Budda Baker, considered the Northwest’s best college football recruit, announced on Twitter Friday that he is decommitting from the Ducks.

I have decommited from Oregon an decided to reopen my recruitment Coach H an the ducks are a great program just not the right program for me

— budda baker (@buddabaker32) January 17, 2014

This comes about a month after Baker, a defensive back and running back at Bellevue (Wash.) High, announced his commitment to Oregon. He made that announcement over Twitter, as well, saying he thought he’d sign with Oregon “for a while.” His commitment was verbal and the first day recruits can sign letters of intent is still weeks away (Feb. 5).

Baker’s ultimate destination is still up in the air, but some signs point to Washington. In an interview with The Seattle Times on Dec. 20 (the day he committed to Oregon), Baker said, “my second choice was probably Washington.” Dave “Softy” Mahler, a Seattle-based radio talk show host, tweeted shortly after Baker’s decommitment that Baker plans on making an official visit to Washington in the next couple of days.

Hearing Bellevue’s Budda Baker, who verballed to Oregon, is planning an official visit to UW this weekend.

— Dave Softy Mahler (@Softykjr) January 17, 2014

The four-star recruit was also considering UCLA at the time of his commitment to Oregon.

Baker was rated as the No. 4 safety recruit in the country by Scout.com, but Oregon planned on using him on offense, according to the Seattle Times story.

Baker rushed for 600 yards and 12 touchdowns on 35 carries (17.1 yards per carry) during his senior season. On defense, he recorded 59 tackles, three interceptions and three forced fumbles. He also led Bellevue to its sixth consecutive state title.

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– Oregon’s Marcus Mariota received the College Football Performance Awards (CFPA) quarterback trophy on Thursday. Mariota is the fourth Duck in five seasons to win a CFPA trophy. LaMichael James (freshman award) won in 2009, Cliff Harris (punt returner) won in 2010 and De’Anthony Thomas (kickoff returner) won in 2011.

– Emerald sports reporter Jonathan Hawthorne previews this weekend’s games for the Oregon women’s basketball team. The Ducks, who are currently on a four-game losing streak, traveled south yesterday and will take on UCLA Friday at 8 p.m. and USC Sunday at 2 p.m. Several Oregon players, including starters Jillian Alleyne and Chrishae Rowe are from the Los Angeles area.

– On Thursday night, former Oregon distance runner and Portland native Galen Rupp set the U.S. record for 5,000 meters with a time of 13:01.26. This record-setting time at Boston University also vaulted him into the No. 8 spot on the all-time list for fastest indoor 5,000-meter runs.

– Baseball America ranked its college top 100 MLB draft prospects earlier this week and two Ducks made the list. Junior outfielder Scott Heineman is BA’s 26th-ranked prospect and junior starting pitcher Jake Reed is No. 56. The Oregon baseball season is less than a month away. The Ducks’ first game is against Hawaii in Honolulu on Feb. 14.

– OregonGridiron released a video Thursday of Nick Aliotti mic’d up in a pre-Alamo Bowl practice. Aliotti is shown yelling and directing his players, but the video revolves around a speech he gives to the team, informing everyone about his retirement.

– At least 90 players with college eligibility remaining will declare for the 2014 NFL draft. This number easily breaks last year’s record of 73 underclassmen who entered the draft. Two former Ducks, juniors De’Anthony Thomas and Terrance Mitchell, make up the group of 90.

– Former Oregon head football coach Chip Kelly was known for delivering memorable quotes during his time in Eugene and he has done the same as the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles. Philly.com’s Jimmy Kempski ranked his 15 favorite Kelly quotes, as well as Kelly’s most used words in press conferences this past season. Kelly was also named the Maxwell Football Club’s Professional Coach of the Year on Thursday.

– SB Nation’s Bill Connelly ranked his top 100 college football games from the 2013-14 season. Oregon appeared on the list three times, but only one of those games (the 36-35 win over Oregon State) was a victory. The other two games were the 42-16 loss to Arizona on Nov. 23 and the 26-20 loss to Stanford on Nov. 7. Connelly ranked the Arizona game 93rd, the Civil War 34th and the Stanford loss 22nd.

