PAC-12 Basketball: Preseason power rankings for 2020-21 season
By Andy Patton
. Ducks . 2. team. 515. .
It’s hard to understate how big of a loss Payton Pritchard is to this Oregon squad. Pritchard averaged over 20 points per game as a senior and was one of the most productive players in the country.
Add in the losses of productive role players Anthony Mathis and Shakur Juiston and you have a team that has a lot of replenishing to do if they want to stay atop the conference in 2020-2021.
The team is bringing in Jalen Terry, the No. 73 ranked recruit in the country, to help handle the point guard duties in Pritchard’s absence. Terry’s ability to play right away will be a big factor for this team, who will be relying a lot on their guard play to keep them afloat.
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Will Richardson and Chris Duarte will be the big contributors on the wing, and if Terry can help facilitate the offense it will allow them to play off the ball, like they did last year, which is great news for Dana Altman and company.
In the frontcourt, all eyes are on sophomore N’Faly Dante. Dante was supposed to be the next big thing down in Eugene, but injuries limited him to just 12 games as a true freshman, and he never really got going. If he can show out in Year 2, he’ll not only be a potential lottery pick in the NBA draft, but he could help lead this team to an easy top finish in the PAC-12 and a potential top-three seed in the NCAA tournament.
If not, this team could have a hard time avoiding the middle of the pack in the conference, and the dreaded 7-10 seed range in March.