Oregon Ducks

1. Should of Just Been a Duck. The Oregon student section, or The Pit Crew, was awesome enough to get mentioned (with an accompanying picture) in Sports Illustrated as one of the nastiest, most verbally abusive, over-the-line student sections in the country. Oh wait, not so awesome. When Portland native Kevin Love made his way up to Eugene in January, The Pit Crew exacted their revenge on his going to UCLA instead of Oregon (where daddy Stan played with Ernie Kent) by posting his cell phone number on Facebook (leading to death threats), throwing things at his family in the stands (including his Beach Boy uncle, Mike Love) and chanting things about Kevin Love that I won't get into here. Ok fine, they insinuated that he enjoys the peen.

2. The Phil Knight Dome. McArthur Court has been around for 80ish years and is falling apart. Beyond the clear structural issues, it's apparently partially overrun with insects and features what are probably the least appealing locker rooms and press areas in the country. Will Phil Knight stand for that any longer? No, no he won't. Plans are now all but finalized, thanks in part to Uncle Phil donating, you know, like a hundred million dollars to the Duck Athletic Fund. Scheduled to open in 2010ish, the new arena, which will be built on land now occupied by a bread factory next to campus, will be the most expensive ($200m) college arena ever built. There's talk of it housing two playing areas, one regular 12,500 seater and a smaller gym for volleyball and other miscellaneous activities. As far as anyone can tell what $200 million buys you arena-wise, the mockup looks like some sort of cross between the Death Star and a Brita Water Filter.

3. Fun Duck Facts. Ray Schafer, an Alaskan 7-footer, is married and has his wife rebound for him when he practices alone in the arena at night ... Freshman PG Kamryn Brown hurt himself playing in a pick-up game at the Rec Center in the middle of the season ... Aaron Brooks was really good last year, and they're not as good without him ... Oregon got new uniforms midway through the season (blacks, yellows, greens, and whites) and the names are on the backs are printed in same color as the jerseys themselves ... Since growing a beard for the season, Maarty Leunen has been the best and most consistent player for the Ducks ... Freshman SF Drew Viney looks like he's 14 years old ... Senior PF Mitch Platt looks really funny and pale in one of those skin-tight Nike under-jersey shirts. — Dan Rubenstein