Photo by: Rob Moseley/GoDucks.com
Homecoming Begins For Hebard
11/05/18 | Women's Basketball, @GoDucksMoseley
Oregon's star power forward will open her junior year with the Ducks in her hometown of Fairbanks, Alaska, on Tuesday.
FAIRBANKS, Alaska — The flight to Fairbanks had not yet boarded, and already Ruthy Hebard was being recognized.
The No. 3 Oregon women's basketball team had a layover in Seattle on Sunday, en route to the Ducks' 2018-19 season opener. They were on the way to play Tuesday at Division-II Alaska-Fairbanks, in the hometown of their star post player, Hebard.
As the reigning national power forward of the year, spending a few hours in the home town of a Pac-12 rival, Hebard might have drawn attention for her abilities on the basketball court. It wasn't necessarily expected that so many people — a dozen? perhaps more? — boarding the flight to Fairbanks, a town of only 30,000, would recognize their hometown kid.
But that sort of reception was exactly the reason UO coach Kelly Graves scheduled the game.
The Ducks, coming off back-to-back Elite Eight appearances, have Final Four aspirations. They want to beef up their schedule as much as possible, to support their case for prominent postseason seeding. There was little reason to play a game — a counting game at that, rather than an exhibition — against a D-II school. Little reason, other than the obvious.
"Ruthy's really important to our program," Graves said last week before the Ducks left Eugene. "So I thought it was really important to get her back home."
It took some doing. This isn't like Bay Area native Sabrina Ionescu being able to play at Cal or Stanford, or Oti Gildon going home to Spokane for last year's NCAA Tournament. But in just two short years at Oregon, Hebard had earned the right to experience a triumphant homecoming.
She left Fairbanks in 2016 as a heralded but raw prospect, her immediate future so uncertain the Ducks considered redshirting her. Hebard ended up playing as a true freshman, and made that talk of a redshirt laughable in hindsight, when she led Oregon in scoring and rebounding. Then, as a sophomore last season, Hebard became a two-time all-Pac-12 player and an honorable mention all-American, and winner of the Katrina McLain Award as the nation's best power forward.
Yeah, a lot has happened since Hebard left Fairbanks. There's a lot to celebrate as she returns this week.
"I never pictured myself as talented or anything, but I'm really happy I picked this school, and that they shaped me into the girl I am, with my teammates," Hebard said. "It's going to be great to show everyone how I got here, and who's around me that pushes me."
Her modesty is just one element of the innocent charm that makes Hebard's success on the court all the more enjoyable to watch. It's nice to see nice things happen to nice people. And Hebard is all of that.
As she turns the corner from underclassman to upperclassman this fall, more good things are to come.
"From her freshman year, when deciding whether she should redshirt or not, to being the best power forward in the country last year, she just continues to grow every day as a player, on and off the court," Hebard's friend, classmate and fellow preseason all-America candidate Ionescu said. "She learns about her body, she learns how strong she is, and she continues just to learn the game. So I'm really excited to see where she's going to go this year, and how much she's going to jump from where she was last year."
Is it possible Hebard can stay on the same trajectory she's been on the last two years? If so, look out.
To be clear, there was never any doubt about her potential. After all, this was a top-40 recruit nationally in the class of 2016, a player the Ducks so valued, associate head coach Mark Campbell left the Ducks in the middle of a 2014 conference road trip to Washington, and missed a game in Pullman for the sake of a recruiting visit.
"That's my first time in 11 years at the Division-I level that I missed a game," Campbell said. "And it was for Ruthy."
At that point, Campbell said, "we knew she had a unique athletic ability, hand-eye coordination — the things that have come together, we knew she had that potential."
They just didn't know how quickly Hebard would harness it.
"I don't think anybody realized she'd be this good so soon; we'd be lying to you," Graves said. "But there was potential there right from the start."
Indeed, Hebard was an all-conference player as a freshman, averaging 14.9 points and 8.5 rebounds per game. Her defense remains an area the coaching staff has targeted for improvement, but who could forget her blocked shot to clinch Oregon's first-round NCAA Tournament win over Temple in 2017?
"Credit her for her work ethic, and being coachable," Campbell said. "She had the stuff; there's just not that many 6-4, big, strong, athletic post players with hands like that. But credit her for putting it all together as quickly as she did."
Herbard's work ethic continues to pay off. Quickly, opponents came to respect her ability to score with her right hand, and tried to take that away as Hebard transitioned into her sophomore season. Quickly, she adapted.
"She's added a nice counter move," Campbell said. And, he added, in a nod to the direction basketball is heading, with offenses spreading the floor, Hebard is picking up "a beautiful three-point shot" in practice.
Ionescu said that long range jumper could be an added threat for Hebard — if only Graves would call plays for it. But when you are as deadly as Hebard is from inside, where she made 33 straight field-goal attempts over a three-game stretch last spring, there's a tendency to stick with what's working.
Ionescu is as decorated a player as there is for her age group, in terms of international experience with Team USA. She's played with all the best players across the country around her age. And she considers Hebard a contemporary in that regard.
"She fits in with all those top players I've played with," Ionescu said. "Her competitiveness, her will to win — just everything. She's coming around really well."
On Tuesday night in Fairbanks, Hebard's hometown will get a chance to see just how far she's come, with this team and this coaching staff.
"I can't wait to show people who I get to surround myself with now in college," she said.
To think, this was a player the Ducks once considered redshirting …
"She decided to play it out," Graves said. "And thank goodness she did. Thank goodness."
