On Wednesday, USA Today reported that Oregon head coach Willie Taggart could be headed to Florida State if the Seminoles’ current head coach Jimbo Fisher leaves for Texas A&M.

Then, Sports Illustrated reported that Oregon offered Taggart a new contract in hopes of retaining him if the FSU job opens. The contract was reported to be $20 million over five years. Taggart will make $2.9 million this year in the first year of his four-year, $16 million contract he signed in December of 2016. The new offer would raise his annual salary to $4 million.

Following these reports, Taggart retweeted Tampa Bay Times reporter Joey Knight, who said that Taggart would listen to an offer from Florida State but hinted that Nike founder Phil Knight will play a role in keeping Taggart in Eugene.

Been putting out feelers re: Taggart’s interest in FSU. Of course he’ll listen if ‘Noles call, I’m told. But I’m also told people may be “overplaying the importance of coming back to the home state.” Loves it in Oregon, and Phil Knight is one influential dude

— Joey Knight (@TBTimes_Bulls) November 29, 2017

Taggart, who took the Ducks to a 7-5 season in his first year in charge, would be returning to his home state of Florida if he were to take the job in Tallahassee. He has built the No. 1 recruiting class for 2018, according to Scout.com, and has brought in a coaching staff littered with talent from former San Francisco 49ers linebackers coach Jim Leavitt and former Alabama assistant coach Mario Cristobal.

Much of Taggart’s recruits for Oregon’s 2018 class come from the state of Florida.

One of Taggart’s 2018 recruits, Christopher Randazzo, tweeted, “All Coach Taggart has been saying is how excited he is about this 2018 class. … I don’t believe he is going anywhere.”

If Taggart is to leave Oregon, he would owe Oregon $1.5 million to fulfill his buyout that allowed him take the Oregon job when he left South Florida. His buyout at Oregon is $3 million, totalling to $4.5 million.

Taggart was rumored to be in the running for the head coaching job with the Florida Gators but former Mississippi State head coach Dan Mullen was offered and accepted the job in Gainesville.

Taggart is scheduled to speak to the media Friday afternoon.

Follow Shawn Medow on Twitter @ShawnMedow

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During Monday’s practice, Oregon head coach Kelly Graves told junior Oti Gildon that she would get her first start because star forward Ruthy Hebard was ruled out for Tuesday’s game with an injury.

Gildon did not let her team down.

“She’s our Draymond Green and she really played like that today,” head coach Kelly Graves said.

Gildon recorded her first double-double, posting a career-high 20 points on 9-of-11 shooting with 12 rebounds in No. 10 Oregon’s 87-45 win over Hampton. Her stellar performance, though, is no surprise to her.

“I think it started at the end of last year,” Gildon said of her improved play. “I had a good run at the end of last year’s [NCAA] Tournament, so I just wanted to make sure I kept going in the offseason and at the beginning of this season.”

Hebard, who Graves says has a “tweak” from Oregon’s game against Oklahoma in the PK 80 on Saturday, is not suffering from anything serious. In the meantime, Oregon’s depth gets a more time in the limelight.

The Oregon Ducks cheer on their team from the sidelines. The Oregon Ducks play the Hampton Pirates at Matthew Knight Arena in Eugene, Ore. on Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2017 . (Devin Roux/Emerald)

For Gildon, being Hebard’s replacement is not so simple as the two forwards are not similar.

“I think we’re just different players,” Gildon said. “She has a good post presenc,e and I think I do well playing both post and guard defensively.”

Gildon was close to unstoppable in the game for Oregon. She dominated the paint and kept plays alive for Oregon, which shot at 47.7 percent. Gildon’s presence was felt on rebounds, grabbing nearly 25 percent of all the Ducks’ boards.

Despite playing what was clearly her best game, Gildon elected not to look at the score boards across the four corners of Matthew Knight Arena that display players’ statistics.

She simply focused on her game.