– The Houston Rockets set an ugly record Thursday night in their 104-92 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Houston scored 73 points in the first half but just 19 in the second half. That 54-point differential is the largest in NBA history from one half of a game to the other, and the 19-point second half is the second-fewest total ever in an NBA second half.

The Rockets’ Twitter account tweeted this after the game:

First half = Godfather 1 & 2. Second half = Godfather 3.

— Houston Rockets (@HoustonRockets) January 17, 2014

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During Tuesday’s Pac-12 teleconference, Dana Altman continued to talk about his team’s defensive struggles, delving into the problems in the interior and on the perimeter. He also discussed Oregon State star Roberto Nelson and differences in officiating this year.

You’ve said you have some good interior defense this season. Which of your players has been the best?

“I’m not sure anybody’s given us the consistency to say, ‘they’re the best.’ They’ve all had moments when they’ve done a good job but I don’t know if we have anyone that I would consider [who has made] that much of a difference than the guys who we’ve played with. I would say Ben Carter probably has the best positioning. Rich [Amardi] has got us some steals in there. Wave [Austin] has blocked a few shots but I wouldn’t say one of them has separated themselves so that I could make a decision on playing time in that regard.”

You faced a couple of good perimeter scorers last week in Tyrone Wallace (California) and Chasson Randle (Stanford). Now you get Roberto Nelson of Oregon State on Sunday. Does it seem like you have somebody tough to shut down every week, especially at the guard position?

“In our three losses, we have done a poor job of … [Askia] Booker and [Spencer] Dinwiddie had big games. [Jordan] Matthews had a huge game against us. Randle and [Anthony] Brown both had big games against us. We’ve not done a good job with our interior defense and our perimeter defense. Because of that, we’re looking at 1-3 (in Pac-12 play). We’ve done some good things, but to answer your question, Nelson is a concern because we have not done a good job the last three ball games of slowing people down.”

When you assess the defensive struggles, is there one prowling above everything in that problem?

“We’ve kind of reached the full spectrum. We’re trying to get it focused down to a few things but right now, I can’t say that we’re doing a good job in any phase defensively. I’ve been saying that for about six weeks. I just felt like we were outscoring people but now, we’ve really digged a hole and the team knows it. Now, we’ll see if we’re tough enough to do something about it.”

In terms of officiating, what differences have you seen in the enforcement of contact and hand-checking and points of emphasis this year?

“I think there’s been a tremendous difference definitely on the block-charge rule, hand-checking and driving the ball to the basket. I think those have been the main few areas that I’ve seen. I haven’t seen much difference in the freedom of movement concept that they talked about but definitely the block-charge. There are very few charges called. You have to be set. Most of the offensive fouls have come from the driver using his arm to push off rather than a positional foul. And definitely the hand-checks have really been called much tighter.”

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Former Oregon linebackers’ coach Don Pellum was officially announced as the Ducks’ next defensive coordinator on Tuesday morning. Pellum takes over for the Nick Aliotti, who retired after 17 years with the program.

“This is a challenge I welcome with open arms,” Pellum told GoDucks.com. “I have been fortunate to enjoy a long relationship at an institution that means a lot to me as well as the luxury to work with a lot of class coaches and athletes. I certainly have benefitted from the knowledge handed down to me from numerous head coaches and coordinators but head into this next phase of my career anxious to implement ideas of my own.”

Head coach Mark Helfrich, who’s worked with Pellum for six years, praised the new defensive coordinator and expects the defense to benefit from Pellum’s expertise.

“Don Pellum is a great teacher and one of the best communicators I have ever been around,” Helfrich said. “The entire defense will benefit from his demanding preparation, with an emphasis on discipline and relentless effort.”

Pellum has worked with several top linebackers during his 23 years at Oregon, especially recently. Inside linebacker Derrick Malone was named all-Pac-12 honorable mention this past season after compiling a team-high 105 tackles. Kiko Alonso was named the 2013 Fiesta Bowl defensive MVP and was drafted in the second round of the 2013 NFL draft by the Buffalo Bills. Less than an hour before Pellum was officially named defensive coordinator, Alonso received defensive rookie of the year honors from the Professional Football Writers of America.

