Dana Altman Calls Out Oregon Basketball Roster Failures: 'We just weren't good enough'

On Thursday Oregon men’s basketball coach Dana Altman met with media to talk about the season. As you can expect the roster runover dominated the discussion with Altman being quite candid about last seasons failures and trying to not duplicate them for a second straight season.

He talked about revenue share, the decision to let some experienced players leave and what he’s looking for in the portal.

It was full of some very honest answers from Altman on how to make Oregon a better team for the 2026-2027 season.

On the Roster Turnover:

“You know, it wasn’t unexpected. There were three guys that we really wanted back, Sean and KJ and Jackson, three starters. We did not pull anybody’s scholarship. Everybody had their scholarship and it would have been renewed.

But we are working within a budget and some guys were going to lose their NIL totally, most of them were taking a reduction, big reduction. We just weren’t good enough this year. And I made some mistakes, we just weren’t good enough this year. And I made some mistakes, you know, with evaluation and inexperience. And when our experienced guys suffered injuries, our inexperience showed, especially in the year where the Big Ten was a dominant conference.

So none of our portal entries have been a surprise. Again, I didn’t take anybody’s scholarship. Everybody had their scholarship, it would have been renewed. But their NIL and their cap money and all that was either totally taken or really reduced. We have to work within a budget.”

On Luring Players to Oregon via NIL:

“Well, you know, it’s not an exact science. We’re working really hard to get the right guys, experienced guys we want to get some experience in. So it’s not an exact science, but again, we’ve got to find the right guys. There’s obviously plenty of guys in the portal. You’ve just got to find the right ones.”

On Building an Entirely New Roster:

“Well, I’d be lying if I wouldn’t say I was a little nervous, when you have a lot of new faces like that. But, again, it is an opportunity, as you mentioned. We’re Zooming with some guys that I’m really excited about, making sure we work out all the details, though. We’ve got guys coming in for visits this weekend. A number of guys coming in next week so we’re excited about a couple freshmen that are coming in but we know they’re freshmen. In the adjustment to the Big Ten and to get to the level of play that we want to have we know that you know that can be an adjustment period for a freshman.

So getting the experience that we want, getting the experience at this level is important to us. But it is exciting, you know, trying to put a team together. But like I said, I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was a little nervous. You know, knowing the schedule that we have in front of us with the Big Ten, our non-conference with the players’ era and some of the games we have that we’re talking about, we’ve got to get the right guys.”

On Where Oregon Stands in Terms of NIL:

“Well, there’s so much information out there. You don’t know what’s accurate and what’s not. Our collective works really hard to give us a chance to compete. We’re not at the top of the league. We’re not at the bottom. So, again, I don’t know how much of that information is accurate, you know. But, you know, we’re going to work really hard to use the funds we have. Like I said, our collective is really good.

Our guys, you know, are busy all the time trying to promote apparel stuff, trying to, you know, be active with their NIL. So, you know, we just got to take the resources we have and use them the best we can.”

On RevShare, Football vs Basketball:

“Well, that’s a loaded question. You’re trying to get me in trouble here. You know, first of all, you know, football and Dan and, you know, they’re doing such a good job. And the money they generate, you know, I’ve got an MBA. You know, I’m a business guy. You know, you go with what’s making money.
And, you know, I I don’t begrudge football anything. Heck, I go to all the games for 16 years now. When I first got here, Chip was unbelievable to me. Mark and I, I just saw Mark yesterday. day, you know, so I didn’t really get to know Willie. He was here in a flash, but, you know, Mario, you know, I’m on my fifth football coach, guys. All right.

“So, and, you know, but Dan’s, you know, Dan’s special, you know, he’s, he’s going to do a tremendous job. So, you know, I understand all that, you know, and, and we’re not underfunded. I’m not going to blame it on that. I didn’t do my job. So I could have done a better job. And I’ve got to do a better job this year to put us in that position. So we’ll make it work. Fortunately, we’ve got some people who want to see us get back to where we’ve been. Fortunately, we’ve got some people who want to see us get back to where we’ve been. And we just we got to make those. Those figures match and get the guys we need and we will we’ll figure it out some way.”

