NCAA Basketball: Biggest power conference disappointments so far in 2021-22

Pac-12: Oregon

Oregon was ranked No. 13 in the Preseason AP Top 25 and picked to finish second in the Pac-12 preseason media poll. They are currently 4-4 and ranked No. 153 in the NET putting them eighth among Pac-12 teams. The Ducks might be the single most disappointing team in all of college basketball through the first month of the season.

Dana Altman has had some teams that struggled early in the season only to find their groove come March, most memorably the 2018-19 squad that won the Pac-12 Tournament to make it into the NCAA Tournament as a 12 seed where they proceeded to make the Sweet Sixteen. This feels different, though.

The Ducks are 4-4 for the first time since 2009, the season before Altman took over as head coach. Those four losses include a 32-point beatdown by BYU, a 12-point loss to Saint Mary’s, a 29-point beatdown by Houston, and a home loss to an Arizona State team that scored 29 points in its previous game.

The struggle of Oregon’s transfers has been noticeable, especially considering Altman’s prior success with transfers. Rutgers transfer G Jacob Young is third on the team in scoring with 9.7 PPG, but that number has dropped from 14.1 PPG last season. Quincy Guerrier averaged 13.7 PPG and 8.4 RPG on a Syracuse team that made the Sweet Sixteen last season.

Through his first nine games with Oregon, he ranks seventh on the team in scoring with 6.1 PPG on 37.5% shooting from the field. Lastly, Oklahoma transfer G De’Vion Harmon has experienced a 4.0 PPG drop from last season as well as a sharp drop in eFG% as well as an increase in turnover rate.

Counting out a Dana Altman-coached Oregon team in December is generally inadvisable, but this year’s team has much deeper issues than the occasional early-season hiccup.