Dana Altman says Oregon basketball is not good enough, must make changes

Oregon was a No. 1 seed in the NIT after North Carolina opted out, and the Ducks’ season came to an end against Wisconsin in the quarterfinals. It was the second straight year Oregon missed out on the NCAA Tournament, and Dana Altman provided an honest assessment of the program’s standing.

The Ducks finished the year 21-15 overall and 15-6 in Pac-12 play. That led them to their second straight NIT after making the NCAA Tournament in 2019 and 2021. But it’s still not where Altman wants the program to be, and he made it clear anything’s on the table as he considers changes.

“We’re going to evaluate all the guys individually,” Altman said in his postgame press conference. “Going to have guys who want to be here. We’ve got to make some changes. We’re not good enough. Either we’re not coaching good enough, the players aren’t good enough. We’re just not good enough. We’ve got to get better. If that means changing personnel, if that means getting in the gym more. But we’re not good enough. I’ve got to start with me. I’m not good enough. And then, we go right down the list. … We’re going to get better.

“I’ve got to do a better job. We’re going to get after players. If they’re going to stay here, they’re going to work their ass off. If they don’t, then we’ve got to find somebody who will. We’ve got too good a situation here. We’ve got facilities, we’ve got a lot of support staff … we give these guys every advantage. They’ve got to take advantage of it. Again, that goes in the evaluation. We’ll make some changes.”

Oregon beat UC Irvine in the first round of the NIT and defeated UCF in the second. That’s when the Ducks ran into Wisconsin, where they had trouble on the glass. The Badgers out-rebounded Oregon 44-35 and took eight more shots en route to the 61-58 victory. Wisconsin pulled down 14 offensive rebounds and turned those into nine second-chance points.

Now, Oregon is starting its offseason, and the Ducks are already set to lose one player to the transfer portal as Tyrone Williams expressed his intentions to enter, according to The Oregonian. Williams appeared in 9.6 minutes per game through 23 appearances, averaging 2.5 points and 2.0 rebonds per contest.

Based on Altman’s comments, that might not be the last change that takes place in Eugene.