“After I got pulled out the end of the third I think, one of the assistant coaches was like, ‘I want a 20-piece and I need another rebound,’ so I was like, ‘OK, I’ll do it,’” Gildon said. “I didn’t really pay attention to it and Ruthy told me not to mess up, so that was the goal tonight.”

Satou Sabally also played a big role in the game, and she helped Gildon achieve her double-double. Sabally and Gildon worked off each other when Sabally received passes inside the paint, turned, dragged Gildon’s defender away, and threw a bounce pass to Gildon just in front of the hoop for simple layups.

“I have the advantage to be really tall,” Sabally said sarcastically. “When I get into the paint I can look over my opponents and that’s why I saw Oti dive. And I know that when they trap me someone is free, so she dove and I knew she was there, so I just passed it.”

With Hebard out for an undisclosed amount of time, Gildon will have to continue to fill in the role. That does not mean that the Ducks are not in good hands.

“People forget that Oti won two state championships, was the player of the year in the state of Washington a couple years ago coming out of high school,” Graves said. “Not that we care about ratings or rankings; she was the highest-ranked recruit that Oregon’s ever had, and she’s a heck of a player.”

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With six minutes and 22 seconds left in the third quarter, “We Will Rock You” by Queen began to play at Autzen Stadium. The crowd began to stomp its feet and sing along. The Ducks had just made it 62-7 against their in-state rivals, Oregon State, after linebacker Justin Hollins intercepted a deflected pass and returned it for a touchdown.

This game felt a lot different than last year’s 34-24 loss.

“It feels like night and day,” Henry Mondeaux said. “Last year, we didn’t put together a good enough plan. This year, we did and it was really nice to see all the people — different people — step up on our defense. It feels a lot better.”

Oregon (7-5) got its revenge in the 69-10 win over the Beavers on Saturday night. The loss in 2016 hung over Oregon players’ heads, and so did the trash talk Oregon State (1-11) used this week.

Ahead of the game, Oregon State head coach Cory Hall said that he remembers knowing the Beavers would win last year’s game when Ducks players put on their “Nike Duck raincoats.” The Ducks players didn’t forget that quote.

“We try not to get caught up in the media and stuff but the Civil War, it gets kind of personal,” Mondeaux said. “That’s something we’ve had in our weight room — that quote — for a while. It’s been motivating us. I’m not really sure why head coaches do stuff like that because it definitely motivates the other team.”

The Ducks also listened to Oregon State interviews before the game. By the time they came out onto the field, the Ducks were dying to respond to Hall’s quote.

“It started raining touchdowns so they wanted to put on their rain jackets,” head coach Willie Taggart said.

The Ducks played with force. They were finishing tackles, making big plays and celebrating every moment of the demolition of their rivals from just up Interstate-5.

Going into halftime with a 52-7 lead, there seemed to be a newfound energy in the team.

“Shout out to their head coach for giving us the motivation, the energy and the passion for whatever he said talking about some rain coats, or whatever he was saying. I really didn’t care,” linebacker Troy Dye said. “Guys were happy, excited because you know you go in there 52-7 super amped up, especially against your rival — no better feeling.”

On Saturday, Royce Freeman rushed for 122 yards on 19 carries, compared to 106 yards without a touchdown on the same number of carries in 2016.

Last year, Freeman’s opposite number, Oregon State’s running back Ryan Nall, rushed for four touchdowns in the Beavers’ win. But this year, he was shut down by the Ducks, getting 41 yards on 14 carries.

“Same thing we had all year: stop the running back,” Dye said. “Hit him as hard as we can, hit him often, and if he don’t break down, he’s gonna go down. You saw, he came out [of] the game. They were rotating four or five backs. I have never seen that happen before.

“I guess it’s their bowl game. It’s cool.”

Follow Shawn Medow on Twitter @ShawnMedow

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When the Ducks hosted Utah on Oct. 25 at Autzen Stadium, Oregon’s offense pulled out a trick play. Quarterback Braxton Burmeister pitched the ball to senior wide receiver Charles Nelson, and after nearly going down, found Jacob Breeland in the end zone for one of Oregon’s two passing touchdowns.

