Dana Altman is instantly one of the most proven coaches in the Big Ten and I’m not sure the rest of the traditional Big Ten teams are ready for him & Oregon.
by Jordan Beckley
To celebrate the four former PAC-12 programs joining the new Big Ten, we are writing features for UCLA, USC, Oregon & Washington. Read about Danny Sprinkle & Washington here or Eric Musselman & USC here, and Mick Cronin & UCLA here.
Let’s start this Oregon feature by talking about how awesome the 2020-21 Iowa Hawkeye team was.
Do you remember that team?
It was the Luka Garza Naismith Award winner year. The Hawkeyes were a devastating offense averaging 83.7ppg (somehow only 5th in the country) and were 3rd in the country in offensive rating (117.5). Garza -who averaged 24.1ppg & 8.1rpg while shooting 44% from three – was the best offensive player in the country and was flanked by two guys who somehow were more lethal from distance in CJ Fredrick (47.4%) and Joe Wieskamp (46.2% on 5.1 attempts a game). Iowa was so good that a Freshman Keegan Murray was the ‘worst’ starter and his brother Kris couldn’t get minutes.
There are several big what ifs with what was Fran McCaffery’s best Iowa team. What if future Xavier great Jack Nunge could’ve finished the year? What if they ran more plays for Keegan? What if Tony Perkins got a little more of the Joe Toussaint minutes? What if they didn’t have to play Oregon in the 2nd round of March Madness?
The Ducks boatraced the Hawkeyes in a 95-80 game where defense forgot to show up. Oregon when faced with an unstoppable 6’11” monster in Garza trotted out their same small-ball 5. All of them measured at essentially 6’6″ tall. The result was predictable with the two time All-American dropping 36 points with 9 rebounds, but the final score was less predictable. Iowa couldn’t stay in front of the faster, more athletic Ducks as Oregon shot 62.5% from 2 with 44 points in the paint (Garza recorded 0 blocks by the way) and hit 11 threes at a 44% clip.
Dana Altman disrupted Iowa’s immaculate offense by simply not trying to stop them by matching up more traditionally size-wise in the frontcourt, but just to play their own game better. It was a jarring game to watch and one that Iowa fans hopefully have blocked from their memory.
The game also represents what Oregon & Dana Altman can do to the Big Ten. Nike HQ University is an innovative one that can disrupt the somewhat archaic Big Ten Conference.
The Big Ten is one of College Basketball’s proudest and best leagues, but it is almost certainly it’s least athletic or explosive offensively. It’s a league defined by coaching, defense, player development and often a traditional big.
Fundamentally, the introduction of four west coast teams in Oregon, USC, UCLA and Washington will bring some much needed diversity to the conference.
Iowa’s run and gun has always been an outlier. Fred Hoiberg & Nebraska have been challenging the status quo with more positionless basketball. Illinois & Brad Underwood have been experimenting with five out booty ball. Rutgers has been one of the worst examples of slow Big Ten basketball, but with two Top-5 recruits Steve Pikiell might be forced to concede some principles & structures for a more appealing (if less efficient) playstyle. And Oregon & Dana Altman will be a catalyst for breaking down the homogeneity of the Conference even further.
Dana Altman…He’s The New Guy?
Part of my own personal CBB blind spot is the west coast. Living on Eastern Time it’s hard to watch Oregon with 11pm Tipoffs. So, Dana Altman is a little bit of a mystery to me and even if he is the new guy to the Big Ten and casual east coast fans like me… Altman is anything but the new guy to CBB.
In fact, Dana Altman will enter the Big Ten as the longest tenured Head Coach in the conference. As we turn the calendar to 2024-25 season, Altman will be entering his 36th year as a Head Coach of D1 Basketball. It will be Altman’s 15th year at Oregon after stops at Creighton, Kansas State & Marshall.
For comparison, Tom Izzo has only been a Head Coach for 26 (turning 27) years (all of them at Michigan State). Matt Painter is entering year 20 at Purdue next season. Beyond that, Mick Cronin is the only one above the two decade mark as he gears up for year 22 still FOURTEEN years of coaching behind Altman.
So, Altman is simultaneously the new kid on the block and the elder statesmen.
