NCAA Basketball: 10 best players from state of Oregon of last decade

2. Payton Pritchard – Oregon

A top 50 recruit back in 2016, Pritchard made his way to Oregon and left quite a legacy over the next four years with the Ducks. A 6’2 point guard from West Linn, he stayed in his home state and became an important weapon in Dana Altman’s program.

As a freshman, he helped lead Oregon to the Final Four, scoring 18 points in their opening round win over Iona and keying the offense. He had a career-high 13 assists in a win over Savannah State. As a junior, he led the Ducks to the Sweet Sixteen after winning the Pac-12 Tournament. His senior year is where the offense really clicked, as Pritchard averaged 20.5 points and 5.5 assists a game, emerging as one of the best point guards in the entire nation. The Ducks won the Pac-12 regular season title but the postseason was cancelled because of the pandemic.

For a senior year in which he led his conference in points and assists, Pritchard was a First Team All-American, Pac-12 Player of the Year, and was given the Bob Cousy Award as well. He played an important role in all four seasons, winning Tournament MVP for that conference crown as a junior. Pritchard really developed into one of the college game’s best players and has continued that success at the next level. He was drafted late in the first round by the Boston Celtics and played in the NBA Finals this past spring.