Oregon men’s and women’s basketball are both favorites to win the Pac-12. One will rely on veterans, the other will use young stars.
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HEADLINE LIGHT
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HEADLINE LIGHT Duck Season 2018
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Erin Boley
HAS THE MAKING OF AN ELITE PLAYER BY SIERRA WEBSTER
Ducks basketball forward Erin Boley (21) is a multidimensional player, able to play outside the three-point perimeter and transition to the post for under-the-basket shot opportunities. (DEVIN ROUX)
Since she was 4 years old, Oregon women’s basketball’s Erin Boley played basketball every winter; and in the summer, she would trade her basketball shoes for cleats and take the softball field. Until eighth grade, when she won a fastpitch national world series. Driving back from the tournament, Boley, from the backseat of her dad’s truck, said she was done with softball and that from then on she would focus on basketball year-round. “I looked a little bit ahead and was like, ‘What I really want to do long-term is play basketball in college,’” she said. During her freshman season with Notre Dame, she played every game — including the Fighting Irish’s 2017 Elite Eight run — and averaged 6.5 points and 2.8 rebounds. However, following a transfer from Notre Dame, the redshirt sophomore sat out her first season from basketball since she started playing. The forward will return to competition this season, and given her size at 6-foot-2 and her reputation as an elite 3-point shooter, Boley’s strength is in her versatility. “She’s a fun kind of player to coach because it allows me to be creative,” head coach Kelly Graves said. For the Ducks, she will fill the place on the starting line of 3-point star and hometown favorite Lexi Bando. With five inches on Bando, Boley can play both outside the three-point perimeter, but also has the size to transition to the
post for under-the-basket shot opportunities. “Depending on who’s guarding her, they can do different things with her,” Boley’s father, Scott said. “Hopefully, that will add another dimension to allow them to take a step further, possibly make a Final Four.” Last season, the Ducks fell to Boley’s former team in the Elite Eight. Boley, who couldn’t travel with the team, watched the Ducks’ downfall on television. The loss has fueled her hopes to drive the Ducks to the Final Four. “It just makes me even more excited for the next time we’ll be able to play [Notre Dame],” Boley said. Boley called her redshirt season a “development year,” in which she trained with the Ducks and focused on areas to improve without the added pressure to compete in games, while also studying up on the Duck’s established starting line. “All last year, I really sat down and took the time to watch them play and . . . see how I fit in with them,” Boley said. “I know what I wanted to bring to the team and how I wanted to fit in. I know from watching what all of them can do and they like to do and don’t like to do.” Boley has the added experience of representing the United States in the FIBA 3x3 World Cup with fellow Ducks senior Oti Gildon and juniors Sabrina Ionescu and Ruthy Hebard. The all-Oregon squad took the championship, and Boley was able to get back into competition before returning to NCAA play.
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A GOLD MEDAL SENIOR BY MAGGIE VANONI
Maite Cazorla doesn’t have a national title. She hasn’t won any tournament MVP honors nor been an All-American. Yet, she has five gold medals. Cazorla, a guard from Las Palmas, Spain, has taken what she’s learned from playing six years with the Spain National Team, including winning some serious hardware, to create an impactful Oregon career. “It’s been fun to be able to watch her and learn from her,” Sabrina Ionescu, Oregon’s sophomore guard said. “I think everyone is really blessed to be able to be led by such a great point guard.” When she was just 12 years old, Cazorla got the call of a lifetime. The Spanish National team had been watching her play and extended an invite for her to join that year’s youth program. She won her first gold medal with the program three years later as a 15-year-old on the U16 team. “I’m blessed to have the opportunity to play with a year older,” Cazorla said. “A lot of people want to be in my shoes to be able to play with your own age. So, imagining the ability to play with a year older and that’s just amazing.” For the next five years, Cazorla spent about a month every summer with the National team, practicing, playing in games and traveling the globe. She would help the team to four consecutive FIBA World Championship titles in those years. “Getting able to play with the best players in Spain and playing against the best players from all over the country, it’s an amazing experience,” she said. Of all the shiny hardware hanging up in her room back home, the one medal that stands out the most to her is not