That was Oregon’s best highlight for the wide receivers throughout all of October and most of November.

Oregon’s wide receivers went on a drought during Burmeister’s time as the starting quarterback. With Herbert’s return against Arizona, they had significant action and should see plenty more in the future.

Against the Wildcats, the Ducks performed another trick play — a reverse flea flicker. But this time, Nelson gave the ball back to the quarterback. Herbert fired the ball downfield, finding Johnny Johnson III a yard shy of the end zone.

“When you can only run the ball, obviously we know that was all we were going to do — everyone else knew that was what we were going to do,” center Jake Hanson said. “So having Justin back obviously took some pressure off of Royce and our other running backs and it just opened things up that we can do offensively so that was great.”

In the five games Burmeister played, he threw the ball more than 15 times just once (27 against Washington State). Against Arizona, Oregon’s wide receivers were thrown to 21 times by Herbert.

“Justin’s an irreplaceable guy, so to have him back is great,” Nelson said. “Got a bunch of passes thrown to us.”

With Oregon’s quarterback and wide receivers and back in action, opposing defenses have to adjust to knowing that the Ducks will not simply rely on the run game as they have done this season.

This gave the Ducks the advantage of forcing the Wildcats’ defense to prepare for any possible play.

“It was fantastic knowing that Justin was out there,” wide receiver Dillon Mitchell said. “Knowing that he’s a threat to throw the ball deep. It’s been tough weeks that we’ve been playing not to have a ball thrown. Just sticking to it and knowing the game plan is key.”

Oregon became bowl eligible with the win against Arizona, and with just the Civil War against Oregon State remaining, many are wondering what could have been.

“It’s a big win,” Nelson said after Arizona. “It sets us up, shows us what we can do when everyone is on the field. I feel like we did a great job today. Shows what they’re gonna do next year.”

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On Monday, five-star center Bol Bol announced on the Players’ Tribune that he has committed to the University of Oregon.

I would like To thank everyone who recruited me. I had a tough decision to make. Today I would like to announce I have committed to Oregon https://t.co/kWOmpiKTt8 pic.twitter.com/cdyMrp5JQg

— Bol Bol (@bolmanutebol) November 20, 2017

After missing out on the No. 1 recruit in the nation, RJ Barrett, the Ducks get the No. 2 recruit, according to Scout.com, and will become the No. 1 recruiting class for 2018. Bol, a 7-foot-3 center who recently transferred from Mater Dei High School in Orange County, California, to Findlay Prep in Las Vegas, was fielding offers from Kentucky and Arizona among others.

“I didn’t know much about the school until I started getting recruited by Oregon’s assistant coach, Tony Stubblefield,” Bol wrote. “And then later by Coach Altman. Before that, I knew they had a lot of jerseys, a lot of different shoe combinations, but that was about it. But it was really those first few meetings with Coach Stubblefield that impressed me the most. He was accessible. He got to know me. He was really real with me.”

He wrote that part of the decision was based on Oregon’s brand, clothing options (especially his size 14 shoes) and the school’s social media presence.

“During my official visit — it was on a recent weekend — we got to go into a room someone said was known as the Phil Knight room,” he wrote. “It was this special room where they showcase all the new Oregon gear Nike is working on.”

He is the son of former NBA player Manute Bol, who passed away in June 2010. Bol says he made the decision to go to Oregon over his childhood dream school, Kentucky.

“I made my final decision to go to Oregon pretty recently,” Bol said. “It was during a long car ride. I had made my official visit to Kentucky a few days before that. So I had a lot to think about. I was super stressed. Kentucky had been my dream school ever since I was a kid.”

In a press conference on Monday, Altman talked about what he saw in Bol and how Chris Boucher’s success at Oregon might have helped sway Bol to the Ducks.

“I think he can really run, he’s very mobile for his size, I love his ability to block shots and his timing with that,” Altman said. “He saw where we allowed Chris to shoot threes and encouraged it, spread the floor, and he’s a good shooter. I think as his shot develops, as his game develops, that will be a really big weapon for us.”

