What a whirlwind of an offseason it’s been for the Oregon Ducks men’s basketball program.
It began with the Ducks losing nine players to the transfer portal, including stars Jackson Shelstad and Kwame Evans Jr., and Nate Bittle exhausted his eligibility. With only one returning player under scholarship and three unproven freshmen coming in, it was fair to question how coach Dana Altman could fill out the roster enough to compete after his worst season in Eugene.
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Yet, here we are. Altman managed to wrangle in eight transfers from the portal, giving the Ducks a good blend of size and shooting. Now, not only is Oregon expected to be better than their 12-20 finish last season, but they could wind up back in the NCAA Tournament.
ESPN’s Joe Lunardi released his latest NCAA Tournament bracket projections after the tournament was expanded to include 76 teams. Among the teams benefiting from the expansion are the Ducks. Lunardi’s projections have Oregon facing off against LSU in a play-in game ahead of the first round for a No. 11 seed. The winner would advance into the Midwest bracket and take on No. 6 seed Texas Tech in Minneapolis.
No. 3 seed Louisville is also on the same side of the bracket, setting up a potential matchup against Shelstad if the Ducks don’t play the Cardinals in the Players Era in November.
If Lunardi’s projections were to come true, Oregon would be one of 12 teams from the Big Ten to take part in the tournament. Only the SEC (13) had more teams in the projected field.
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Oregon put together the No. 20 recruiting class ahead of the 2026 season, per 247 Sports, when factoring in high school and transfer portal recruiting. Four-star forward Tajh Ariza, son of former NBA veteran Trevor Ariza, is the most notable name in Oregon’s freshman class, while Arizona transfer forward Dwayne Aristode headlines the Ducks’ transfer class.
Coming off a disastrous season and moving forward with nearly an entirely new roster speaks to the quality of scouting and recruiting Altman did to reload. The Ducks added plenty of size and athleticism at every position, giving Altman the ability to be creative with different lineups on the floor in any given situation.
The Ducks will be tested early on in the season at the Players Era in Las Vegas, but Altman has a habit of making his teams better the closer they get to March. There is still a lot for the Ducks to figure out on the floor this season, and it will be quite a task for Altman to lead them back to the tournament, but it’s certainly not impossible.
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This article originally appeared on Ducks Wire: ESPN projects Oregon men’s basketball to make expanded NCAA Tournament