gold, but silver. In the summer of 2014, on Spain’s U17 team, Cazorla once again helped the team reach the FIBA World Championships. Their opponent? Team USA, featuring a 14-year-old Sabrina Ionescu. While Team USA would defeat Spain 77-75 for the gold medal, Cazorla and Ionescu would reunite two years later in Eugene, Oregon — this time on the same team as Oregon Ducks. “It was a really close game and a game that is going to be unforgettable,” Cazorla said. “If you watch the game, it was a pretty intense game. So, we still talk shit to each other and it’s just fun.” Now, at 21 years old, Cazorla has outgrown the youth national team, but her aspirations to once play for the country’s senior, professional team has only continued to grow. “I started playing when I was 6 or 7 years old,” Cazorla said. “When I was 14, I was like, ‘I want to get to the highest level and play for Spain and go to the Olympics one day.’ So, hopefully, one day I’ll be able to.” Playing with the Spanish team brought many oncein-a-lifetime opportunities and taught Cazorla life-long lessons, that she has transferred over to her career as a Duck. Sitting at second on Oregon’s All-Time assists record list, Cazorla has already begun to leave a gold-medal worthy impact. “Maite is our most important player,” Oregon head coach Kelly Graves said. “She’s our best defender. She’s one of our smartest players and is going to be a great pro. … That’s just kind of who she is. She’s a winner.”
As a point guard on the Spanish National Team, Maite Cazorla (5) helped the team to four additional FIBA World Championship titles, averaging 6.0 points, 1.74 rebounds and 2.48 assists per game during championship appearances. In Oregon, Cazorla sits at second on the All-Time assists record list. (Sarah Northrop)
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TWO TEAMS. TWO FAVORITES. Oregon Ducks center Bol Bol (1) dunks the ball during the exhibition game against Western Oregon University on Nov. 1, 2018. Listed as 7-foot-2, 235 pounds, he is the highest ranked player Oregon has ever signed. (DEVIN ROUX)
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SAME GOAL.
BY AUGUST HOWELL After missing the NCAA Tournament for the fi rst time in five seasons last year, the Oregon men’s basketball team experienced a lot of player turnover. e Ducks lost three of their top scorers, but signed the third-highest recruiting class in the nation, according to 247Sports.com, headlined by two five-stars, Bol Bol and Louis King. is season features a mix of returners and high profi le recruits, whereas last season, Payton Pritchard was the only returner. But even most of those experienced players who aren’t freshmen are still underclassmen. With so many new faces, including six freshman and one graduate transfer, trying to get a team to gel is a tough task for any team. Oregon was picked as the favorite to win the Pac12 this season, and it will need contributions from the younger players right away if it is going to reclaim the conference title. Much of the spotlight will be on Bol, the top-ranked center in the class of 2018. Bol is most likely a one-and-done and potential lottery pick in the 2019 NBA draft. Listed as 7-foot-2, 235 pounds, he is the highest ranked player Oregon has ever signed. ough his height is intimidating, Bol doesn’t have a ton of muscle to go down low in the post on every possession. Fortunately, he can shoot from the perimeter as well. He shot 48.9 percent from three at the Nike EYBL circuit in the summer. “He’s going to have to learn to play in a different position,” head coach Dana Altman said. “In high school he could stand straight up and down and not get
bumped around.” Pritchard is excited to see what the team can accomplish with Bol on the court. Because Bol draws so much attention on both ends of the court, it creates more opportunities for multiple shooters to get open. “Everyone knows how talented Bol is,” Pritchard said. “He’s just going to make my job easier.” When King returns to the lineup after recovering from his knee injury, Oregon will have an solid rotation of bigs. e Ducks struggled defensively last year, despite sophomore Kenny Wooten being the Pac12’s leading shotblocker. With Bol, Wooten, and a healthy King, the team defense could change dramatically. “Kenny’s a freak at blocking shots,” Victor Bailey Jr. said. “And now Bol, all he has to do is put his hands up and he’s going to get some blocks on accident.” Bol and fellow center Francis Okoro were integral to the teams win against Western Oregon on Nov. 1. At 6-foot-9, 235 pounds, Okoro was physical in the post. e freshman scored 16 points in 15 minutes against the Wolves, and showed he can be a contributor on defense as well as offense. “Francis did a great job getting offensive rebounds and putbacks,” Altman said. “I thought he did a tremendous job and gave us a big lift.” Ranked No. 13 in the nation to start the season, the Ducks will need to bring a physical brand of basketball from the younger players if they want to go back to the NCAA Tournament.
