Energy High As Oregon Men Hold First Workout In Las Vegas
by Rob Moseley
Editor, GoDucks.com
LAS VEGAS — Oregon's shooters will have no excuses Thursday night, UO assistant coach Kevin McKenna joked with them.
The Ducks held a brief shootaround Wednesday morning at the MGM Grand's Garden Arena, site of this week's Pac-12 men's basketball tournament. With the floor brightly lit but the upper reaches of the arena kept dark, the baskets appear to shooters as if bathed in a spotlight.
"How can you miss?" said McKenna, who worked out Oregon's guards during the half-hour session Wednesday morning. One of the Ducks' best shooters, Jalil Abdul-Bassit, didn't disagree: "It's a shooters arena," he said.
That was the kind of observation the Ducks wanted to make Wednesday, their only workout on the arena floor prior to their tournament quarterfinal game Thursday night. Oregon scheduled a more robust practice at a local high school later in the day, then planned to be back at MGM Grand later Wednesday to watch Oregon State face Colorado, the winner of which will face the Ducks on Thursday (6:10 p.m. PT, Pac-12 Networks).
Only four members of the UO roster were on hand for last season's conference tournament, also at MGM Grand. So another function Wednesday was to get the "wow" factor out of the way.
McKenna said newcomers such as Dillon Brooks were indeed a bit awestruck, but the UO assistant described that as a positive. "Our guys are excited about playing," he said.
"The lights are so bright," Abdul-Bassit said after Wednesday morning's shootaround. "It's definitely exciting; being in the tournament by itself is exciting. Just trying to maintain focus."
UO coach Dana Altman set a focused, high-energy tone Wednesday morning. With forwards working at one end and guards at the other, Altman stood at midcourt shouting encouragement and instruction to his team.
"Let's go, let's go," Altman said. "Everything's game-like, men, game-like."
As McKenna put guards through scenarios at one end, Mike Mennenga drilled the forwards. The big men were reviewing basic post moves, but Mennenga ramped up the intensity by repeatedly counting down an imagined shot clock.
The session ended with free throws, an area in which the Ducks have excelled all season. Oregon's conference-leading free-throw conversion rate of .754 is 33 points better than second-place Stanford; Cook, Brooks and Abdul-Bassit each made two-of-two from the line in the final 30 seconds of the Ducks' three-point win at OSU in last week's regular-season finale.
"Finish 'em out, finish 'em out," Altman shouted as the Ducks practiced free throws Wednesday. "You get that lead and then you finish 'em out at the line."
Once the workout ended, Oregon gathered its things to head to practice. McKenna said that would be another relatively light workout, since the Ducks don't yet know their opponent Thursday night.
McKenna said coaches would remind players of some basics about the playing styles of the Beavers and Buffaloes, but wouldn't get into much personnel-wise. He handled the pre-tournament scout of Colorado, as the staff delegated assignments.
Thursday's pre-game shootaround will be more extensive than usual, since by then coaches will know which opponent's scouting report to review with players in depth. "We're ready to give it to them," McKenna said. "But we've got to wait."
"The thing is, we played both of them recently," McKenna added. "It's not like we played them mid-January. We've got some recent history, and then we'll be able to see them play tonight. They'll get refocused then."
Abdul-Bassit said focus shouldn't be a problem, after the Ducks read and heard some backlash to Monday's announcement that Altman was named Pac-12 coach of the year, and Joseph Young was player of the year. They were selected by conference coaches over candidates from Pac-12 regular-season champ Arizona.
"I think we're still motivated," Abdul-Bassit said. "I think a lot of people are still doubting us. They don't think we should have got the awards we got, so I think everybody's motivated."