Michael Clay played alongside Alonso last season and told GoDucks.com that no other coach has helped him as much as Pellum.

“I have never learned or grown so much under a single coach than I did under Coach Pellum,” Clay said. “He immediately commands the respect from his players unlike anyone I have ever come across and gets the max out of everyone he comes into contact with.”

Pellum talked to the media directly after Aliotti’s retirement in the days leading up to the Alamo Bowl and deflected questions about potentially replacing Aliotti. Now, the bowl win and the defensive coordinator rumors are behind Pellum, so he can focus on continuing Oregon’s recent run of success.

“I am grateful to Coach Helfrich and the University of Oregon for the confidence they have bestowed upon me and am excited to add to the success this program has enjoyed,” Pellum said.

Pellum will still coach inside and weak-side linebackers next year. The Oregonian first reported the news of Pellum’s promotion on Saturday.

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Former Oregon linebackers’ coach Don Pellum was officially announced as the Ducks’ next defensive coordinator on Tuesday morning. Pellum takes over for the Nick Aliotti, who retired after 17 years with the program.

“This is a challenge I welcome with open arms,” Pellum told GoDucks.com. “I have been fortunate to enjoy a long relationship at an institution that means a lot to me as well as the luxury to work with a lot of class coaches and athletes. I certainly have benefitted from the knowledge handed down to me from numerous head coaches and coordinators but head into this next phase of my career anxious to implement ideas of my own.”

Head coach Mark Helfrich, who’s worked with Pellum for six years, praised the new defensive coordinator and expects the defense to benefit from Pellum’s expertise.

“Don Pellum is a great teacher and one of the best communicators I have ever been around,” Helfrich said. “The entire defense will benefit from his demanding preparation, with an emphasis on discipline and relentless effort.”

Pellum has worked with several top linebackers during his 23 years at Oregon, especially recently. Inside linebacker Derrick Malone was named all-Pac-12 honorable mention this past season after compiling a team-high 105 tackles. Kiko Alonso was named the 2013 Fiesta Bowl defensive MVP and was drafted in the second round of the 2013 NFL draft by the Buffalo Bills. Less than an hour before Pellum was officially named defensive coordinator, Alonso received defensive rookie of the year honors from the Professional Football Writers of America.

Michael Clay played alongside Alonso last season and told GoDucks.com that no other coach has helped him as much as Pellum.

“I have never learned or grown so much under a single coach than I did under Coach Pellum,” Clay said. “He immediately commands the respect from his players unlike anyone I have ever come across and gets the max out of everyone he comes into contact with.”

Pellum talked to the media directly after Aliotti’s retirement in the days leading up to the Alamo Bowl and deflected questions about potentially replacing Aliotti. Now, the bowl win and the defensive coordinator rumors are behind Pellum, so he can focus on continuing Oregon’s recent run of success.

“I am grateful to Coach Helfrich and the University of Oregon for the confidence they have bestowed upon me and am excited to add to the success this program has enjoyed,” Pellum said.

Pellum will still coach inside and weak-side linebackers next year. The Oregonian first reported the news of Pellum’s promotion on Saturday.

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Former Oregon linebacker coach and recruiting coordinator Don Pellum will succeed Nick Aliotti as Oregon’s defensive coordinator next season, multiple sources told the Oregonian on Saturday.

Pellum’s promotion has not been made official by the school and the university is not expected to announce the move until after the weekend, according to one of the sources.

“He’s a player’s coach,” one of the sources said of Pellum. “I think the guys like him. He’s got a good personality and he knows how to handle guys. I think defenders will rally around him.”

Pellum has coached at Oregon for 20 years, four years less than Aliotti, who was Oregon’s defensive coordinator for the last 17 seasons. Aliotti announced his retirement prior to the Alamo Bowl, which the Ducks won over Texas 30-7.

Three sources said 34 year-old Erik Chinander will take over Aliotti’s role coaching outside linebackers. Chinander was an assistant defensive line coach for the Philadelphia Eagles in 2013 and served as a defensive intern for Oregon the previous three seasons. He was also a defensive grad assistant from 2011-12.