It will be a fun new wrinkle for Altman who was a stabilizing force in the PAC-12 to be the disruptor in the Big Ten. He saw new head coaches come and go from all the best programs in the conference (Washington, Arizona, UCLA, USC, etc.) and was able to keep Oregon a steady threat.
Altman has been successful at each stop. He really made a name for himself in Omaha as Head Coach of Creighton from 1994-2010. He turned the Blue Jays into a Missouri Valley Conference power winning 9 combined regular season & tournament Titles in his 16 years. Creighton appeared in 8 NCAA Tournaments. The highlights of those tournaments include upending a Denny Crum coached Louisville team in 1999 and even a Billy Donovan Florida team with Udonis Haslem in 2002.
That 2002 upset of the Gators has one of the wildest finishes I’ve never seen as no.5 seed Florida blows a 4-point lead with 40 seconds left in Double OT without getting a shot up and turning the ball over multiple times before a Terrell Taylor game winner in his 28 point effort. That 2002 Creighton team featured perhaps Altman’s most famous player Kyle Korver who would go on to be a consensus 2nd Team All-American next season. That season made Korver the 51st overall pick in the 2003 NBA Draft. He would outplay play that draft position as a future All-Star (long-live the 2014-15 Budenholzer Hawks!) and enjoy a 17 year NBA career.
Altman would leave the Creighton job in 2010 and handing the keys to Greg McDermott. Which means Creighton has had two head coaches in the past 30 seasons.
Altman took over the Oregon job from Ernie Kent who had been decently successful in his decade in charge of the Ducks. Kent was responsible for half of the 10 March Madness appearances in school history and even made two Elite Eights. Sadly Kent lost both Elite Eight appearances in 2002 & 2007. Those teams featured pro players like Luke Ridnour, Fred Jackson & Luke Jackson in ’02 and Aaron Brooks in ’07.
Kent’s teams came close to the promised land of the Final Four but couldn’t quite get there. Oregon as a school hadn’t been to a Final Four since their lone National Title in 1939 when Howard Hobson’s Ducks beat Ohio State 46-33.
In reality, Oregon has never been much of a Basketball School. In many ways, Altman has legitimized them. Even if Altman’s Oregon teams aren’t consistently National threats they are a whole lot better than what the Ducks were.
Altman has been responsible for 8 of Oregon’s 14 total conference Championships (regular season or post-season). When Altman took over, the Ducks had gone to 10 total NCAA tournaments in 105 seasons. Oregon has gone to 8 Tourneys out of the 13 possible under Altman.
Altman’s teams have varied from good to great, but never dipping below 20 wins in any of his 14 seasons is incredibly impressive. Compare that to the success of Ernie Kent who still had less than 20 wins in 9 of his 12 seasons.
Atlman’s best stretch came in 2015-2017 when Oregon won back-to-back PAC-12 regular season titles. Those Ducks teams were units powered by NBA players like Jordan Bell, Chris Boucher, Tyler Dorsey, a Freshman Payton Pritchard and their best player… Dillon Brooks. An NBA pariah, Brooks was just as brash in College but was clearly good enough to back it up. He went back to back 1st Team All-PAC 12 including PAC12 POY in the 2016-17 season.
The Ducks won the PAC-12 Regular Season Championship in 2015-2016 over JaKob Poetl and Kyle Kuzma Utah and then won the Tournament Title crushing the Utes 88-59 in the Title game. The PAC12 Double was good enough for Altman to earn the school’s first ever no. 1 seed in March Madness. The Ducks would eliminate the Grayson Allen, Brandon Ingram, & Luke Kennard Duke team in the Sweet 16 before falling short to the Buddy Hield Oklahoma team in the Elite Eight.
Oregon, Altman, & Brooks ran it back in 2017 with a mission. The Ducks repeated as PAC-12 Champions (co-champs with Arizona) and lost in the PAC-12 Title game to Arizona. PAC-12 disrespect lead to the Ducks being seeded at the no. 3 line, but their seed didn’t matter. Oregon beat Mo Wagner Michigan in the Sweet 16 and then had a controlling win over no.1 seed Kansas and Naismith POY Frank Mason 74-60 to finally return to the Final Four for the first time in 78 years.
