A Ditch Rich Round Up Before a Big Week of Ducks
The Men had their UCLA game canned because a ref got Covid in Corvallis, the Football team is getting PS5s, and the Women have their first top ten match up of the year. Big, big, big week.
Welcome to everyone who is newly subscribed to Ditch Rich! I hope you’ll enjoy all the Duck talk here. It’s been about two months of putting this thing out, but I already have some columns you might want to check out to get a feel for the place. If you aren’t new here, this might just be a nice “in case you missed it list”, too:
Why is the newsletter called Ditch Rich?
When I promised that Pritchard would be drafted above Nico Mannion. And I was right, for once.
My first deep dive into the history of Oregon and Oregon State’s deep state drama.
Your most up-to-date check-in on Women’s basketball (TL;DR: the freshmen are pretty dang good).
Where does Oregon stand in a College Football Playoff-centered world?
How Nike and Disney forced Oregon to create the monster known as RoboDuck.
Again, welcome to Ditch Rich. Go Ducks.
Here’s a little round up of what this New Year’s Week has in store for the men and women of Oregon:
This holiday week would’ve been a perfect time for Ditch Rich to catch up with the Men’s team after a big match up with Mick Cronin’s UCLA, but a referee ended up testing positive for Covid after officiating an Oregon State game the night before.
Who could’ve known there was a heightened risk of contracting disease after spending a night in Corvallis?
The 21st-ranked Men are back in action on New Year’s Eve against Cal.
The Women host the LA-schools this weekend after S U R V I V I N G their first real test of the season at Wazzu. The 69-65 escape was only possible thanks to clutch shooting from Boley Buckets, and great performances down the stretch from Te-Hina Paopao and Maddie Scherr.
In my WBB diary last week, I basically begged for a real competitive game, but I take it all back after that heart attack.
I’ll take 20-point wins every day of the week and twice on Sunday.
The 8th-ranked Wonder Ducks take on USC on New Year’s Day, and then host 11th-ranked UCLA on Sunday, 1/3. Big weekend. Big, big weekend.
FBS AP All-American teams were announced on Monday.
Kayvon was named to the national third team defensive line, along with first team All Pac-12.
Mykael Wright and Ryan Walk were also named first team for the Pac, while Shough, TJ Bass, and Dede Lenoir were second team all-conference.
That’s right, first year starter, Tyler Shough, was named second team all conference after playing his three worst games of his young career.
You trust the Associated Press with your election results, now trust them when they say your QB1 is kind of a baller.
Tyler and the 25th-ranked Ducks will be looking forward to claiming their PS5s on Saturday against #8 Iowa State in the Fiesta Bowl.
In the meantime, we can enjoy seeing Payton Pritchard make the most of all his early minutes with the Celtics (which included a perfect 5 for 5—3 for 3 from deep—Sunday night).
Apparently Pritch’s twitter handle (@fastpp3) has become a bit of a punchline in the bigger media market of Boston, but Payton’s early success might be proving that This League is more than ready for a fast pp.
PP’s Celts take on Dillon Brooks and the Grizzlies on Wednesday.
Go Ducks.