4 keys to the 2023-24 season for Oregon Ducks men's basketball

Oregon opens its men's basketball season Monday unranked and flying under the radar.

After missing the NCAA Tournament the past two seasons, the Ducks have something to prove over the next four months.

With a roster centered around all-conference big man N’Faly Dante, Oregon and its seven newcomers open the 2023-24 season at 1:30 p.m. Monday against Georgia at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, a game that will air on TruTV.

The Ducks went 21-15 last season and played into the third round of the National Invitation Tournament. It was their 13th straight season with both a winning record and at least 20 wins.

Impressive streaks, for sure, but Dante said the team aspires for much more.

“Go win it,” the fifth-year senior said. “That’s my goal. That’s the only reason I came back.”

There are many factors that will help determine if Oregon is a team that can play into late March. Here are a few of them.

N’Faly Dante needs to stay on the court

The Ducks are simply a better and more successful team when Dante plays.

Last season he averaged career highs in points (13.5 per game), rebounds (8.2) and blocks (1.4), and shot 61.4% from the field.

But he also missed five games, including the three NIT games, with injuries.

“Our numbers last year when Dante was on the floor we're better,” coach Dana Altman said. “He clogs up the middle a little bit and gives us some presence.”

Stay heathy, get gritty

Altman has bemoaned how hard it was to get any traction last season due injuries.

The Ducks opened the season with several key players on the bench, a trend that continued to the very end. Dante, Will Richardson, Jermaine Couisnard, Keeshawn Barthelemy, Nate Bittle and Brennan Rigsby all missed significant time or important games last season.

“We do have to stay healthy,” Altman said. “We're not so deep and experienced that we can afford to lose guys.”

Altman also said the constant changes to the rotation and the availability — or lack thereof — of players for practice, stunted the development of the team in several ways.

That has to change for the Ducks to be successful.

“Just a competitiveness, a chemistry with the team that some of our other teams have really benefited from to advance, not only in the conference, but in the tournament,” Altman said. “There's got to be a camaraderie, there's got to be a cohesiveness and a toughness that gets us back there.”

Find a new No. 1 point guard

Richardson, a five-year player and 104-game starter, is gone and the Ducks will need a player to emerge as his replacement.

There are options in seniors Couisnard and Barthelemy — who both have starting experience — newcomer Jesse Zarzuela, a transfer from Central Michigan, and decorated freshman Jackson Shelstad.

”I feel like we all can handle the ball,” Couisnard said. “We’ve got a couple of ball handlers so I feel like you'll see a lot of people pushing and playing the one this year.”

Freshmen need to contribute

The Ducks signed a freshman class as talented and heralded as any before it, with five-star forwards and McDonald’s All-Americans Kwame Evans Jr., and Mookie Cook, and Shelstad, a four-star point guard from West Linn.

Cook will start the season on the bench after undergoing ankle surgery last month. Altman said a December return is on the table.

Evans was named preseason honorable-mention all-Pac-12 and is being touted as a one-and-done player who will be in the NBA next fall. Shelstad is a speedy playmaker still learning the finer points of ball movement after spending his high school career as the primary ball handler and offensive weapon.

But those three will need to find ways to contribute, something that hasn’t always been easy for Oregon freshman in Altman’s previous 13 seasons in Eugene.

The Ducks aren’t deep enough at forward or settled enough at point guard to have those three not play up their preseason hype.

Follow Chris Hansen on Twitter @chansen_RG or email at chansen@registerguard.com. For more sports coverage, visit registerguard.com. Want more stories like this? Subscribe to get unlimited access and support local journalism.

This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: What to know as season begins for Oregon Duck's men's basketball