Altman doesn’t think that there’s much else Bol can accomplish in college other than refine the skills he already has to prepare himself for the next level.

“He’s a good player and we’re excited about helping him grow, helping him develop, and I think getting stronger — I don’t think he’s ever going to be big, so we’re just going to need to develop who he is and make him a better version of what he is and that’s shooting the ball, handling it, he’s a good passer,” Altman said. “But that shot-blocking is very unique.”

Being a top recruit, scouting sites have already pegged Bol as a potential top-pick in the 2019 NBA Draft. NBAdraft.net lists Bol as the No. 4 pick in 2019, even though Bol hasn’t even completed his senior year of high school yet. Oregon may have its first one-and-done player this year in Troy Brown. But if Brown elects to stay for his sophomore year, Bol will likely become Oregon’s first one-and-done. Altman said that he’d be shocked if Bol didn’t go pro after his freshman year.

“That’s pretty much a foregone conclusion,” Altman said. “I mean he’s not going to grow anymore, it’s development. I’d be shocked if he did [stay], but we didn’t talk about it. You just kind of assume that.”

Altman has already added Miles Norris, Louis King and Will Richardson as the Ducks look to fill in gaps left after losing six players from the Final Four team.

The Ducks take on Connecticut on Thursday in their first game of the PK 80 in Portland.

This post has been updated to include Altman’s comments from Monday’s press conference. Gus Morris contributed to this story. 

Follow Shawn Medow on Twitter @ShawnMedow

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Oregon went down 29-24 in the first half against Ball State. Then, Dana Altman called a timeout.

“Coach Altman knows how to get us fired up,” forward Paul White said. “He said we were just coming out not focused, very slow and we were kind of just not being in tune with the game. He took that time out to get us fired up. We needed to take that slap in the face.”

After that timeout, the Ducks outscored the Cardinals 66-47 as the offense began to click.

Payton Pritchard was electric in Oregon’s 95-71 win over Ball State on Sunday night at Matthew Knight Arena, posting a career-high 20 points and adding eight assists and four rebounds. The Ducks improved to 4-0 on the season, but the performance wasn’t what Altman wanted to see from his team.

“We put them on the free throw line for 29 free throws, which is really disappointing,” Altman said. “We’re fouling way too much. Anytime anyone drives it on us, we foul. We’re going to have to do a much better job of sliding our feet and putting ourself in position without fouling.”

The slow start was mended when Oregon went on a 16-0 run, which led to a 40-29 lead with just over two minutes left in the first half.

The Ducks led 42-33 at halftime and no player had points in the double-digits. By the end of the game, five players would be in double-digits as Oregon pulled away for the win.

“I think that’s the best way for us to play because we have a number of guys who can score,” Altman said. “I think our balance is pretty good and I like when we have a number of guys taking shots that are good shots for them.”

Brown and Victor Bailey Jr. each had solid first-half performances, finishing the first 20 minutes of action with nine points each.

The best play of the first half belonged to Elijah Brown. Payton Pritchard intercepted a cross-court pass, turned, dribbled up to the Ball State key and dropped the ball back to Brown at the 3-point arc. Brown took a contested shot, getting hit as the ball ran around the rim and fell in.

The shot only ended up counting for two points after a review, but Brown made his ensuing free throw to give Oregon the 12-11 lead.

Elijah Brown’s 17 points marked a season-high for the New Mexico transfer.

Bailey Jr.’s night was capped off by 16 points and five rebounds as Oregon out-boarded the Cardinals 45-31.

“We didn’t get a lot of second-chance opportunities,” Altman said. “They’ve been a decent rebounding team so just got a little frustrated at the end because I wanted those freshmen there to get some good minutes, but they didn’t execute it very well at all.”

The Ducks take on UConn in the PK80 in Portland, Oregon, on Thursday at 6 p.m.

“The PK 80 is a great tournament,” White said. “There’s a lot of great teams in it and we’re honored to be one of those teams to see where we are at this point in the season.”

