Dana Altman told his players to take two weeks off from practicing and weight lifting. As hard as it was for the players to stay out of the gym, they are now easing back onto the court in preparation for the offseason.
The focus has slowly shifted from heartbreak to reflection.
“We’re just looking back at all the great things we did this season,” Casey Benson said. “Obviously it was a tough way to go out, but it was a special season. One loss doesn’t diminish what we did all year.”
The biggest question now, is who will be on the roster next year.
“It’s each individual guy’s preference,” Altman said. “I don’t think you should do it if you have no intention of going, but if there’s possibility that you may go, then you probably ought to do it.”
On Thursday afternoon, Altman said that none of his players who are eligible for the draft — Dillon Brooks, Tyler Dorsey, Chris Boucher, Jordan Bell — have indicated that they will declare. This is in spite of the new NBA rule which allows for college players to participate in draft workouts without losing their eligibility.
Altman, who has openly supported his players in whatever decision they choose to make, expects to know, either way, who will return within a couple weeks.
After falling short of the Final Four, Oregon is confident that it took strides in the right direction. Assuming it returns most of its core players, expectations for the reigning Pac-12 champs will be as high as its been since Altman arrived in 2010. Oregon also has one of its most highly anticipated recruiting class classes coming in this year.
“I’d be really disappointed if there weren’t some expectations,” Altman said. “We spent six years trying to build something. We’re at a point now where we hope people recognize us. It’s going to be exciting. Even if everyone doesn’t come back, we’ll have enough of the core group back to try to build something.”
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After one spring practice, Dwayne Benjamin officially called it quits on the gridiron.The 6-foot-7 forward said his future is with basketball, not football.
“Definitely a tough decision with me loving both sports as much as I do,” Benjamin said. “Kind of made a premature decision going out there. One of the main reasons was just to get the career started.”
The idea that the decision was predicated on avoiding the physical nature of football humored him.
While he has no concrete plans for now, Benjamin said his goal will be to set the grounds up for playing overseas. He and his brother are currently setting up meetings with potential agents to get the ball rolling on his professional career. Benjamin said May is when players start getting calls from teams for workouts and tryouts. His hope is to get a representative as soon as possible to start this process.
“Just get good representation and they’ll pretty much just speak for you,” Benjamin said. “They have a tour where you go to a couple countries and play a couple games. That’s an option and that’s coming up very quickly in May, so that’s something I need to decide if I’m going to do or not.”
In his final season as Oregon’s backup forward, Benjamin averaged 8.0 points and 3.2 rebounds. He shot 32 percent from three and 40 percent from the floor.
Follow Hayden Kim on Twitter @HayDayKim