On Wednesday night, Dana Altman and the Oregon men’s basketball team officially inked West Linn standout Payton Pritchard and Mater Dei’s M.J. Cage during the early letter-of-intent period that will run through November 18. Both are listed as four-star recruits according to 247sports.

Pritchard, a 6-foot-1 guard that averaged 22.1 points, 5.8 assists, 3.8 rebounds and 2.4 steals as a junior, has been named 6A player of the year while leading West Linn to three straight state titles.

Cage is a 6-foot-10 big man that averaged 13.2 points, 11.7 rebounds and 3.8 blocks as a junior at Mater Dei in Santa Ana, California.

Oregon also received a verbal commitment from Keith Smith, a 6-foot-7 forward from Rainer Beach in Seattle. Smith, who averaged 20 points and 11 rebounds this last year, was originally expected to sign his letter of intent this evening.

Still on the fence is 6-foot-9 power forward T.J. Leaf, a five-star recruit and No. 13 overall prospect according to ESPN from Foothills Christian High School in El Cajon, California. Leaf will make his decision tomorrow during the ESPN Recruiting Nation: Basketball Signing Day Special that will air at 3 p.m.

At Wednesday’s media scrum, Altman said that he will wait until all of his potential recruits have signed before he gives a statement.

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At the half, Oregon’s Chris Boucher flirted with a double-double – he had 11 points, nine rebounds and two blocks.

As Oregon concluded its preseason schedule with a 91-40 rout of visiting Southern Oregon, the 6-foot-10 junior college transfer looked primed to enter regular season play.

Boucher finished with 13 points, 14 rebounds and five blocks en route to another sound game all across the board.

“He led the nation in JC last year (in blocks),” Dwayne Benjamin said. “He can get ‘em. Some you don’t think he won’t get, he gets them. It helps our defense out a lot.”

In his final year at Northwest College in Wyoming, Boucher averaged 22.5 points and 11.8 rebounds.

With his best rim protector Jordan Bell sidelined with a broken foot, Dana Altman has looked to the reigning Spalding NJCAA Division I Player of the Year for support. What he’s gotten in return is a seasoned veteran that understands his role – to block shots, run up and down the court.

While Oregon plans to appeal Boucher’s one year loss of eligibility, their chances aren’t looking too good as things stand right now.

“He’s a big part of our team, especially with Jordan not able to go here for awhile yet,” Altman said.

“He does this every day in practice,” Dwayne Benjamin said. “Just to see it translate in the game and see how much fun he’s having doing it. It’s kind of a little special for me being a JC, I know what he’s been through, so I’m just happy he’s doing well right now.”

Tonight, Boucher showed once more that he could influence play on both ends of the court, while also stretching the floor with his outside shooting ability.

“I liked his activity,” Altman said of Boucher. “He is playing hard and he does that in practice. Those are the kind of numbers we’ve seen in practice.”

For the second straight game, Oregon struggled to knock down outside shots. After going 1-for-17 against Northwest Christian, the Ducks followed up with a slightly better 5-of-18 outing. Still, Altman wasn’t too pleased with his team’s shot selection.

After exploding for a game-high 26 points and 11 boards against the Beacons, Dillon Brooks cooled down this game with a modest 10 points and four assists in 22 minutes.

Dwayne Benjamin, who came of the bench for the second straight game, totaled a team-high 16 points on 5-of-8 shooting.

Freshman guard Tyler Dorsey continued to show his potential with 16 points, four rebounds and three assists in his second start.

“Tyler is very talented,” Casey Benson said. “To see him play really well, it’s great to see. Obviously we’re going to need him big time (moving forward).”

Southern Oregon dropped to 3-2 on the season.

Heading into regular season play, Altman will be emphasizing more physicality on the glass, better execution of the offense and overall sense of urgency.

“We’re going after boards, but we’re not putting a lot of bodies on the defensive glass,” Altman pointed out as Oregon’s biggest concern. “Our ability to execute the offense would be second (on the list of things to work on).”

Oregon will face Jackson State this Friday at Matthew Knight Arena. Tipoff is set for a 7 p.m. start.

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– In Oregon men’s basketball 92-44 win over NCU in their first exhibition of the new season, sophomore Dillon Brooks, who played for Canada’s Senior National Team this past summer, dropped a team-high 26 points on 10 of 12 shooting. After the game, Brooks said he feels “real comfortable” after a very productive offseason that included a diet change, attitude adjustment and overall improvement on his game.

– The Pac-12 Networks revealed their all century Cross Country team. The list that was comprised of 12 female and male runners, included Oregon great Steve Prefontaine.

– The Chicago Cubs fell short of the World Series this postseason, but that doesn’t mean Eugene Emeralds Manager Gary Van Tol wasn’t willing to talk about two of their current players: third baseman Kris Bryant and catcher/outfielder Kyle Schwarber. Van Tol, who coached both Bryant and Schwarber at the minor league level, vividly remembers grooming these two highly touted prospects.

–Tough Pac-12 championships helped prepare Oregon’s cross country team for upcoming nationals.

– Oregon football will take on Jared Goff and the California Golden Bears this weekend. Here’s what you should be looking for in this QB-featured matchup.

Follow Hayden Kim on Twitter @HayDayKim

In their first exhibition of the year, Oregon fans were introduced to a new and improved Dillon Brooks.