On Finding the Right Guys in the Portal:

“Well, I’m not sure it’s the big names. It’s just the right guys. We brought in Joe Young 100 years ago. He wasn’t a big name. He was just hundred years ago at what he wasn’t a big name he was just the right guy Dylan Brooks wasn’t a big name he was just the right guy Chris Boucher we got on May 15th the last day he was just the right guy Jordan Bell I don’t know if he was a top hundred guy know, I mean, it’s getting the right guys, you know? Um, so again, I, you know, I don’t know what our fans are looking for. What I’m looking for is guys that want to be at Oregon, want to compete at a high level.

Hopefully we’ll stay healthy that, you know, we can build something. You know, Nate Bittle, everybody’s talking about it right now, what’s wrong with college athletics. You’ve got to look at a guy like Nate, what’s right. He came back a year ago, maybe could have got other money to go somewhere, but didn’t even look.

I’m an Oregon guy. Hurts his ankle against San Diego State. They tell me it’s going to be four or five weeks before he’s back. He’s back in two and a half, three weeks to play at UCLA. Now he went 0 for 10, but he still got back to go play. You know, then he sprains his ankle first week in January against Nebraska. They tell me, you know, Coach, this is worse than the first one. It’s going to be four or five weeks this time. He comes back in three, gets in the weight training room every day, comes back in three to go on the road at Purdue in Indiana and gave us a chance to win the Purdue game. So, you know, it would have been really easy for him to say, you know, things aren’t going well, you know.

But, you know, Nate, you know, got a big fan for the rest of his life just because he, everything that I feel is right about college athletics, you know, he did. So there’s a lot of good things, still going on. People tend to look at the negatives. There’s still a lot of dudes that want to play and want to be part of something special.

We just got to find the right guys and that’s on me. That’s, that’s my job. And you know, for 15 years, I thought we did a decent job of doing that. We, we didn’t last year. I didn’t. Okay. I’m not going to blame it on my staff. This is, this is on me. So we got to do a better job and I got to do a better job and we got to make it work.”

On Looking at Tournament Teams Makeup:

“You know, I think as you look across the tournament, you know, there’s so many teams that were built through the portal. You know, a lot of them spent a lot of money to get there. You know, everybody talks about Illinois’ team. They went overseas. They did it a different way. But those were all well-paid pros overseas that they got. That wasn’t a cheap roster either. So there were different ways that it was done. You take a look at Michigan. A guy comes from UCLA. A guy comes from North Carolina. A guy came from Illinois. A guy came from Ohio State. came from Illinois. A guy came from Ohio State. Their team was built from guys that came from other very high-level programs, very talented players out of high school that came together and all made a step.

Again, I don’t think there was any one team that we focused on. You know, we did notice that there wasn’t a lot of any one team that we focused on. We did notice that there wasn’t a lot of real low majors that jumped to the high major level that were real successful. The media has a tendency to write about those guys that do because they’re kind of a unique story. But I don’t think there’s any one formula for the portal any one formula.

We would, you know, have liked to kept some more guys, you know, especially KJ and Jackson, you know we’re excited that Sean has indicated he wants to come back and he’s a really good team guy. We need to work on his skill level a little bit, make him a little bit more proficient from 17-in. We need to get his footwork on his shot so he can hit that 17-footer. But, you know, he is a good athlete. He’s a really good team guy. I think he can be a better rebounder. You know, I think that’s going to be a big part of his game next year. But he is someone, you know, that gives us going to be a big part of his game next year but he is someone that gives us the kind of guy that we want. But again it’s to answer your question, I don’t think there’s a formula that we’re using to emulate or copy somebody you know, that has gone a certain direction.”