Oregon Ducks' Dana Altman Addresses NIL, Injury Updates, Transfers At Big Ten Media Day

Hear from Oregon Ducks head coach Dana Altman, forward Brandon Angel and guard TJ Bamba at the Big Ten Media Day in Chicago, Illinois. Altman addressed name, image likeness (NIL), injury updates and transfers. Both of the players who were representing the Ducks are grad transfers from Stanford and Villanova, respectively.

Oct 3, 2024; Rosemont, IL, USA; Oregon head coach Dana Altman takes a question at the podium during the 2024 Big Ten Men's Basketball media day at Donald E. Stephens Convention Center. Mandatory Credit: Melissa Tamez-Imagn Images / Melissa Tamez-Imagn Images

Oregon Ducks' head coach Dana Altman brought along forward Brandon Angel and guard T.J. Bamba to the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Chicago, Illinois for the Big Ten Media Day. He's got a healthy mix of familiar and new faces on this season's roster and is loving the fact they're all finally healthy.

"Everybody is healthy now, which is a change for us. Last four years have been kind of rough on our health... I like our competitiveness in practice, and right now we're healthy. If we can stay that way, I like our depth."

- Dana Altman on 2024-25 team

Oct 3, 2024; Rosemont, IL, USA; Oregon forward Brandon Angel takes a question at the podium during the 2024 Big Ten Men's Basketball media day at Donald E. Stephens Convention Center. Mandatory Credit: Melissa Tamez-Imagn Images / Melissa Tamez-Imagn Images

Guard Jackson Shelstad was one of the key returnees for the Ducks. The sophomore was named to the Big Ten's preseason all-conference team and Altman is expecting a big jump in competitiveness from his freshman campaign.

"That jump from freshman to sophomore, that's usually as coach the biggest jump you see because they have a good feel for what it takes, they go and work on their game in the offseason wanting to get bigger, stronger, ready for a more physical game. He's got his work cut out for him. There's a lot of good guards in the Big Ten."

- Dana Altman on Jackson Shelstad

As for new faces for the Ducks, forward TJ Bamba was a huge get through the transfer portal. He spent the first three seasons of his career with Washington State and last season with Villanova. Bamba is familiar with the level of play in the Pac-12 and the Big East but the the Big Ten will be brand new for him.

"I'm expecting it to be super competitive, fiery. I'm expecting the atmospheres to be insane. I'm looking forward to that and I'm looking forward to seeing what we're capable of doing in the Big Ten and us showing the world and the Big Ten what we're about and how we're going to impose our will on our opponents."

- TJ Bamba on the Big Ten

Representing at B1G Media Day. #GoDucks pic.twitter.com/JKEPmSAcRb

— Oregon Men's Basketball (@OregonMBB) October 3, 2024

Brandon Angel transferred over from Stanford and is also unfamiliar with the competitive nature of basketball in the Big Ten.

"Big Ten's known to be a tough conference. Tough, physical, hard-nosed basketball and I think the group of guys that we have that translates really well. We have experience, we have toughness, we have physicality."

- Brandon Angel on the Big Ten

The Player's Era Tournament in Las Vegas is the biggest part of Oregon's non-conference schedule. Altman said this is something that he has never dealt with in his storied career and has had to make major adjustments in order to adapt to the current landscape of college basketball.

"We'll be playing three really good teams. Texas A&M, San Diego State, and Creighton. It's a great tournament. Vegas is easy for us to travel to, so it's a good situation for our program... It's a new concept and it's changing our game... I've had to adjust. I drug my feet a little bit but I had to realize if I was going to stay in the game that I had to adjust. The NIL is a big part of it... I knew if I wanted to stay in the game for awhile, I needed to adjust."

- Dana Altman on Player's Era Tournament

Oregon was picked sixth in the preseason Big Ten Media Poll and received 412 total votes. Altman has much higher expectations for his 2024-25 squad in the inaugural season of the Big Ten era for the Ducks.

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