What has happened to the Ducks ? I talked to a few people at the Holiday Bowl and they tell me that the players don't even listen to the coach anymore. That's obviously a problem.

I just don't see any growth and development from any of the players. Marty Leeunen is getting better, but a lot of the other guys haven't, and you can actually say some are regressing.

Aaron Brooks came to Oregon with almost as much hype as Luke Ridnour and has not improved at all since he stepped on campus. How about Malik Hairston ? He had a great game at Vanderbilt, but that's been about it.

When the Ducks were going good players like Freddie Jones, Luke Ridnour, and Luke Jackson got better year in and year out. Freddie was stagnant for three years but exploded into a first round pick following his senior year.

It's to the point where, if the Ducks don't catch fire, Ernie has to be relieved of his duties following the season. You can't have players tuning out their coach.

On top of that when you're not in the running for two in-state players who are amongst the best high school players in the country, that's a problem. From what I hear Kevin Love isn't going to Oregon as long as Ernie is there and Singler is a longshot to go to Oregon.

On top of all this there's a 150 million dollar arena that is being discussed, and this thing is going to be amazing. I can't tell you all the details I heard about this place, but state-of-the-art would be putting it mildly.

You simply have to revive this Duck basketball program to get this arena built and I don't know if Ernie can turn things around in time.

Ron
RPivo@kgw.com