BY SHAWN MEDOW Oregon women’s basketball has been an underdog that has exceeded its expectations in the past several seasons. is season will be different. e Ducks head into the 2018-19 season as the No. 3 team in the nation and Pac-12 favorites with Final Four expectations after making the Elite Eight in back-to-back seasons. With Oregon’s young core now possessing experience at the highest level, the team is ready to meet its expectations this season. “It really does feel like a veteran team,” said junior guard and last year’s national point guard of the year Sabrina Ionescu. “Coming back, I think we understand our goals and what it takes to get to where we want to be, and I think it’s showing in practice. e level of competition and how dialed in we are is defi nitely where we need to be.” Oregon lost several players to transfer but only one starter to graduation, Lexi Bando. en, freshman Nyara Sabally — sophomore Satou Sabally’s younger sister — was injured playing for the German youth national team in the summer, meaning the Ducks have just nine healthy players on the roster. e Ducks were eliminated in the NCAA Tournament last year by eventual national champions Notre Dame, which had only seven
players play in more than 30 games last year. “ at’s a little motivation to prove that we can do it as well,” junior forward Ruthy Hebard said. “Mental toughness and physical toughness this year is going to be a big thing.” Oregon will have to adjust to life with a small roster. at’ll mean an emphasis on fitness and staying healthy throughout the season. With players on the roster with plenty of experience on the big stage, Oregon can rely on the veterans. One freshman will play this season, Taylor Chavez, while redshirt sophomore Erin Boley, who transferred to Oregon from Baylor last year, will fi nally get her chance in a Duck uniform. Boley will most likely slide into the starting lineup for Bando while the other four starters add another year with each other on the court. For Ionescu, it’ll be a third season with senior Maite Cazorla in the backcourt. Cazorla and Oti Gildon are the only seniors on the team but with this Oregon women’s basketball team, just about everyone on the court is a leader. “It feels like we’ve got a group of collegiate professionals,” Graves said. “ ey’ve been through the wars so to speak and they understand what we want and what they need to do and what they want.”
Oregon Ducks forward Ruthy Hebard (24) gets past Central Michigan forward Tinara Moore (2) for a layup during the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA tournament on March 24, 2018. The Ducks were later eliminated in last year’s NCAA Tournament by Notre Dame, but to make a comeback, according to Hebard, “mental toughness and physical toughness this year is going to be a big thing.” (EMERALD ARCHIVES)
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OPPONENT PREVIEW: OREGON MEN’S BASKETBALL BY MAVERICK PALLACK | PHOTO BY DEVIN ROUX e Oregon men’s basketball schedule has the potential to be quite beneficial when it comes time for NCAA Tournament seeding. As the Pac-12 favorite, it is not out of the question that the Ducks win the conference tournament championship, which would earn an automatic bid to March Madness. However, good results in a strong schedule could result in an atlarge bid that escaped Oregon last season. e Ducks will play a total of five 2018 NCAA Tournament teams over the course of this season. Oregon hosts Texas Southern (Nov. 26), UCLA (Jan. 10) and Arizona (March 2). Its will travel to Houston (Dec. 1), Arizona (Jan. 17) and UCLA (Feb. 23). One wild card is Syracuse, who the Ducks could play in the 2K Empire Classic on Nov. 16. Other notable games are Dec. 21 at Baylor and an rare home and away series against Boise State, playing at home on Dec. 15 and in Boise on Dec. 29. In conference play, the Ducks will be tested early. After opening Jan. 5, hosting Oregon State, Oregon will remain at home to play No. 21 UCLA and USC. Last season, Oregon split against the Bruins but went 0-3 against USC. UCLA returns point guard Jaylen Hands (37.4 3PT%) and second leading scorer Kris Wilkes (13.7 PPG). ey also have added the nation’s No. 2 center, Moses Brown (Oregon’s Bol Bol was No. 1). e Bruins signed four 12
