10 Takeaways from Kelly Graves’ Season Wrap-Up

Graves reflected on the strange 2020 season and discussed the outlook for next year.

Kelly Graves met with the media for the final time this season after an unprecedented year that resulted in the Ducks’ advancing to the Sweet 16 for the fourth consecutive year. Here are my main takeaways from the conference.

1. The Ducks will begin offseason workouts next Monday, and Graves provided injury updates for Te-Hina Paopao (missed final five games with left foot injury), Maddie Scherr (injured left ankle against Louisville), and Nyara Sabally (injured left ankle against Louisville). “They’re all good to go,” he said. “They’ve been rehabbing.”
2. Graves reacted to Taylor Chavez and Jaz Shelley moving on from the team after they both struggled this season. “You’re always disappointed when you lose transfers because they become part of your family, and they always will be,” he said. “I think everybody who was around the program kind of saw what was happening, and the reality is they wanted to play more, and it didn’t feel like that was going to be the case at Oregon.”
3. Graves said that he may play with a smaller roster next year rather than adding players to replace Chavez, Shelley, Erin Boley, and Lydia Giomi. That way, he said, the players “feel more engaged,” citing the 2018-19 Final Four team that had ten players on the roster. “I like what I have,” he said.
4. Graves evaluated his team’s performance this season, saying that the team played “good basketball” early in the year and faltered toward the middle and end of conference play. “I expected a roller coaster ride, and that’s kind of what we got,” he said. “I’m really proud of how we finished the season, and I think that’s going to bode well.”
5. The Ducks struggled to find their offensive identity throughout the year, Graves said, noting the effectiveness of playing through Sabally and Sedona Prince late in the season. “We’re going to hopefully play a little bit more power basketball in the future.”
6. Graves also said that the team wasn’t able to get their 3-point shooters consistent looks because “we couldn’t really attack the basket.” The Ducks shot 35.1% from three this season, finishing 40th in the country in that statistic after finishing in the top four in each of the last five seasons.
7. Graves said that the team needs a playmaker that can create their own shot for themselves or someone else, something that players like Sabrina Ionescu and Satou Sabally excelled at in years past. He believes that Paopao can become that player with “another year of confidence,” and that incoming freshman guard Taylor Bigby can make plays on both ends of the floor.
8. Graves said it is “immensely” important that the players will have a normal offseason and described the difficulties of practicing with COVID protocols. “I didn’t know what I had,” he said. “When you can’t work with somebody, you don’t know that this player who you thought could play in the pick and roll, they can’t. Now, we have a chance to work with them about the things that we want them to get better at.”
9. Speaking of improvement, Graves was asked about developing Kylee Watson in the offseason, as she saw the fewest minutes (8.2 minutes per game) of the five-star freshmen this season. “I think Kylee’s got a high ceiling,” he said. “She was playing behind two pros and a fifth-year senior. Her minutes are going to go up, and she needs to continue to improve.”
10. The Ducks were unable to play many non-conference games this season, but Graves said that next season’s non-conference schedule is “nuts.” They are scheduled to play a home game against UConn; road games against Northwestern, Kansas State, and Portland; three games in the Bahamas in the Battle 4 Atlantis; and a potential matchup against Baylor. The Ducks were scheduled to play a home-and-home with Baylor in Vegas last year and in Dallas the following, according to Graves.

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