JUCO Power Forward Richard Amardi Commits to Oregon

Junior college power forward Richard Amardi has been visiting Oregon the past couple of days and reportedly committed to the Ducks this evening. Jeff Goodman was the first to break the news on Twitter, which was later confirmed by Duck Territory's Matt Prehm:

Oregon landed commitment from ex-Iowa St. signee Richard Amardi, source told ESPN. 6-8 forward played at Indian Hills. Has one year to play.

— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanESPN) June 19, 2013

JUCO PF Richard Armandi has committed to Oregon. 1 year left to play. ESPN's @Jeffgoodman was first to report it. http://t.co/9Yg1UUjFPW

— Matt Prehm (@Prehmmr247) June 19, 2013

Amardi is 6'9, 220 lbs and has one year of eligibility remaining for Oregon. He excels at crashing the glass and finishing at the rim, and also shows the ability to knock down mid-range jumpers. He will provide much needed depth in Oregon's front court and could even challenge for starter's minutes depending on how things shake out with Oregon's other forwards.

After losing four rotation players in the front court, including three starters, the Ducks were in desperate need of immediate help to compliment their rising stars in the back court. Dana Altman has done a masterful job of assembling a very talented group of incoming forwards that includes transfers Mike Moser, Elgin Cook, and Richard Amardi, as well as freshmen Jordan Bell and Cristiano Felicio, to go along with rising sophomore Ben Carter.

Elgin Cook and Mike Moser figure to step in to the starting small forward and power forward positions respectively. Waverly Austin is the presumptive starter at center but if he doesn't improve upon last year's campaign could cede that role to one of the forwards from the above group. With only one year of eligibility and interest from many other Division I programs, you have to figure that Altman sold Amardi on the opportunity to play significant minutes.

All in all Amardi rounds out an outstanding class for Oregon. With the talent that Altman has assembled there is every reason to believe that Oregon can have as good a season (or better) as last year. However, that all depends on how well and how quickly these players gel and buy into Altman's system.

Here's a link to last week's story on Amardi. You can watch his highlight video below.