Sweet 16: Oregon’s Altman ready to prove himself against coaching legends
By COLLIN O’CONNOR
ISL Correspondent
Much has been made of the star-studded regional this has become in Indianapolis this weekend when it comes to the Sweet 16. With Tom Izzo and Mike Krzyzewski facing off in one game and Rick Pitino leading the top overall seed into Lucas Oil Stadium, three of the best coaches in the game will be in the same city this weekend.
Crashing the Hall of Fame get-together, however, will be Oregon coach Dana Altman, making his first appearance in the regional semis since taking over the Ducks program in 2010.
Don’t let the lack of national media love for this coach fool you, however, as he will have his team ready for the biggest game of this season on Friday night, and he definitely has the respect of his peers in the coaching scene.
He’s every bit as good as any coach that I’ll coach against, said Louisville coach Rick Pitino.
Altman comes in with a career record that is not too shabby, already having over 600 wins on his resume in 28 years of coaching. His consistent success at Creighton led him to getting the job at Oregon only a couple of years ago, and his impact has already been felt as the Ducks make it to their first Sweet 16 in six seasons.
It’s crazy, said Oregon’s Arsalan Kazemi on reaching the regional semis. I am excited for myself, my team and all of the Oregon fans to be able to go out there on Friday night to play against Louisville.
The Ducks don’t seem like a team that is just happy to be here, though, as they get ready to face a Louisville team that brings in a different attack than anything they have come across this year.
I don’t think we can compare anything to Louisville’s team speed, said Altman.
He then went on to compare the art of preparing for the Cardinals’ style of play to other schools preparing to face Oregon’s football team every year.
As a part of that style, coming into this game, Louisville is second in the nation in scoring points off of turnovers and Oregon is a time that has struggled to take care of the basketball. In order for this Ducks team to keep up with that style, the freshman guards are going to have to grow up before the audience’s eyes Friday night.
We’re going to make mistakes, said Altman. We’ve just got to play through those mistakes. We’ve been able to overcome our turnovers in most situations.
The numbers back that statement up, too as Oregon still managed to come away with two wins last weekend despite turning the ball over 18 times in both games. Against this Louisville team, that might not be possible.
However, Pitino knows that they aren’t coming into a game in which the Cardinals are a shoe-in for a victory. The NCAA committee decided to place them as a 12-seed in the Midwest Regional, but the Ducks have shown their ability to knock off top opponents this season with wins over Arizona and UCLA in the regular season.
Now, as you look at that Oregon team, how could they possibly be a 12 seed? said Pitino. Any time you can beat St. Louis and really have them out of their game, that’s when you know you’re playing a great team.
In addition, when it comes down to it, Oregon may have the team speed to run and score with Louisville. Simply put, it will be a matter of if the Ducks can handle the pressure and take care of the ball from tip-off.
We have to handle their pressure and we should be fine, said Oregon’s Johnathan Loyd. It is easier said than done, but we are confident that we can handle it.
