The 20-4 (9-2) Ducks are in first place in the Pac-12 heading into the home stretch of league play with seven games remaining. Brooks went off with 30 points, 9 assists and 6 rebounds. Oregon has swept three straight weeks of conference teams.

Box score

I recorded Coach Altman's post-game presser and saved it as an .mp3 file for your listening pleasure.

Altman press conference

AJ and I are at the game, and we will be bringing live updates on the game. Come join us for the action, and get your sports warm up to the superbowl.

...and a good time was had by all......

Talked to MH, Uncle Phil, other coaches, etc. Good time in a relaxed atmosphere.

Not much to report that has not already been reported. (guess I'm fired huh, AJ)

MH did not talk much about flips other than to say that it happens, these are 17 year old kids. He did say that if the kid doesn't want to be here then MH does not want him. I think that this corroborates what Scott said on the other board. Just my opinion, but I don't think that MH takes crap from any recruit.

MH is about building the culture as much or more as CK was. He is looking for the right players to fit in certain spots, not just an accumulation of STARS.

To that end, he spoke proudly of how ALL of the 19 recruits that were signed were team captains in high school.

The most telling statement for me was this (and I am paraphrasing)....

" We could get all of the 9 star or 8 star or 5 star or whatever rated kids that we want, but we only want kids that fit our system and that share our values."

(Sorry that I did not get his words exactly but the sound system was terrible.)

In my opinion, MH has a way that he wants to run things and he is gonna run it his way, what he perceives to be the right way, the Oregon Way, or go down with the ship trying.

I respect that, though I admit that I am much more of a MH apologist than most on this board.

Also, I spoke to DP for a while and asked him about Inecho (sp). He looked my straight in the eye and said that he coaches linebackers and know absolutly nothing about it....lol.

Cheers,

Corey

2017, here we come

He is 1 of 17 to sign, be up in a bit:

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A take on Helfrich by Coach Morris. Having spent my full working life around those just getting started in life, I tend to agree. However, I am afraid Morris is spitting into the wind. We will always have a handful of loud and obnoxious crazies on the boards —-just like in real life.

http://fishduck.com/2016/02/mark-helfrich-is-a-stud/

Anyone know if Goat 74 is ok? I hope I have the name right. Used to be a regular poster. Was a coach in northern California, possibly Eureka. Bit of a crusty guy but he did know football. Also gave personal insight on some of the players from his region. Hope he is enjoying a healthy retirement with his family and not gone from the scene.

Please excuse my ignorance. I have a basic idea, but can somebody please explain in more detail, the fundamental differences between a 3-4 and a 4-3 defense? What can we expect to see different on the field next year? How is this better or worse than what we were doing in previous years?

Louisville won't be in the NCAA tourney this season

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Do you think Oregon will recruit to the high level (on paper) that they did when Chip was here?

When Chip was coach Oregon had classes in the top 15 twice, and top 10 once.. under Helfrich Oregon has barely scraped the top 25... and this year they actually were out of the top 25 classes in the country.

That is uncalled for, right? How can Oregon keep their elite status (if you even consider Oregon elite) when they cant even recruit, keep, and close on the top talent in the country? Im not asking for a top 5, top 10 class every year... thats unreasonable... but top 15 is doable and is what Oregon SHOULD be ranked at.

Is this a trend?

Big game coming up tomorrow for the Pac-12 leaders against Utah. Unfortunately for those of us covering it will bump up against the start of the Super Bowl. At any rate here are the game notes for Sunday's matchup against the Utes.

Oregon vs. Utah notes

Do the coaches tend to follow all the players they're recruiting?

per his twitter

Over the top much?

Most ridiculous moments at UM's Signing with the Stars event

with a Duck offer gets an early invite to the US Army Bowl:

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This doesn't hurt Oregon's chances, in fact, I think it helps.

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and doing as well as possible:

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While we were obsessing about football recruiting, Altman's boys just thrashed the Buffs by 20. If this doesn't fill the Matt...for a change.....we don't deserve the effort. Altman has brought a program to this splendid facility that campus fans don't deserve for lack of support.

We've got a great thing going here and it's time we start misbehaving in stands that are full of fanatics just like the MAC used to field. Number One in the PAC 12 with a national rating demands RESPECT.

effective June 30, 2016

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For those that didn't hear about it already, Ramsen Golpashin will be helping as a GA on the OL

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You know, being weak in your recruiting approach when you're one of the "elite" teams is inevitably going to lead to many kids either feeling like they're not wanted as much as another more aggressive program or simply viewed as weak. Football players don't want to play for weak leaders. This is freaking football. We get a few kids that like this approach, but I see way more players slip through our fingertips for whatever reasons and they end up at places with much more aggressive recruiting styles. Negative recruiting (pointing out the problems in other programs) is a legitimate strategy. Why? Because it freaking works. Why can't we point out the fact that Alabama is loaded with 5 and 4 star players that never see the light of day because there's a logjam, down there? And there may be more opportunity, here. And why isn't it relevant to point out that USC is where 5-star recruits go to mostly die and underachieve? Did you know that both of those schools tell recruits that we're a gimmicky team and that they have a much better chance of going to the NFL at their school? Our image should be one of strength. We don't have to take S*** from anyone. We're Oregon, G******IT!

And, btw, encouraging Prukop to go to visit Alabama when he was all but ready to sign on the dotted line was not cool. That was weak as hell. And he nearly got Sabaned, down there. Uh, uh. Sign on the dotted line. This is your home!

Mike tweeted a link to an article that takes Interesting look at the college recruiting game.

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