The No. 3 Oregon women's basketball team had a layover in Seattle on Sunday, en route to the Ducks' 2018-19 season opener. They were on the way to play Tuesday at Division-II Alaska-Fairbanks, in the hometown of their star post player, Hebard.
As the reigning national power forward of the year, spending a few hours in the home town of a Pac-12 rival, Hebard might have drawn attention for her abilities on the basketball court. It wasn't necessarily expected that so many people — a dozen? perhaps more? — boarding the flight to Fairbanks, a town of only 30,000, would recognize their hometown kid.
But that sort of reception was exactly the reason UO coach Kelly Graves scheduled the game.
The Ducks, coming off back-to-back Elite Eight appearances, have Final Four aspirations. They want to beef up their schedule as much as possible, to support their case for prominent postseason seeding. There was little reason to play a game — a counting game at that, rather than an exhibition — against a D-II school. Little reason, other than the obvious.
"Ruthy's really important to our program," Graves said last week before the Ducks left Eugene. "So I thought it was really important to get her back home."
With the season opener at @AlaskaNanooks a day away, @GoDucksMoseley breaks down the Ducks' prep day in Fairbanks. #QuackMinute #GoDucks pic.twitter.com/M7qVEzHiSn
— Oregon Women's Basketball (@OregonWBB) November 6, 2018
It took some doing. This isn't like Bay Area native Sabrina Ionescu being able to play at Cal or Stanford, or Oti Gildon going home to Spokane for last year's NCAA Tournament. But in just two short years at Oregon, Hebard had earned the right to experience a triumphant homecoming.
She left Fairbanks in 2016 as a heralded but raw prospect, her immediate future so uncertain the Ducks considered redshirting her. Hebard ended up playing as a true freshman, and made that talk of a redshirt laughable in hindsight, when she led Oregon in scoring and rebounding. Then, as a sophomore last season, Hebard became a two-time all-Pac-12 player and an honorable mention all-American, and winner of the Katrina McLain Award as the nation's best power forward.
Yeah, a lot has happened since Hebard left Fairbanks. There's a lot to celebrate as she returns this week.
"I never pictured myself as talented or anything, but I'm really happy I picked this school, and that they shaped me into the girl I am, with my teammates," Hebard said. "It's going to be great to show everyone how I got here, and who's around me that pushes me."
Her modesty is just one element of the innocent charm that makes Hebard's success on the court all the more enjoyable to watch. It's nice to see nice things happen to nice people. And Hebard is all of that.
As she turns the corner from underclassman to upperclassman this fall, more good things are to come.
"From her freshman year, when deciding whether she should redshirt or not, to being the best power forward in the country last year, she just continues to grow every day as a player, on and off the court," Hebard's friend, classmate and fellow preseason all-America candidate Ionescu said. "She learns about her body, she learns how strong she is, and she continues just to learn the game. So I'm really excited to see where she's going to go this year, and how much she's going to jump from where she was last year."
Is it possible Hebard can stay on the same trajectory she's been on the last two years? If so, look out.
To be clear, there was never any doubt about her potential. After all, this was a top-40 recruit nationally in the class of 2016, a player the Ducks so valued, associate head coach Mark Campbell left the Ducks in the middle of a 2014 conference road trip to Washington, and missed a game in Pullman for the sake of a recruiting visit.
"That's my first time in 11 years at the Division-I level that I missed a game," Campbell said. "And it was for Ruthy."
At that point, Campbell said, "we knew she had a unique athletic ability, hand-eye coordination — the things that have come together, we knew she had that potential."
They just didn't know how quickly Hebard would harness it.
"I don't think anybody realized she'd be this good so soon; we'd be lying to you," Graves said. "But there was potential there right from the start."
Indeed, Hebard was an all-conference player as a freshman, averaging 14.9 points and 8.5 rebounds per game. Her defense remains an area the coaching staff has targeted for improvement, but who could forget her blocked shot to clinch Oregon's first-round NCAA Tournament win over Temple in 2017?
"Credit her for her work ethic, and being coachable," Campbell said. "She had the stuff; there's just not that many 6-4, big, strong, athletic post players with hands like that. But credit her for putting it all together as quickly as she did."
Herbard's work ethic continues to pay off. Quickly, opponents came to respect her ability to score with her right hand, and tried to take that away as Hebard transitioned into her sophomore season. Quickly, she adapted.
"She's added a nice counter move," Campbell said. And, he added, in a nod to the direction basketball is heading, with offenses spreading the floor, Hebard is picking up "a beautiful three-point shot" in practice.
Ionescu said that long range jumper could be an added threat for Hebard — if only Graves would call plays for it. But when you are as deadly as Hebard is from inside, where she made 33 straight field-goal attempts over a three-game stretch last spring, there's a tendency to stick with what's working.
Ionescu is as decorated a player as there is for her age group, in terms of international experience with Team USA. She's played with all the best players across the country around her age. And she considers Hebard a contemporary in that regard.
"She fits in with all those top players I've played with," Ionescu said. "Her competitiveness, her will to win — just everything. She's coming around really well."
On Tuesday night in Fairbanks, Hebard's hometown will get a chance to see just how far she's come, with this team and this coaching staff.
"I can't wait to show people who I get to surround myself with now in college," she said.
To think, this was a player the Ducks once considered redshirting …
"She decided to play it out," Graves said. "And thank goodness she did. Thank goodness."
Players Mentioned
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