It’s on Dana Altman to take advantage of the hope his Ducks created

Dana Altman took a swig from a bottle of water, bowed his head and shook it before looking back up at the room with a bewildered smile.

He threw up a hand, let it hit the table, laughed, and then tried to explain why Oregon, a team that owns the Big Ten’s 13th-ranked defense, was able to turn it on to secure the Ducks a second upset in a row.

On Sunday, Oregon beat USC on the road. On Wednesday, it was the Ducks dominating Wisconsin 85-71 at home — a game that saw four Ducks finish in double figures while limiting Wisconsin to just 27.7% shooting.

“I wish I could tell you,” the coach said. “I don’t know. The guys had a little bounce in their step.”

So did Altman. At 67 years old, Oregon’s coach put on a vintage performance on the sideline, featuring the same floor stomps, screams for defense and visceral reactions to the game that have filled Matthew Knight Arena throughout his 16 years as coach.

It wasn’t a perfect game — the coach had to brace himself on the scorer’s table after Takai Simpkins’ misguided alley-oop attempt to point guard Drew Carter — but with the season winding down and March approaching, like clockwork, Altman had his Ducks playing their best ball of the season.

Pulling out of a spiral

The season, however, has had anything but rhythm. 

Wednesday’s win improved the Ducks to 11-17 and just 4-13 in Big Ten play. It’ll be Altman’s first time with the Ducks that he won’t win 20 games — a mark harpooned by the season-ending injury to Jackson Shelstad and a 10-game losing streak that erased any shot of an NCAA Tournament at-large bid.

Then came the headlines.

Last week, The Oregonian ran a story outlining the challenges Oregon’s program faces in an era where much of the athletic department’s attention and dollars are focused on football. And before the Ducks took the court on Wednesday, ESPN.com reported that the university was “fully committed” to Altman for the future.

Maybe that was reassuring to hear, but it’s never a story that comes out when things are going well. I asked the coach if it meant anything to him and whether he felt like the university was, indeed, fully committed to him in a season where a faction of the fanbase has vocally called for the Ducks to move on to a new era.

“I haven’t talked to anybody. It’s never been discussed. I didn’t read the article — I didn’t know I was in trouble. I don’t know what to say to that,” Altman said. “Like I said, I want to coach. I didn’t know they were trying to get rid of me.”

Then he conceded that change, in some form, needed to happen for a lot of parties.

“Our alumni base isn’t as big. Our fan base isn’t as big. So it’s really imperative that the group that we have, the administration, everybody’s moving in the same direction,” Altman said. “Fortunately, we’ve got great support from boosters. I just got to do a better job. I didn’t think we had the depth that we needed. When Jackson went down, when Nate went down for a couple of games, (Devon Pryor) goes down, (Ege Demir) goes down, we just didn’t have the depth necessary to fight. It’s a long season and you got to have the depth. And we had inexperienced people for our depth. You can’t be inexperienced and try to compete.”

But that inexperience is a little more seasoned now. And in a season where Oregon’s traditional expectations of making the NCAA Tournament are living on the long shot of winning the Big Ten Tournament, the saving grace may be that Altman still has his fastball when it comes to making what he has better.

Against the Badgers, a team that beat No. 2 Michigan on the road earlier this year, 5,682 fans watched Bittle and Simpkins combine for 37 points. They saw Kwame Evans block a career-high four shots, Dezdrick Lindsay snag six rebounds coming off the bench and Wei Lin play well enough on defense to stay on the floor long enough to score 13 points.

“I thought his defensive effort was the best that he’s shown,” Altman said. “He got through more screens tonight than he has in previous games.”

Is it enough improvement for the Ducks to suddenly run through a conference tournament that features five teams ranked 13th or better nationally? Not likely. But as February comes to a close, Altman’s Ducks have seemingly regained their status as a team no one wants to face in March.

Signs of life are there. Next year could be better. And as the Ducks wrap up 2025-26 and head into an offseason that’s likely to feature a massive turnover of the roster, it’s now on Altman to prove that the hope doesn’t kill those standing by his side.

“I tell my players all the time they got to look in the mirror,” Altman said. “Old coach has got to look in the mirror, too.”