13. Oregon (14-2)
New entrants into the Big Ten, this season wasn’t just about transitioning into a new league, Dana Altman wanted his Ducks to become a regular contender again. This program made it back to the Big Dance last season but had a few lame efforts in previous seasons. Their early play and 9-0 start indicated a team that could do serious damage in March, but recent weeks have dulled that momentum.
Still licking their wounds after last week’s 32-point home loss to Illinois, Oregon dug out of a halftime hole, salvaging an 83-79 home win against Maryland back last Sunday. Jackson Shelstad scored 23 points while Nate Bittle had 16 points and 6 rebounds in a nice bounce back effort for the team. The Ducks were in action again four days later, coming from behind again for a very solid 73-71 road victory at Ohio State. Shelstad again led the scoring with 24 points while Bittle was important with 21 points and 8 rebounds.
The defense was beyond abhorrent in that loss at Illinois, but every aspect for Oregon has taken a step forward this season and they did just enough to win two games in this last week. The Ducks beat two of the league’s more competitive teams and got their league record back up to 3-2 in the process. There’s plenty of work ahead, but this team’s now 3-0 on the road and have momentum again; let’s just see how they fare at Penn State on Sunday before a big one against Purdue next weekend.