Lineup evolution helped Oregon Ducks overcome Chris Boucher injury en route to Final Four – AZCentral.com

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Oregon forward Jordan Bell (left) has stepped up in the absence of Chris Boucher, especially in the Ducks' Elite Eight win over Dwight Coleby (right) and Kansas.(Photo: Denny Medley/USA TODAY Sports)

Oregon's ability to reach the NCAA Tournament'sFinal Four without Chris Boucher is born out of a two-year evolution of Boucher'srelationship with Jordan Bell more than any postseason revelation.

When the 6-foot-10 Boucher, among the nation's topshot blockers, suffered a season-ending knee injury in the Pac-12 Tournament semifinals March 10, the immediate assumption was that the Ducks' chances of a deep NCAA Tournament run were irreparably torn. It was, after all, Boucher on the cover of Sports Illustrated in November as a central reason why the Ducks were a preseason pick for the Final Four by SI and No. 5 in the Associated Press preseason top 25.

Boucher had a school-record 110 blocks in 2015-16, his first year at Oregon after transferring from Northwest College (Wyo.). He started all but three games with 6-9 Jordan Bell, who had a then-school-record 94 blocks as a freshman in 2014-15, coming off the bench. Their co-existence was uneasy at times particularly with Boucher's emergence in fall 2015 while Bell was still recovering from a broken foot.

"At first, people wanted it to be a competition between us, and I fell into that," Bell told The Oregonian. "That didn't work for me."

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Bell finished strong last season, when Oregon lost in the Elite Eight, and after a summer in the pro-am Drew League, he came into his junior yearprimed for a breakout season regardless of his role.

Oregon coach Dana Altman started Boucher and Bell together for 10 of the first 11 games. Then, Boucher missed two games in December with a foot injury, and Altman decided to stick with 6-7 Dillon Brooks in the starting lineup and bring Boucher off the bench. Brooks went on to win Pac-12 Player of the Year, Bell raised his game tocareer high averages(10.9 points and 8.6 rebounds) and Boucher continued to be the big swatter with a Pac-12-leading 2.5 blocks per game plus 11.8 points and 6.1 boards.

"They get along really good," Altman said of Bell and Boucher. "Last year, I noticed more of a competition. Chris came in and started blocking more shots and Jordan was hurt and didn't play the first 10 games (in 2015-16). That bothered him. When they played together, they were both unselfish, and we had two guys out there that could change shots, which really made our defense more effective. Our defensive numbers are good because of those two guys. It was good to see them compete against each other for blocked shots. In practice, they went after reach other and made each other better."

With Boucher already coming off the bench, Oregon's starting lineup was not disrupted by the Boucher injury. Kavell Bibgy-Williams, a 6-11 junior from England, became the backup post with others asked to fill in part of the hole created by Boucher's injury.

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"It's everybody just stepping up and doing one extra thing," Bell said. "It put pressure on Kavell to be Chris, but Dillon (Brooks) and Casey (Benson)and everybody has to score two more points, get more rebounds, box out one more guy, do one more little thing."

Bell has done more than his share in four tournamentwins with the highlight being a school-record eight blocks in an Elite Eight win over No. 1-seed Kansas. He is averaging 13.2 points and 12.0 rebounds in the past five games, starting with an 83-80 loss to Arizona in the Pac-12 Tournament final that actually laid the groundwork for a run to the Ducks' first Final Four since 1939.

"We realized what we needed to do without Chris (against UA),the void we had to fill with him being out," Bell said. "Rebounding, scoring, defending. Guards knew they couldnt get beat as much. Everybody is just stepping up, keeping guys in front of them, not putting me in a difficult situation (for getting into foul trouble).

"When I got in the tournament, I really started focusing on rebounding. That makes the game so much easier for me because two things I can always control is me rebounding and me defending. Offense, all that stuff just comes better when Im doing those things better. Maybe I've been playing harder knowing that I have to do more on this stage that we're on."

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Lineup evolution helped Oregon Ducks overcome Chris Boucher injury en route to Final Four - AZCentral.com