Pellum graduated from Oregon in 1985. That same year, he became a graduate assistant with the Ducks and has remained. In his tenure with Oregon, he also coached defensive linemen and safeties.

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With a career night from Jordan Matthews, the California men’s basketball team beat the Ducks 96-83 on Thursday night at Matthew Knight Arena. The Golden Bears (11-4, 2-0 Pac-12) also extended their winning steak to 12 games over Oregon.

Offense wasn’t the problem for No. 17 Oregon (13-2, 1-2), but like the previous game against Colorado — a 100-91 loss – the Ducks struggled on the defensive end. In fact, head coach Dana Altman and the players say it’s been a season-long struggle.

“Our guys were prepared, they were ready to play, but they just didn’t execute defensively,” Altman said after the game.

Cal retook the lead with 11:00 left in the first half and didn’t relinquish it until three minutes into the second. The two teams looked like they would be engaged in a back-and-forth battle the rest of the game but Cal seized control with 11:07 left and never trailed again.

The freshman Matthews, who averaged 7.4 points per game going into Thursday night, scored a game-high (and career-high) 32 points on 10-of-14 shooting for the Bears, who shot 52.5 percent as a team. Altman said his team gave up way too many easy looks to Cal, and Matthews was one of the biggest beneficiaries of Oregon’s poor pressure. Some of Matthews’ best looks came early, like on the first possession of the game when Joseph Young was late to close out. Matthews sunk the wide-open three, his first of three makes from behind the arc on Thursday.

“I think I was helping too long,” Young said. “I’d rather them shoot a three than get an open layup and I think I stayed on the open man that was about to go instead of getting out to my man quicker.”

Young scored 29 points on 6-of-11 shooting (54.5 percent), along with 16 made free throws on 17 attempts. But moments like the opening possession occurred several times for Young on defense.

“I thought offensively, obviously he did a lot of good things,” Altman said, “but defensively, I thought he let some things go.”

Mike Moser added 15 points and 10 rebounds but only made 6-of-18 baskets. He also played most of his minutes against Cal’s hulking forwards, Richard Solomon (6’10″) and David Kravish (6’9″).

“It’s tough when you’ve got a seven-footer and trying to back those kind of guys down,” Moser said. “I’m more of a face-up, four man at this point, so it’s tough, but I think I’m adjusting.”

Cal’s leading scorer, Justin Cobbs, added 20 points and 11 assists for Cal, and Solomon and Kravish both nearly recorded double-doubles. The entire starting five for the Bears finished with double-digit point totals.

“As coach said, if everybody just knocked off one mistake from the game, then we should be good,” Young said.

Johnathan Loyd, who hasn’t beaten Cal in his four-year career at Oregon, finished with 14 points, four assists and four steals. The bench hardly contributed, shooting 3-of-13 total.

After finishing the non-conference schedule with a perfect 12-0 record, the Ducks have struggled mightily in Pac-12 play. Their only conference win, 70-68ver Utah on Jan. 2, came on a last-second dunk by Damyean Dotson.

Oregon’s only hope to end the losing skid to Cal this season will come if its faces the Bears in the Pac-12 tournament. Thursday night’s game is the last scheduled matchup between these two teams this season.

Oregon’s next game is at 2 p.m. this upcoming Sunday against Stanford at Matthew Knight Arena.

“We really needed these two games at home,” Altman said. “We’ve gotta go on the road for three after this, so this was a big ball game for us. There’s no other way to put it.”

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The last Oregon men’s basketball win over the California Golden Bears occurred on Feb. 9, 2008 by a score of 92-70. Current NBA forward Ryan Anderson, 25, finished tied for a team-high 17 points that night for Cal.

That was 11 games and nearly six years ago.

“They’ve given us a hard time,” Dana Altman said before Wednesday’s practice. “There’s no other way to put it.”

Altman is in his fourth year as Oregon’s head coach but his drought against Cal doesn’t match that of fifth-year guard Johnathan Loyd.

“Even when we play them at their place, we’ll be ahead the whole game, and then at the end, they’ll get us,” Loyd said before Wednesday’s practice. “It happened like three or four times to me, so I really want this one.”

