Pac-12 Basketball Power Rankings: Arizona State, Oregon lead early season list
By Brian Rauf
2) Oregon Ducks
The preseason favorite in the conference, Oregon got a bit of a wakeup call in the 2K Empire Classic with a loss to Iowa but rebounded with a key win over Syracuse.
Star freshman Bol Bol (18.8 ppg, 10.5 rpg, 4.0 bpg) has been every bit as good as advertised and is anchoring Oregon’s defense. With him in the middle of the paint, the Ducks lead the country in block rate and rank fourth nationally in effective field goal percentage defense.
That said, this team looked limited offensively in Madison Square Garden. When Bol didn’t have the ball in the middle of Syracuse’s zone, the Ducks seemingly ran their offense without much purpose. They were content to pass the ball until it got late in the shot clock and they had to create something, which led to a lot of bad, contested shots.
It was clear they lacked a go-to offensive threat on the perimeter, which is something they’ll get when freshman Louis King gets back from a knee injury.
Oregon still has the most talent and most upside of any team in the Pac-12, but there’s a certain team in Tempe that’s playing a little bit better than them right now.