Basketball season is creeping up fast in Eugene, even if football still has the spotlight. Dana Altman’s Ducks are only 10 days from their first exhibition against Seattle, and with just three tune-up chances before the opener, every minute of preseason work matters.
That urgency makes sense. Oregon is coming off the worst season of the Dana Altman era, and the roster has been turned over through the Transfer Portal. A team that lost most of last year’s group now has to figure out, quickly, whether this collection can get the Ducks back into the NCAA Tournament conversation.
One of the biggest reasons for optimism is freshman Tajh Ariza. Oregon didn’t usually land this kind of player in the past, but Ariza arrives as a true freshman, a 5-star recruit ranked No. 32 in his class. The NBA legacy gives the Ducks a rare high-upside piece to build around.
At 6-foot-10, Ariza brings length and athleticism that should show up on both ends of the floor. The next step is developing real go-to scoring moves and finding easier ways to get points. If that comes together, his ceiling is obvious.
Then there’s the situation with Malique Ewin, which remains unresolved. Oregon landed the Arkansas transfer during a summer full of eligibility decisions around the country, and Ewin ended up as the Ducks’ highest-rated addition. That alone says a lot about how carefully Altman handled the roster construction.
Right now, though, Ewin is ineligible because of an NCAA appeal. If that changes, Oregon gets a frontcourt piece with proven production and size it has been missing. He averaged 9.8 points and 5.7 rebounds per game at Arkansas last season, and if he can get back to the scoring level he showed at Florida State, he could become a major playmaker inside.
Altman’s real challenge, though, is making all of this fit. He’s bringing in nine new players through the portal while losing eight transfers, and this group is less about polished certainty than raw possibility. That makes the coach’s job more complicated, but it also gives Oregon some real upside if the pieces click.
Jasper Johnson fits that theme. He was once a top recruit at Kentucky, but never fully found his footing there.
Taylor Bol Bowen has already shown he can be a solid player, and a steadier role could unlock more. Dwayne Aristode is another former top recruit who was stuck behind a loaded Arizona roster and now has a chance to do more with more minutes.
Altman has made a career out of getting unusual rosters to function. This one will ask for that again, only sooner rather than later.
In Other News...
Dana Altmans Exit Leaves Oregon Basketball Facing Sudden Uncertainty
Dana Altmans retirement landed just before the start of the 2026 season, and it instantly changed the mood around Oregon mens basketball. After spending years as one of the most stable figures in the program, the veteran coach leaves behind a rsum that includes a 382-182 record, multiple conference titles and the Final Four run in 2017 that still stands as one of the defining moments of the modern Ducks era.
Tony Stubblefield, a former DePaul head coach and one of Altmans assistants, will step in as interim head coach for the coming season, giving Oregon at least a temporary bridge through an unexpected transition. The timing makes the situation even more delicate, because the Ducks now have to move forward with little runway and a lot of questions about what the next version of the program will look like. [Read more 🡒]
Dante Moore Gives Oregon Hope With UCLA Still Looming
Dante Moore was back on the practice field for Oregon in helmet and shoulder pads less than two weeks after taking a concussion in the USC game, a sign that the Ducks have at least some reason to breathe a little easier with UCLA on the horizon. Dan Lanning said Moore was throwing during practice, an encouraging step for a quarterback the Ducks have been leaning on as they try to keep their rhythm intact.
Even so, Oregon is not treating his return as a given. Moore still has to finish the concussion protocol and get medical clearance before he can play, and Lanning stopped short of saying whether he will be ready for UCLA. For now, the Ducks can only take the progress for what it is: a positive development, but not yet a finished one. [Read more 🡒]
Oregon Is Counting On Dave Iuli To Solve One Big O-Line Question
The Ducks offensive line has spent the offseason looking more like a work in progress than a finished product, with the 2026 rotation leaning heavily on freshmen and sophomores. In that mix, veteran Dave Iuli has become a stabilizing voice, the kind of presence Oregon needs when so much of the room is still learning how to handle the speed and physicality that come with Pac-12-level expectations.
Iulis value goes beyond snaps, too, because the Ducks are counting on him to help younger linemen settle in and keep the groups standards from wobbling as roles get sorted out. One of the names drawing attention is true freshman Koloi Keli, whose development has already come up for both Dan Lanning and Iuli, and whose long-term outlook suggests Oregon may be watching the early stages of a future starter. [Read more 🡒]