Oregon (13-1, 1-1 Pac-12) gets an opportunity to finally end the skid Thursday night in what will be the first home conference game of the season for the Ducks. And Cal (10-4, 1-0) isn’t near full strength.

ESPN rated Jabari Bird as a four-star recruit and not only did he choose to play for head coach Mike Montgomery at Cal, he made an impact right away. This season, the freshman guard averages 11.3 points per game and 40 percent on three-pointers, but Bird sprained his ankle three games ago against Creighton and won’t be available on Thursday.

Junior guard Ricky Kreklow broke his hand in practice before the Creighton game and was ruled out 4-6 weeks right before the Bears tipped off against the Bluejays, who won 68-54.

“We all need each other to be our best,” Cal senior forward Richard Solomon told the San Jose Mercury News earlier this week.

Since the injury to Bird, the Bears have rolled over their opponents. They beat Furman 90-60 on Dec. 28 and defeated Stanford 69-62 last Thursday. Solomon recorded a double-double in each game and averages more than 11 points and 10 rebounds on the season. He and junior forward Davis Kravish make up a fearsome interior tandem.

“Mike does a good job with post players and those two guys (Solomon and Kravish) are fundamentally sound and really do a good job,” Altman said.

Senior guard Justin Cobbs leads Cal in scoring at 14.4 points per game and lit up Creighton and Stanford. He scored 18 points in each game and shot nearly 58 percent combined.

Even without Bird, the Ducks will encounter a tough team to guard, which could cause problems for Oregon’s struggling defense. Altman seems infuriated every time he discusses his team’s defensive effort.

“We haven’t guarded anybody all year,” Altman said, “so we have to get better.”

The Ducks lost their first game of the season Sunday on the road against Colorado. They scored 91 points but gave up 100 to the Buffaloes on over 56 percent shooting.  The defense will need to improve by Thursday night if Oregon wants to end the losing streak to Cal.

Loyd and Altman both denied the notion that Cal is in their heads, saying it’s just another game, another opponent. But even if the Bears have caused Loyd and Altman to lose some sleep, that stigma isn’t attached to several key Oregon plays. Joseph Young, Mike Moser and Jason Calliste, among other Ducks, were elsewhere last season, so they’ve never faced Cal in an Oregon uniform. For them, the gameplan might be their only worry on Thursday night.

“If we go out, pay attention to detail and play defense like we can,” Calliste said, “we’ll be fine.”

Thursday might be Oregon’s last chance to end the losing streak to Cal this season, as the two teams aren’t scheduled to meet again in 2014.

The game will tip off at 8 p.m. at Matthew Knight Arena.

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The Oregon football team, like its fans, will probably look at the 2013 season as a disappointing success. That phrase sounds contradictory but it’s weirdly true. The Ducks won 11 games and will be ranked in the top 10 after bowl season ends, but everyone in Eugene wanted and expected Oregon to be in a BCS bowl.

The Ducks had plenty of things to be proud of but will need to address several issues between now and next season if they want to end up in the four-team playoff next year. Below are Oregon’s main strengths and weaknesses from 2014.

Strengths

– Quarterback. This is an obvious one. Marcus Mariota threw 31 touchdowns versus just four interceptions, averaged 9.5 yards per attempt (tied for fifth in the nation among qualified quarterbacks) and rushed for 715 yards, nine touchdowns and 7.45 yards per carry. If not for a sprained MCL suffered during the UCLA game on Oct. 26, Mariota probably would have become a Heisman finalist and the Ducks might have played in a BCS bowl. Regardless, Mariota was incredible in 2013. 

– Wide receiver. This group doesn’t perform nearly as well in 2013 without Mariota, of course, but that doesn’t mean they were bad. Far from it. Josh Huff (a record-setting 1140 receiving yards and 12 touchdowns) and Bralon Addison (890 and seven) made up one of the country’s best receiving duos. This was also an elite blocking group, led by Keanon Lowe.

– Running game. The Ducks ranked ninth in the country in total rushing yards and rushing yards per game, were fifth in yards per rush and were tied for fifth in rushing touchdowns. Even with injuries to Mariota, Byron Marshall and De’Anthony Thomas, plus an inconsistent offensive line, Oregon remained one of the best rushing teams in the nation.

