday evening before Oregon lost to Arizona in the Pac-12 conference tournament final, it was reported that the Ducks lost senior forward Chris Boucher for the season because of a torn ACL.

Oregon's Chris Boucher is indeed done for the year with a torn ACL, a source has confirmed. First reported by @JHopkinsSD. Devastating news.
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) March 12, 2017

This is obviously a critical loss for Oregon as Boucher is not only a leader in the locker room but a player who was averaging 11.8 points, 6.1 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game. Boucher was also shot 52 percent from the field and 35 percent from three.

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While the Ducks still have solid balance and depth on the offensive end, Oregon doesn’t have a player with similar traits as Boucher. The 6’10” forward provides the Ducks with a floor spacing from the four or five position as he can knock down the three and stretch the defense from the mid-range. He doesn’t own great strength in the post but is especially valuable on the defensive end of the floor, where he blocks and alters shots at the rim.

Jordan Bell is the starter at center, however, Altman will now have to insert JUCO transfer Kavell Bigby-Williams into the rotation. This isn’t to say that Bigby-Williams cannot fit in at this level with more minutes, but he has limited exposure so far this season and doesn’t nearly have the skills and talent that Boucher does.

Fortunately for Oregon, their best player, Dillon Brooks, and secondary scorer, Tyler Dorsey, are healthy. The Ducks already dealt with a foot injury to Brooks earlier this season (during the offseason and non-conference schedule) and they clearly weren’t the same team. But with Brooks, Dorsey, Payton Pritchard, Bell and Dylan Ennis still remaining, Oregon still has enough experience and talent to reach the second weekend of the Big Dance.

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That doesn’t mean Oregon cannot reach the Final Four for the first time since 1939, but the loss of Boucher lowers their ceiling.

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