More Oregon Basketball Coverage

Recruiting News & Notes

By Kyle Mallory

PMall15239@aol.com

May 11th

Oregon signed point guard Kenny Love of South Bend, Indiana last week.

Love, a 6’2’’ point guard, played for Casper College in Wyoming last season averaging 14 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists, all team highs. 

Love played just one season with Casper College and will have three years of eligibility with the Ducks. 

Ernie Kent says this gives the Ducks, “another pure point guard in our system…whom the fans will love.”

Presumably, Love will be Aaron Brooks back up at the point since the previous back up, Brandon Lincoln, looked lost on almost every possession last season.

The ineptitude of Lincoln has created this need for a good back up who can spell Brooks, but it also means holes where the Ducks have always had them: inside.

Sure, the Ducks would like to think Mitch Platt and Ian Crosswhite will continue to improve, but the reality is that you cannot teach athleticism, a quality both those big men lack.

The re-emergence of a quality big man will rely on the progression of Marty Leunen and how fast the Oregon 4A player of the year adapts to the college game, along with Ray Schaefer, the skinny 7 footer from Alaska who red shirted his freshman year due to injury.

In other words, it would have been nice to have the luxury of going after a player in the mold of Robert Johnson, a 6’8’’ bruising power forward that played a pivotal role in the Ducks elite eight run of 2002. 

Instead, the Ducks will need to get strong performances from untested players, something that is anything but certain. 

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