Follow Shawn Medow on Twitter @ShawnMedow

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No. 10 Oregon (3-1) lost to No. 5 Louisville 74-61 in the Preseason WNIT championship game on the Cardinals’ home court in Kentucky.

The Ducks, who beat No. 19 Texas A&M on Thursday in College Station, Texas, were led by forward Ruthy Hebard’s 14 points and nine rebounds. Oregon shot 44.4 percent from the field from seven different scorers, four of whom recorded double-digit points.

After scoring the opening points of the game and leading 5-2, the Cardinals went on a 9-0 run and kept that gap for much of the game. The Ducks trailed 43-27 at halftime, and they were led by Mallory McGwire’s eight points. She finished with 11 points and seven rebounds.

Maite Cazorla managed 13 points for the Ducks while freshman Satou Sabally scored 10 and brought down four rebounds.

After recording back-to-back triple-doubles, sophomore guard Sabrina Ionescu scored eight points, had two rebounds and made three assists on 3-of-12 shooting.

Once again, head coach Kelly Graves went deep into his bench, using 11 players in the loss.

Oregon returns to Matthew Knight Arena on Tuesday when they host Eastern Washington at 6 p.m. before they gear up for the PK 80 on Thanksgiving weekend.

Follow Shawn Medow on Twitter @ShawnMedow

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All eyes were on Autzen Stadium’s jumbotron as injured redshirt senior Doug Brenner announced Oregon’s starting lineup ahead of the Ducks’ game against Arizona.

An image of quarterback Justin Herbert appeared on the screen and the roar of the crowd came before Brenner could even say a word.

Herbert was back.

“I think having Justin back inspired our entire football team to go out and play the way we are capable of doing,” head coach Willie Taggart said. “Having him back got everyone playing at a high level of confidence.”

For the first time since he fractured his collarbone while diving into the end zone for a touchdown against Cal on Sept. 30, Herbert returned to the field to start for the Ducks in their 48-28 win over the Wildcats. He ended the game 14-of-21 for 235 yards, one rushing and passing touchdown and an interception.

Herbert wasn’t afraid to air it out. He found Jacob Breeland on a 39-yard touchdown pass in the first half to tie the game at 21, but Herbert’s most impressive throw may have come in the beginning of the fourth quarter.

On 1st-and-10 on Oregon’s 49, Herbert handed the ball off to Royce Freeman, who tossed it to Charles Nelson. Nelson then pitched it back to Herbert, who launched the ball down the left sideline and found a leaping freshman Johnny Johnson III half a yard shy of the end zone.

The Ducks call that play “the rabbit pass.” According to Taggart, it was Nelson who during the game reminded Taggart of running the play, prompting Taggart to call Nelson his “mini O.C. (offensive coordinator).”

“It’s something just we worked it earlier in the season and Herbert came back I said, ‘We’re gonna run it,’” Taggart said. “I told the guys the other day we’re gonna run it, we practiced it every single day and I told them we’re gonna do it and when I called it they all looked at me like I was crazy but I told them, ‘We’re gonna do it.’”

The Ducks missed Herbert’s passing presence dearly, earning only 352 passing yards in the five games that Herbert did not play in.

His passing game elevated the Ducks in the win. Herbert also showed off something not normally associated with the Eugene native: running.

Down seven in the first quarter, Herbert elected to hold onto the ball during a pass play and ran it 40 yards to the end zone to tie the game. That run alone bested Arizona quarterback Kahlil Tate’s total rush yards of 32 in 14 carries.

“I don’t think anybody thought that was going to happen before the game,” center Jake Hanson said. “I certainly didn’t.”

A big concern about playing Herbert was the fact that he had not been hit since the injury. Oregon wouldn’t hit him during practice, so a hit during the game would be a moment of truth.

In the first quarter, he took that hit and got right back up.

“I was just hoping that he would slide,” Taggart said. “We even worked on him practicing sliding, you know? I was just hoping he would go out there sliding and he did and it was good to see him get up and bounce back.”