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four-star recruits in power forward Shareef O’Neal (Shaquille O’Neal’s son), small forward Jules Bernard, shooting guard David Singleton III and point guard Tyger Campbell. O’Neal however will sit out this season with a heart ailment. Following that three-game conference start at home, the Ducks travel to Arizona to take on the Wildcats Jan. 17 and the Sun Devils Jan. 19. Both Arizona schools are currently not in the top-25, but received votes in the Associated Press Poll. e Wildcats will defi nitely look different than in years’ past. No. 1 overall pick in the NBA draft Deandre Ayton and multi-year contributors Allonzo Trier, Dusan Ristic, Parker Jackson-Cartwright and Rawle Alkins are all gone. is leads to significant pressure on four-star recruits Brandon Williams and Devonaire Doutrive, transfer Justin Coleman and Belgian international recruit Omar ielemans. Following the Arizona trip, Oregon returns to Eugene to host No. 25 Washington. e Huskies return four seniors that will be featured heavily. Matisse ybulle, Dominic Green, David Crisp and Noah Dickerson (15.5 PPG, 8.4 RPG) are all trying to make their fi rst NCAA Tournament. Add in last season’s top-scorer Jaylen Nowell (16 PPG) and the four four-star recruits the Huskies signed, Washington should be in the top-3 of the Pac-12.
BY SHAWN MEDOW | PHOTO FROM EMERALD ARCHIVES e 2017-18 season was something special for Oregon women’s basketball. e Ducks won the Pac-12 regular season and tournament titles, made a run to the NCAA Tournament Elite Eight for the second consecutive season and had two players win individual national awards. is year, the Ducks have a target on their back. ey’re No. 3 in the nation and Pac-12 favorites. ey’re close to the top, and their rivals will want to bring them down. When Pac-12 play rolls around, Oregon will have played two ranked preseason opponents in No. 18 Syracuse and No. 6 Mississippi State. Syracuse will be a strong test for Oregon in just the second game of the season, but when 2017’s national champions, Mississippi State will be Oregon’s biggest challenge of nonconference play. Fortunately for the Ducks, both games are at Matthew Knight Arena. Oregon’s biggest conference opponent will be Stanford, who the Ducks beat in the Pac-12 Tournament championship game. Led by head coach Tara VanDerveer, the No. 7 Cardinal have been a force to reckon with in the past, including last year when the Ducks lost to Stanford in Eugene during the regular season. is year, Oregon will hit the road for Palo Alto for its only game against the Cardinal in the regular season. Losing Brittany McPhee to graduation is quite the loss
for the Cardinal, but the team is still full of talent and could be the biggest matchup in conference play for the Ducks. And Oregon State poses a threat yet again. e Beavers and Ducks will play back-to-back games in a home-and-home series during the middle of Pac-12 play. Last year, the teams split the series, winning on their home courts. is year, Oregon State comes into the season ranked No. 8 in the nation with the team desperate to break through the same gap as the Ducks last year with Elite Eight losses in the NCAA Tournament. One of the Pac-12 powerhouses of years’ past, UCLA, failed to make the top-25 in this year’s preseason poll. Losing Monique Billings and Jordan Canada has hindered the Bruins but they can’t be ignored this season, regardless of their rankings. e remaining ranked teams in the preseason poll are No. 24 California and No. 23 Arizona State, with the latter posing the most interesting threat. e Ducks play Arizona State twice, with the fi nal game of the regular season taking place in Tempe. With a big target on Oregon’s back, every game this season will bring the best out of their opponents. “We’re defi nitely not going to be underdogs in many games and we’re defi nitely not sneaking up on people this year,” junior guard Sabrina Ionescu said. “We’re going to come into every game the same way.”
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