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Junior Day today...

The Ducks are hosting some prospects today on campus. This is the first Junior Day of the Cristobal era. I have been working to verify the attendees and here is what we have come up with:

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Update: Marques tells me something came up so he can't make the trip today. He will be here for the spring game in April.

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Update: The Ngata brothers had their flights get messed up so they will be getting here later today. They will be here in time for the hoops game tonight.

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Update: Sam Telesa says he will be getting here around 10:45 this morning and will meet with Coach Mirabal first thing.

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New Recruiting personnel hire

Stephen Field is one of 2 new recruiting personnel hired. He is an expert in the South and Midwest. Apparently we had to outbid Texas to land him.
Rumor is that we will also be hiring Matt Bernstein who is a recruiting expert in the west.
These 2 are widely regarded as the best in the business. I am eager to see who we are going to hire as analysts.
I guess Uncle Phil opened his wallet up wide.

MBB: Oregon 75- ASU 68

Oregon's secret to success still comes down to simple plays.

When the Ducks make them, they usually earn coach Dana Altman's seal of approval.

Elijah Brown had 19 points and seven rebounds, and MiKyle McIntosh added 16 points to lead Oregon past Arizona State 75-68 on Thursday night.

Paul White had 11 points for the Ducks (18-10, 8-7 Pac-12), who beat the Sun Devils (19-8, 7-8) for the eighth consecutive time and moved into a tie for sixth in the conference standings.

''Our formula for this team hasn't changed much,'' Altman said. ''When we out-rebound people and hold them under 70 (points), our success rate has been pretty high.

''We'll take it. We did a good job.''

Shannon Evans II led ASU with 25 points and Remy Martin added 15 off the bench. Tra Holder, the Sun Devils' leading scorer at 19.3 points per game, was 0 of 6 from the field and went scoreless for the first time in 64 games, since near the end of his sophomore season.

''Your guys are going to have games like this and it's hard to overcome it against a quality opponent on the road,'' ASU coach Bobby Hurley said of Holder. ''I thought he had some decent looks in the first half but couldn't get into any flow.

''He'll bounce back. We've got to get over this fast.''

Kodi Justice had 12 points for ASU.

Brown, who was coming off a 19-point game against UCLA, was 8 of 12 overall and scored 12 points in the second half as Oregon never trailed after the break.

''He had a good ballgame,'' Altman said. ''He didn't force anything and took the shots we've seen him take in practice.

''Just keep it simple. I thought he had a couple really good shots there.''

The Ducks outrebounded ASU 40-32 and had a 36-14 edge in points in the paint. Oregon found similar success in its 76-72 victory over the then-No. 11 Sun Devils on the road in early January.

Oregon led 43-40 after a sluggish first half by going inside, led by McIntosh with nine points. Brown had 10 straight points bridging halftime as the Ducks built their largest lead at 53-40.

''We didn't start the half the way we usually start second halves,'' Hurley said. ''We're behind and then we're chasing them. The second half we let them go to the offensive glass, and they kind of bullied us around the basket.''

De'Quon Lake matched his season-high of 12 rebounds in a reserve role for ASU.

BIG PICTURE

Arizona State fell to eighth place and below .500 in conference play with three Pac-12 games remaining. The Sun Devils need to avoid an 8-9 matchup in the first round of the Pac-12 tournament if they don't want the possibility of facing Arizona in the quarterfinals.

Oregon catches the Pac-12's only ranked team in Eugene at the perfect time -- Arizona without suspended star guard Allonzo Trier after he tested positive for a banned substance -- though the Wildcats did beat Oregon State 75-65 in overtime without him. Trier's absence, pending an appeal, could throw the Pac-12 tournament wide open in Las Vegas next month.

STAT OF THE NIGHT

Kenny Wooten had four blocks, giving the freshman 77 for the season, after having none in Oregon's losses at USC and UCLA last week.

''He changed the game for us defensively tonight,'' Altman said. ''They were looking over their shoulder when they were bringing it in (there), and he altered three, four, maybe five other shots.''

HE SAID IT

ASU got just two points in 47 minutes from Mickey Mitchell, Romello White and Holder. ''When you have three starters that combine to score two points with the minutes they played,'' Hurley said, ''that's not a formula for success on the road.''

UP NEXT

Arizona State: Plays at Oregon State on Saturday night.

Oregon: Hosts No. 14 Arizona on Saturday night.

Troy Brown, a lottery pick ??? Your thoughts ?

Bill Walton's partner last night during the UCLA game mentioned that Brown is being mentioned as a lottery pick. Troy Brown is super talented but I scratch my head thinking he is a lottery pick. It seems to me he is not ready and would do himself a favor, learn at least another year under Altman and get the playing time, at a high level, to perfect his game. If he stays, with the class we have coming in next year, we should make some serious noise. Fingers crossed, "Troy Brown, give it another year and enjoy the college experience, perfect your craft and add to your legacy with a great run into the NCAA tournament.

Blount unsigned for 2018, may stay with Eagles...

Blount appeared on the NFL network a few days ago and talked about his status going into next season. He made $1.25 million this year and had respectable production given they had Jay Ajayi taking a lot of the snaps.

“It’s early, so we’ll see,” Blount said to NFL Networks. “Obviously, I like it a lot there. They like me a lot there. It’s a mutual respect and mutual agreement thing about how we feel about each other. You guys know how I feel about the guys, the team. I love those guys. I can’t stay enough about Duce just for the simple fact of how well I was coached there and how good he helped me understand things. I feel like Duce is one of the best running back coaches, one of the best coaches I’ve ever had in my entire life. Obviously, I want to be a part of that for a while so we’ll see how it goes.”

If he does end up signing somewhere else it would be his third team in three seasons.
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