Paul Westhead returns for his 4th season as the Head Coach of the Ducks. He has gone 18-16, 13-17 and 15-16 last season . Worst, the recruiting hasn’t given a lot of promise to future success. At age 73 this could be the make or break year for Westhead in Eugene. The Ducks Pac 12 record was 7-11.
Dan Muscatell returns for his 4th season as the Top Assistant. Dan was Head Coach at Sacramento State for 6 years prior to Oregon and was an assistant at Oregon before Sac State. Shandrika Lee returns for her 2nd year after 2 years at Army and 4 at Cal Poly. Bianca Zieman is a new coach at Oregon. She started for Loyola of LA from 2002-06 and coached there this past season.
THE SCHEDULE: Non conference games include St Mary’s, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Illinois, Fresno State and UConn. A solid pre season. The Ducks do not host the Arizona schools or play in LA.
LOSSES: Amanda Johnson was an outstanding player for the Ducks. Although she missed about 10 games last season and came back maybe not fully healed she averaged 18 points and 10 rebounds a game. To give Westhead and staff credit they certainly developed players who were not highly recruited and Johnson and Nia Jackson.
Nia Jackson averaged 9 points per game, fighting injuries and had a fine 1:.8 assist to turnover ratio leading the Duck fast break.
Jasmin Holliday averaged 13 points and 7 rebounds a game.
Three huge losses for the Ducks as they are 3 of the top 4 scorers from last season and the top two rebounders.
RETURNEES: Guard Ariel Thomas is the top returning scorer at 9 points per game. Thomas is a 5-6 Jr Guard. Ariel should be the starting Point Guard.
Jordan Loera is a 5-9 Soph Guard who should start in the backcourt. Last season Jordan started 10 games and led the team with 45 threes at 34%. She averaged 6 points per game.
At the post Danielle Love is a 6-2 Jr who can play the 4-5. Last season Love started every game at the 4 or 5 averaging 7 points and 5 rebounds. She also hit 39 threes at 31 %.
Liz Brenner is a 6-1 Soph post who started 8 games and played in 21 after coming over from the Volleyball team where she was and is an outstanding Outside Hitter. Even with her late start, joining the team in December, Liz averaged 6 points and 6 rebounds per game. Brenner had a tremendous Volleyball game at Maples last year against Stanford.
Deanna Weaver is a 5-11 Jr wing from Wilcox High school who scored 7 points and also had 4 rebounds in just 18 minutes per game. Weaver made 24 threes at 36%.
Lexi Peterson is a 5-11 Soph Wing who may well start. She averaged 4 points in 12 minutes.
Meagan Carpenter is a 6-4 Soph Center who may start before Brenner joins the team. Carpenter averaged only one point but 3 rebounds in 8 minutes per game.
Laura Stanulis is a 5-9 Sr Guard who averaged 3 points in 12 minutes per game last season.
Amanda Delgado is a 5-7 Soph Guard who just played a few minutes as a frosh.
Chynna Miley is a 6-2 Jr Forward who has played just a few minutes in her first two seasons.
NEWCOMERS: Jillian Alleyne is a 6-3 Frosh Post from Southern California where she averaged 15 points and 10 rebounds as a Sr and was ranked # 95 in the nation. Her High School won the Div 1A So Cal Championship last season as Jillian scored 17 points and had 20 rebounds.
Devyn Galland is a 5-8 Frosh Point Guard. Devyn was All State in Washington at the fabled Lewis & Clark High School in Spokane. She could be the 3rd Guard for the Ducks.
Janitah Imaleava is a 6-2 redshirt Frosh Post. Janitah had to sit out this past season after being named the # 31 Post out of High School. As a Sr she averaged 13 points and 9 rebounds playing in a very strong So Cal league.
OUTLOOK: Losing their 3 top players and not having great recruiting will hurt the Ducks this season. A shame as Oregon has a great fan base, a beautiful arena, and deserve more.
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