And just like Herbert, the Ducks bounced back with the win.

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Halftime rapid reaction with @ShawnMedow. Oregon leads Arizona 28-21. Herbert is back and Ducks hold Tate to 18 rushing yards. pic.twitter.com/UPnvm7ooSm

— Jack Butler (@Butler917) November 19, 2017

Justin Herbert returned to the starting lineup as Oregon football took on Arizona. At halftime, the Ducks lead the Wildcats 28-21.

Key Plays

— Nick Wilson glides beyond Oregon’s defense for an 18-yard touchdown to open the scoring.

— Justin Herbert responds with a 40-yard rushing touchdown to tie the game 7-7.

— Royce Freeman runs for a record 59th career rushing touchdown to make it a 14-7 game, passing LaMichael James.

— Khalil Tate steps on Henry Mondeaux’s stomach, nearly sparking a brawl. Arizona was penalized 15 yards and failed to convert for a first down, punting and giving the Ducks possession inside the Wildcats’ half.

— Justin Herbert throws an interception that is returned to the end zone but the touchdown is brought back for taunting. Arizona scores a touchdown on the ensuing drive to tie the game at 14.

— Wilson rushes for 20 yards to the end zone for his second score of the game to give the Wildcats a 21-14 lead.

— Herbert finds Jacob Breeland en route to the end zone for a 39-yard touchdown to tie the game at 21.

— Freeman runs for 28 yards to give the Ducks a 28-21 lead going into halftime.

Oregon passing

— Justin Herbert: 9-of-11 for 122 yards, one touchdown and one interception

Oregon rushing

— Royce Freeman: 13 carries for 84 yards, two touchdowns

— Justin Herbert: Three carries for 37 yards, one touchdown

— Jaylon Redd: One carry for 23 yards

Oregon receiving

— Dillon Mitchell: Five catches for 23 yards

— Jacob Breeland: One catch for 39 yards and a touchdown

Arizona passing

— Khalil Tate: 8-of-15 for 77 yards, one touchdown

Arizona rushing 

— Nick Wilson: Seven carries for 45 yards, two touchdowns

— Khalil Tate: 10 attempts for 18 yards

Arizona receiving

— Tony Ellison: Three catches for 33 yards, one touchdown

Total offense

Oregon: 292 yards, 122 passing, 170 rushing

Arizona: 173 yards, 77 passing, 96 rushing

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Oregon’s women cross-country did not repeated as national champions after they finished fifth in Louisville, Kentucky, in the 2017 NCAA Championships. The men came in sixth at Saturday’s races.

Katie Rainsberger, who came in third at the Pac-12 championships, was the highest finisher among Oregon’s women in the 6,000-meter race, finishing 16th in 19 minutes, 50.6 seconds.  Tanner Anderson the highest finisher among the Oregon men, coming in 41st in 30:01.4 in the 10,000-meter race.

“I think anytime you can come out and be top 10, it’s a good thing,” head coach Robert Johnson said in a press release. “Maybe not quite our expectation here as we came up a little short of earning trophies, but I’m proud of how our kids competed and hung in there today. I thought the men came away with the best race they’ve run all year in cross-country, and kudos to coach (Andy) Powell on getting those guys to rise up at the right time. We were a little snake-bitten on the women’s side and maybe weren’t quite full strength, but I’m proud of them for pulling together and giving it all they had.”

New Mexico is the champions in the women’s race as Colorado and Stanford finished third and fourth, respectively. Northern Arizona won the men’s team title as Stanford, the only Pac-12 school to finish above Oregon, came in fourth.

Oregon’s Lilli Burdon finished 21st in the women’s race in 19:57.6 after a sixth place finish in Pac-12s. Cooper Teare, who finished sixth at Pac-12s as well, came in 44th at NCAAs in 30:06.77.

The men have now made five straight, and 10 in 11 years, top-10 finish at the NCAAs.

This concludes the cross-country season as the Ducks will now shift focus to the indoor track season that begins on Jan. 13 in Seattle with the UW Preview.

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