Quite a bit of quack from over the weekend, so let's get right to it.
- The men's basketball team dropped their third straight to the St. Mary's Gaels on Saturday, 81-76. In the end, the Gael's made plays when it mattered, and the Ducks just didn't. Oregon held a five point lead in the second half, but couldn't pull out the victory. St. Mary's is a good team, but should a Pac-10 really lose to them three years in a row?
- Unfortunately, it's not just the Ducks that are terrible, it's the entire Pac-10. SBNation's college basketball blog, Searching for Billy Edelin, asks if the Pac-10 is a one-bid league after UCLA and Washington fell on their faces over the weekend.
- However, there is some good basketball being played in Eugene. The Oregon women have been excellent this year and sit at 8-1, and set out on their first big test of the season on Wednesday at Georgia Tech.
- Moving to football, the Ducks had a competition day yesterday, which the defense won due to an offensive penalty. The players seemed to really get into it after some time off. Some young guys also got some looks during the practice, as Coach Kelly wanted to see them compete. Just one more benefit of the extra 15 practices bowls provide.
- The Register Guard will be profiling a Duck every day until the Rose Bowl. Over the weekend Carson York and Blake Ferras were profiled. Today's Duck is Casey Matthews, who was also discussed in qsouther's weekend fanpost.
- While Rose Bowl practice is big, the coaching staff is throwing recruiting into high gear, and most of the coaches flew all over the country last week visiting the Ducks top targets this year. Oregon has made significant strides in national recruiting, and that is seen most is simple name recognition, which has grown by leaps and bounds over the years.
- TheState.com, has a profile on Marcus Lattimore, one of the most sought after recruits of 2010, and who will be visiting Oregon on January 22nd. Lattimore has the physical tools to succeed, but he's also been an inspiration to his community off the field, and has not let the publicity or hype go to his head. In that way, he reminds me of Jonathan Stewart. Good luck to Marcus in his final decision.
- Lastly, KVAL is counting down the top 10 Ducks of the 2000s, and one of my favorite Ducks, Keenan Howry, comes in at #8.
As always, leave your links and comments below. After the jump, a video of competition day.