– Secondary. Oregon gave up 5.5 yards per pass attempt in 2013, good for third best in the nation, and the secondary was probably the biggest reason why. Cornerbacks Ifo Ekpre-Olomu and Terrance Mitchell made up arguably the best corner tandem in the nation and safeties Brian Jackson and Avery Patterson were well above average.

Weaknesses

– Tight end. Even when Colt Lyerla was still on the team, the tight ends didn’t contribute very much in the passing game and they didn’t stand out as blockers. Johnny Mundt had a big day against Tennessee but besides that, the tight ends were barely noticeable in most games.

– Run defense (at end of season). It’s important to note that the run defense was fine until the last chunk of games. Overall, the Ducks gave up 3.82 yards per carry (36th in the nation) but gave up more than that in four of their last five games, the worst of which came against Oregon State (5.9 yards per carry against the Ducks). Even in the Alamo Bowl, when Nick Aliotti said his defense stopped the run, Malcolm Brown ran all over the Ducks in the first half and finished with 130 yards.

– Kicker. A struggling Alejandro Maldonado was replaced by Matt Wogan after the 26-20 loss to Stanford, and while Wogan performed better, he still missed a couple of short field goals and didn’t instill much confidence. The two combined to make 10 of 14 field goals (71.4 percent), compared to 15 of 18 (83.3 percent) by their opponents.

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It would have been hard for photographers at the Valero Alamo Bowl postgame press conference to snap a shot of Mark Helfrich without a smile on his face. Oregon’s first-year head coach sat between seniors Josh Huff and Avery Patterson with a bottle of Gatorade Propel Zero in his hands and seemed to enjoy answering every question.

Helfrich cracked a joke nearly every answer.

“We’re going to celebrate tonight with a Diet Pepsi, Gatorade, Powerade,” Helfrich said before looking down at his bottle. “Gatorade Propel Zero.”

Huff burst into laughter, as did most of the media. Helfrich was in a great mood and for good reason. His team just defeated Texas 30-7 for their 11th win of the season, likely cementing a top-10 ranking for the Ducks.

But Helfrich wasn’t so cheerful seconds before making the quip about the Gatorade. That’s because his answer was part of a response to the question many are asking: Was his first year a success?

“That’s for you to decide,” he said. “I don’t think in those terms. I think about how well we can prepare these guys and what’s next.”

Many people do think in those terms, though, and Helfrich’s evaluations are all over the map. The Oregonian asked readers to grade Helfrich’s first year, and almost 60 percent gave him a B (Almost 22 percent gave him an A, more than 15 percent gave him a C and about 3 percent gave him a D or F.)

Fans, at least based on The Oregonian’s nearly 5,000-person survey, seem to think Helfrich was successful but with reservations. It’s hard to quibble with that viewpoint. Even the most successful programs shouldn’t look at an 11-2 season as a failure, but the Ducks raised the bar so high over the previous four years that it only makes sense to be disappointed if expectations aren’t met.

The Stanford loss would be forgivable if the final score was indicative of how the game actually went. The Ducks got smoked that November night, trailing 26-0 in the fourth quarter before making a spirited comeback.

The Ducks trailed by 26 points in another game, too. That came against Arizona, of course. Oregon fans weren’t used to suffering huge deficits against the best teams before this past season, much less a 26-point deficit to a team they were expecting to bulldoze.

“I let them (players and coaches) down by not having a hyphen-zero at the end of our record,” Helfrich said.

Helfrich understands the expectations, but that doesn’t mean he should be on the hot seat for those two losses.

The Ducks were hobbled at the end of the season. Marcus Mariota basically played with a sprained MCL for the last five games. Byron Marshall missed two games. De’Anthony Thomas missed four. Derrick Malone practically fell apart.

“We need to do a psychological study on that kid because he’s welded together, packed, there was some sawdust in there,” Helfrich said regarding Malone.

With a healthier team, the Ducks might have reached a fourth-straight BCS bowl, but that doesn’t mean Helfrich should be given a free pass for those poor performances.

The Oregonian readers probably had it right. Helfrich deserves a B for 2013. He and the Ducks had a good season but, as Huff put it, “It wasn’t the season that we hoped for.”

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