It was a win that cemented Altman as the best coach in Oregon history. All due respect to Howard Hobson and his 1939 National Title, Altman has made the Ducks a real program. Oregon has consistently won under him and the school has become a destination for top recruits with his player development producing All-Conference performers and eventually NBA players.
The Ducks may have lost to eventual National Champion UNC in the National Semifinal, but that Final Four stamp legitimizes the success Coach Altman had seen in Eugene. It’s a mark that just Tom Izzo, Matt Painter, Dusty May, and Mick Cronin will have in common with Altman in the new Big Ten next season.
Between the new hires at Washington & USC and the potentially shaky ground under Cronin in Westwood, Oregon enters the Big Ten as the most stable new entry and Altman has a team that could be ready to contend.
Getting the Ducks in a Row
Altman may be the most senior member of the Big Ten coaches, but he isn’t letting the new era of College Basketball escape him.
The Ducks are losing several key seniors in Jermaine Cousinard and N’Faly Dante, but refueling with five transfers including four seniors or super-seniors. If Dante hadn’t been denied an extra year of eligibility by the NCAA, we are likely discussing the Ducks as favorites of the Big Ten. As it stands, BetMGM has Oregon tied with Maryland as the 9th best odds (+2000) to win the Big Ten regular season Title.
The hopes of that +2000 valuation being a steal will depend on several highly touted Freshmen making the leap as Sophomores. Jackson Shelstad, Kwame Evans & Mookie Cook were a trio of Top-40 recruits making up Altman’s ’23 class.
Evans is a 6’9 F who averaged 7.3ppg, 4.9rpg, 1.0bpg in just 22.5 mpg. He has the potential to be an All-Big Ten defensive candidate this year with 30+ mpg. Can he make the leap offensively? Bringing his 26.7% up to 30-34% would go a long way to have Evans fit in more lineup combinations and have the Ducks offense hum.
Mookie Cook is a 6’6″ forward from Portland who was never quite healthy as a Freshman. He should be 100% this season, but what does that mean? What Altman & Oregon can get out of the talented young big could go along way in boosting the Ducks’ ceiling.
Finally, Shelstad is a prime candidate to get the promotion to lead guard with Cousinard gone. The 6′ guard started 30 of Oregon’s 32 games last year averaging 12.8ppg, 2.8rpg, 2.8apg and 34.5% from 3pt. Shelstad scored in double figures in 23 of 32 games along with his 16% assist rate on 21% usage rate is encouraging for his translation to be “the guy”.
Shelstad’s ability to be an All-Big Ten level performer will be crucial just to raise Oregon’s floor to being in the upper half of the Big Ten. For them to really be a contender some of their transfers need to instantly gel.
Ra’Heim Moss was 1st Team All-MAC for Toledo last year and is uber-experienced with over 100 career starts. Can he step up to be no.2 next to Shelstad? TJ Bamba is back in the Pacific Northwest after a transfer to Villanova wasn’t all vibes like he may have thought. Can he rekindle his form from Washington State where he averaged nearly 16ppg? Supreme Cook has been a productive if unremarkable big on bad teams at Georgetown & Fairfield. What can Altman squeeze out of a clearly talented guy like Cook?
Other guys on the roster like Brandon Angel (Stanford transfer 13ppg 44.7%3pt) and returnee Jadrian Tracey will be nice role players with big minutes and 4-Star Freshman guard Jamari Phillips brings further upside.
So, this Oregon team has obvious talent as well as obvious holes. How Altman is able to piece-meal together a fix for the giant hole left by N’Faly Dante in the frontcourt could define the Ducks’ season. If a small-ball lineup with Evans and Supreme Cook pops, Oregon could wreak havoc to slower Big Ten bigs like they did to Iowa in 2021.
The 2024-25 Oregon Ducks team will be a fascinating team to monitor.
Nobody knows what will happen with this team. Could they crater with a revamped roster and a difficult Big Ten travel schedule that has 7 road games combining for a total 18 hours of time difference? Surely, and it would be easy to excuse.
But another version of this season could resemble that 2021 March Madness game against Iowa.
Dana Altman is one of the best coaches in the country and he has a roster full of athletes that if things go right could embarrass the traditional Big Ten.
It might not all come together this season for Oregon. However, the old Big Ten teams needs to prepare themselves. New programs means new playstyles and if they don’t adapt soon, the Ducks and Altman will break open the conference.