Though Dana Altman has done this more than twenty times, AP voters left the Ducks off the preseason basketball poll, proving once again that writers are slow learners.
The survey at Big Ten Media Day had the Ducks picked to finish fifth in the 18-team Big Ten, which sounds more like it. Altman has his Big Three of Nate Bittle, Jackson Shelstad and Kwame Evans back, though Shelstad will miss a few games with a broken hand.
Altman didn't stand pat with his two leading scorers and most dynamic long defender and rebounder. He attacked the portal and international recruiting, pulling in long range shooter Wei Lin from the Nanking Monkey Kings, savvy 6-5 combo guard Takai Simpkins of Elon, a 16.