Oregon Basketball: UNC loss shows the need for N’Faly Dante
Oregon Basketball had some tough competition in the Battle 4 Atlantis. It would’ve been nice for N’Faly Dante to be able to play for them this week.
There was some good news and some bad news for Oregon Basketball during the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament. The bad news is that they went 1-2 after falling to both Gonzaga and North Carolina. However, it seems that they’ll officially have reinforcements with the news that five-star center N’Faly Dante has been declared eligible to play immediately.
He originally was set to be out the first nine games of the season due to “clearance issues”, meaning that Dante’s debut was planned for later. And although the news came hours before the Gonzaga contest, the coaching staff decided to hold him out rather than disrupt the rotation. But after observing the Ducks in the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament, it’s clear that Dante will be a crucial piece for the team going forward.
It’s not that the frontcourt group of players has been bad by any means but it’s clear that there are limitations. Only senior Shakur Juiston is a factor in the team’s offensive gameplan, while none of them are capable of spreading the floor. Freshman CJ Walker and Chandler Lawson are still raw and tend to score off of transition/second-chance opportunities, while sophomore center Francis Okoro isn’t much of a post threat. They also struggle as a group both rebounding and defensively against better big men, allowing huge games from Gonzaga’s Filip Petrusev (22 points and 15 rebounds) and Armando Bacot (23 points, 12 rebounds and six blocks).
The hope is that Dante‘s presence will help with not only the opposing top big man during games but also taking some pressure off of guard Payton Pritchard. The senior leader point guard had to expend a ton of energy making plays for the frontcourt players, setting them up via penetration into the paint. If Dante can be a threat offensively on his own, there should be more room for the Duck perimeter players to operate.
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With a record of 6-2 and wins over Memphis, Houston and Seton Hall, Oregon Basketball has shown that they’re a Final Four contender already. Bringing Dante into the fold should only make Duck fans even more excited for how this special this season can be. But if there was any question of how needed the 6’11 newcomer is for the team, this past couple of games has shown the value of Dante.