The Oregon men's basketball team has reloaded their roster and features just three returning scholarship players from last season's Sweet 16 team. Even with seven new scholarship players this year, Oregon's two most experienced players say the chemistry on the court and off it is ahead of where the Ducks were in previous years at this point in camp.

"We got some plays where everybody already knows, we all know what we are doing," said sophomore center Francis Okoro. "We don't have anybody that's like trying to set us back. Everybody is moving forward. I think the guys are doing a really good job and trying to understand what coach is trying to say and trying to do, what the team needs. That's very important to me, everybody is coming in and doing what the team needs and understanding that we need a championship."

Last year's team needed nearly two-thirds of the regular season to get into gear and figure out how to play together, and once they did they became one of the best teams in college basketball. The hope is that this year's squad will see find that sweet spot quicker. To help facilitate that, this offseason Altman has changed up how the Ducks train and prepare for the season. At the start of training camp in late September, Altman noted the Ducks would simplify the offense and the defense so that guys would play more free.

Senior and four-year starting point guard Payton Pritchard said instead of stacking plays and schemes on top of each other quicker, Altman has allowed the newcomers to focus on the system's core plays to ensure they fully understand the basics.

"Kind of letting guys get used to what the system is and the system we have in place right now. Not adding on and letting that come later on," said Pritchard.

Okoro was one of the newcomers last season for the Ducks and he said this year's training camp has been much more focused on the basics of Oregon's offense and defense compared to his first year, and it's played a big role in the development of this team.

"At the beginning of last year, I think we had a lot of plays I didn't know," said Okoro. "This year we have less plays and we just have a specific thing we know we are doing. When we get the ball we know what we are doing. We know we got screen plays, we know all the things we're supposed to do.

"It just makes it more easy for players."

While Altman changed the practice routine of the program early on, he also met with the Ducks at the start of the season and challenged them to sacrifice their personal goals for the betterment of the team and to play together.

"Coach demanded that. He called everybody out and explained to everybody what he wants and to make everybody understand that everybody on the team is important. No one is better," said Okoro.

"For us to win, we all have to come together as a team. That's the one thing coach has been saying since day one."

The Ducks held a private scrimmage in Seattle two weeks ago against the University of Seattle and won that basketball game by a close margin. Okoro said the Ducks didn't play as good as they would have liked and there was an adjustment that needed to happen to the pace of the college game. In Oregon's second scrimmage, against a better opponent in New Mexico this past weekend, Okoro and Pritchard both said the Ducks showed marked improvement.

"I felt like we played really good with the guys playing together, running the floor," said Okoro. "To me, I think we played really good. We just got to keep picking it up from there."

"I think these guys, a lot of them are mature enough to take that criticism," said Payton Pritchard. "And I think that's the part of the chemistry that does help."

The Ducks will make their debut for the 2019-20 basketball season Wednesday night at Matthew Knight Arena for the team's Green and Yellow scrimmage. The men tip off at 6 p.m. and will be followed by the women at 7. Then the bright lights come on and the games that count will begin, with the Ducks opening the season on November 5th at home against Fresno State. Pritchard says that's when the Ducks will really get a feel if this year's chemistry and on-court production is truly ahead of last year.

"That's how people base things, off wins or losses," said Pritchard.

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Chemistry improving and helping Oregon prepare for the year - 247Sports