Brooks, who led the team with a game-high 26 points on 10-of-12 shooting in the Ducks’ 92-44 win over Northwest Christian, showed off what a summer of hard work and international competition can do.

With Villanova transfer Dylan Ennis out for “awhile,” according to Dana Altman, Brooks picked up much of the slack.

“I feel really bad for him,” Altman said. “We’re going to have to revaluate a lot things. We got to readjust.”

For Brooks, this past summer was essential for his progression. As a member of Canada’s Senior National Team, Brooks won a silver medal at the Pan American Games, beating Team USA in the semifinals. His growth on and off the court was a bi-product of a new diet, training regimen and overall improvement in attitude.

Judging from this game, Brooks looks to have added more explosiveness to his game.

“I feel real comfortable,” Brooks said. “The ball is just getting flown to me from my teammates and it was just falling in. I felt like overall, over the summer, I put in the work and it felt easy out there.”

While an exhibition game offers little insight on projections for the new year, Brooks’ sound outing against the Northwest Christian just might be a preview for what’s to come. Look no further than his acrobatic finishes at the rim, first step on the boards and improved individual defense.

Starting for the Ducks at the two-guard was freshman and reigning Gatorade Player of the Year in the state of California Tyler Dorsey. Dorsey, Oregon’s top prospect in the 2015 recruiting class and only recruit ranked inside the top 100, added 15 points and eight rebounds in his debut.

Dorsey’s outside shooting and size advantage added a new dynamic to Oregon’s depth at the guard position.

“Tyler is a great player,” Brooks said. “He showed it in the open practice, too, knocking down threes. His upside, potential is unlimited.”

Reigning Spalding NJCAA Division I Player of the Year Chris Boucher also showed his versatility as Oregon’s new big man with 11 points and seven blocks.

“Chris is a unique player,” Altman said. “Gifted player and skinny. He’s going to be a lot of fun to work with.”

“He’s a freak out there,” Brooks added.

Returners Dwayne Benjamin (13) and Elgin Cook (13) both finished in double figures in the scoring department.

Against a much weaker NCU opponent, Oregon previewed its strengths, which include athletes that can attack the rim, big men that can stretch the floor and most importantly, depth at every position. Its only real weakness in this game was shooting 1-for-17 from three-point range.

“It didn’t look like it tonight, but we do have a good shooting team,” Altman said. “We just got in a hurry. That’s what happens when you take some quick ones early.”

Oregon will round out their preseason against Southern Oregon next Sunday.

Follow Hayden Kim on Twitter @HayDayKim

After last Thursday’s 61-55 win over Arizona State in triple overtime, Mark Helfrich and the Ducks turn their attention to Cal. Helfrich spoke to the media on Sunday in his weekly Sunday teleconference.

What stood out to you after watching the game on film?

A couple huge plays on special teams that we got done. Special teams, we knew we had to create some things. Offensively, (we) had some very uncharacteristic assignment mistakes. There are always those things that are hidden that can certainly come up and bite you at the end of a game like that.

What is the status on DeForest (Buckner) and how do you expect to use him this week against Cal? Seems like opponents have been able to create Cal’s mistakes because they are getting pressure on Jared.

His status is that he is an excellent football player and we anticipate him to rush like heck and stop the run. And yes, people are getting very creative in how they’ve protected him, blocked him in various ways.

Giving up the 747 yards. How concerning is that?

Well, sure. We don’t want to give up that many yards. We want to outscore our opponent. Again, there was some opportunities to end drives with turnovers, to get guys on the ground, missed tackles, missed fits, leverages, all those things that you keep hammering on. Unfortunately, we took turns in breaking down. Have to get that fixed.

From the outside, it looks like the program has gotten some positive momentum. Obviously (the) first consecutive wins of the season. Does a two-game winning streak provide a boost of enthusiasm or are the guys the same as ever?

Well, we’ll find out tomorrow. But certainly: you want that to create some confidence and again, attention to detail on all the things we’re talking about whether it is end of the game situations, taking advantages of opportunities to end the game offensively when they present themselves, taking ownership in the film.

Looking at what Jared Goff has done first part of the year when they jumped out to that winning streak: what exactly have you seen other teams do that you might try to use when you put pressure on Jared this week?

He’s a fantastic player. They got off to a great non-conference start. Had a very favorable opener. All those things helped out with their stats, their confidence. But he is a fantastic player. It’s not just him (though). All their receivers can make plays and are scary.

Over the weekend, you kind of downplayed the effect of signaling and stealing signs. Obviously the white sheets come out. Is that something will continue throughout the season?

Perhaps. That’s part of the deal. Like I told you guys before, we’ve changed a lot of not only the mechanics, but what we do from a signaling standpoint as different. Part of it is just trying to be operational security going forward.

In the future, would you like to see some kind of effort to have a league office centralized how replays are run or do you think it’s ok every stadium running its own?

Some people have talked about having a uniform, just blanket college football officials association where it’s not done conference to conference to conference. I think that’s been blocked in some form or fashion by the individual conferences in keeping the control of them in house. I think there’s strengths and weaknesses to all that. There’s going to be mistakes both ways. You just have to work through them the best you can.

Follow Hayden Kim on Twitter @HayDayKim