Throughout the season I heard many comments with regard to Oregon's offense, that they were missing shots they made last year, that they weren't as explosive, blah blah blah. In truth Oregon had an offense comparable to those of the best teams in the country, ranking #6 in Division 1 according to stats guru Ken Pomeroy. It was their defense that stunk. If Ernie Kent can somehow equal that offensive output next year and improve their D, Oregon would be an elite team. However, if Kent couldn't do it with last year's experienced lineup then its doubtful he will be able to do it with an almost entirely new starting 5. Oregon is looking at a tough year ahead, and probably looking at a new coach after next season.
Oregon St. [07-08: 10th, 6-25 (0-18)]
Key Returners: Roeland Schaftenaar (48.4 eFG%, 4.1 RPG, .6 APG)
Key Losses: I would say Marcel Jones, but he was pretty bad. I would also say CJ Giles, but he was dismissed earlier in the year.
Key Additions: Eshaunte Jones (Rivals: 3/5, #31 SG, #121 Overall) has a legitimate shot at becoming OSU's best palyer.
The future is bleak for Oregon St. fans. After a season in which the team saw its head coach get fired, had one of its better players dismissed (C.J. Giles), and experienced the worst Pac 10 record in history there is still not much to look forward to. New Coach Craig Robinson was able to engineer a turnaround at Brown in his two years there, but the Pac 10 is about as far removed as you can get from the Ivy League.
OSU suffers from an overall lack of talent. In fact, no Beaver ranks in the top 500 players in the country in eFG%. The 6'11'' Roeland Schaftenaar, who averaged about 19.2 minutes per game, actually leads all players in effective shooting percentage. No immediate solutions are incoming either, as 3 star Eshaunte Jones is the best in the two man class. It will be very difficult to effectively execute even Robinson's preferred Princeton offense with the current crop of players.
Who knows, maybe Oregon St. will be this year's Washington St., but I honestly doubt it. It is still probable that even moderate success is at least two years away, but at least OSU has begun the process of rebuilding. Besides, the Beavers cannot possibly be any worse than they were this year.
Stanford [07-08: 2nd, 28-8 (13-5)]
Key Returners: Mitch Johnson (50.8 eFG%, 4.3 RPG, 5.2 APG), Lawrence Hill (47.1 eFG%, 4.8 RPG, 1.1 APG).
Key Losses: Brook Lopez (46.8 eFG%, 8.2 RPG, 1.4 APG), Robin Lopez (53.6 eFG%, 5.7 RPG, .6 APG), Taj Finger (55.9 eFG%, 4.4 RPG, .5 APG).
Key Additions: Jeremy Green (Rivals: 4/5, #17 SG, #75 overall)
Believe it or not, if Stanford wants to win games next year they will need to rely on their guards. Mitch Johnson, Anthony Goods, and Kenny Brown will all have to step up in a big way as the Cardinal's front court will be severely depleted with the loss of the Lopez twins to the draft and senior Taj Finger to graduation. In other words, Stanford may be in for a long season.
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